The Bullard Journal for June 25, 2019

Tuesday, June 25, 2019: “A Call to Prayer” Connecting with an International Student. This evening a group of people gathered at the Carolina Baptist Collegiate Ministry building for orientation/training on connecting with an international student for the academic year 2019-2020. The goal is to connect Baptist Christian families in the Midlands with international students to create friendships, to increase understanding with international students about their culture, and American culture, and when appropriate and authentic to share our story of Jesus with them.

Families and individuals connecting with international students are asked to do something with them about once each month such as have a meal, attend an event, and have them in your home as appropriate. Participants become part of the support system for international students.

It is also a great learning experience about other cultures and how to apply the unconditional love of God to people not from our own culture. In a way, God is bringing other cultures to our country and allowing us the opportunity to share God’s love with them.

Some people are hesitant about this type of cross-cultural experience. One way to overcome hesitation is to engage in this experience with one or two other families or individuals to create a small group. In this way, it also increases the experience for international students.

At the University of South Carolina alone there are 2,000 international students. At this time we have 40 families or individuals who have indicated a desire to connect with an international student. Our minimum goal for the upcoming academic year for 100 international students to be connected with a family or individual. Interested?

To obtain more information, go to https://www.carolinabcm.org/host-an-international-student. You can sign up on this site to connect with an international student. There are two more orientation/training events –July 30th and August 15th. You can attend one of these events and then make your final decision at that time.

Please pray that we might have 100 or more families or individuals who will connect with an international student during the coming academic year.

About the author 

Kyndra Bremer