Description
This resource emphasizes the opportunity for churches to engage in cross-cultural ministry within their local communities, particularly among immigrants, refugees, and international students. It highlights the biblical call to hospitality, provides practical next steps, and includes an example ministry from a local church. Church leaders can use this as a guide to develop a local cross-cultural ministry that fosters relationships, shares the gospel, and even helps assess and prepare potential missionaries for global work.
No matter where you are in the world, there’s an opportunity to engage in cross-cultural ministry within your own community. Globalization has brought people from diverse backgrounds to our communities. Whether they’re migrants, refugees, or international students, people are constantly on the move, making the world increasingly interconnected. This presents a unique opportunity for global missions that doesn’t require a passport or language proficiency.
For instance, let’s consider my home country, the United States. We’ve often referred to ourselves as the “great melting pot” due to early 20th-century migration. Our country has only grown more diverse since then. In fact, as of 2019, there were 40 million people living in the United States who were born outside the country, representing over 10% of our population. Additionally, there were 1,095,299 international students enrolled in higher education from more than 200 countries.
A Sad Statistic
Despite these impressive numbers, a recurring statistic among US-based international student ministries is that 80% of international students never had the opportunity to visit an American home.
An international ministry leader shared a poignant story about a Saudi Arabian friend who came to the United States to study. He had prepared an extra suitcase filled with gifts that he intended to present to Americans as they welcomed him into their homes. It’s a common practice in many cultures to bring a gift when visiting someone’s residence. Unfortunately, this young man never received an invitation to enter American homes during his entire stay in the country. When he returned home, he returned the suitcase completely full, carrying the unfulfilled promise of friendship and connection.
It’s deeply saddening when international students face such challenges. What makes it even more heartbreaking is that they often miss out on the opportunity to hear the gospel. In America’s higher education system, there are representatives from over 200 countries. Many of these countries and various people groups from the 10/40 window are present in American schools. For instance, one midwestern university alone boasts 115 countries represented, with over 3,300 international students, making up 12% of the campus. These nations are right at our doorstep, presenting a chance to engage the unreached without even leaving our home.
A Biblical Command
This is about more than simply a missed opportunity. When we look to the Scriptures we clearly see God’s heart for hospitality to strangers, often meaning foreigners. Christians have not only the opportunity—but the command—to be generous with the welcome we ourselves have received from God. Some examples include:
Hebrews 13:2: Don’t neglect to show hospitality, for by doing this some have welcomed angels as guests without knowing it.
Romans 12:13b: Practice hospitality.
Hospitality isn’t about inviting people who are similar to you into your home. True hospitality involves extending a welcoming hand to those who are different from you. In the book of Leviticus we find a beautiful passage that describes how the Israelites were to interact with foreigners in their land:
When an alien resides with you in your land, you must not oppress him. You will regard the alien who resides with you as the native-born among you. You are to love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God. Leviticus 19:33-34
As God called the nation of Israel to extend hospitality to outsiders and people from different cultures, churches should also consider doing the same in their own communities. We do well to educate our church members about global missions, encourage short-term trips, and challenge them to serve in other countries. However, the Scriptures also urge us to mobilize our people as people who open their lives and homes to foreigners.
A Place to Begin
As we’ve observed various local cross-cultural ministries within churches, we’ve identified a few helpful steps. The best approach will depend on your church’s unique environment. Regardless, it’s a good idea to begin by cultivating a group of leaders who are actively reaching out cross-culturally. They can then serve as mobilizers in your congregation.
Look out for these potential leaders as you raise awareness about missions through sermons, classes, or short-term trips. Identify who in your church community has the potential and desire to take deeper steps. Present them with a clear vision of reaching out to people from other cultures. Once you’ve established a core group of 4-6 individuals with this vision, gather them together to further develop their ideas and brainstorm potential strategies for cross-cultural outreach in your city.
As they commit to this ministry path, establish a regular rhythm of gathering. Engage in shared activities such as reading Scripture together, studying books on cross-cultural ministry, sharing prayer requests, and spending quality time together.
As this group deepens its relationships and commitment to the vision, take some action steps. Begin by identifying the diverse groups in your city, including their nationalities. Are they immigrants, refugees, or international students? Consider where God might be calling you to focus.
Next, brainstorm opportunities for individuals, pairs, or groups to engage in outreach. Start by organizing activities that foster relational connections among group members and those from different cultures. Don’t overthink this; consider what activities your group enjoys that could facilitate cultural interaction. This could include:
Joining or starting a conversational English program.
Organizing a regular soccer game in the community.
Volunteering at a refugee resettlement organization.
Discovering existing ethnic clubs and participating in their events. Offer to host these events at your church for free.
Eating at local ethnic restaurants and intentionally getting to know the staff.
As group members naturally build relationships with people from different cultures, create opportunities for them to gather together with their new friends. Allow these interactions to develop organically and naturally. Befriend them, don’t view them as a project, and show genuine interest in their culture. As these gatherings occur, opportunities to share the gospel will naturally arise.
As the gospel is shared, use wisdom to determine the most suitable next steps for those expressing interest in following Christ. This could involve attending your Sunday services or joining a typical small group within your church. In certain contexts, starting a small group specifically for individuals from diverse cultures might be beneficial. This group could facilitate the study of Christianity’s foundational principles and the development of a life-on-life community.
The nature of this ministry may vary. In some cases, it might remain small and informal. Conversely, it could at times necessitate the establishment of a small group, a house church, or a ministry tailored for individuals from other cultures. Some churches may choose to integrate people from diverse cultures into their regular church activities. Ultimately, the decision should align with the church’s unique life and rhythms.
A Practical Example
From personal experience, I’ve witnessed the incredible formation of genuine friendships between Christians from different cultures within your church. These friendships have the potential to lead to the sharing of the gospel, discipleship, and a vision for cross-cultural outreach.
Here’s an example from a church where I served as a missions pastor, Cornerstone Church in Ames, Iowa. In 1972, Jack Owens, along with three other men from a Baptist Student Union at the University of Oklahoma were sent with a vision to reach the Big 8 schools (the predecessor of what is now the Big 12). One landed at Kansas State, another at the University of Nebraska, and Jack at Iowa State University. Jack took his family at age 40 to South Korea in 1985 as missionaries. Upon returning in 1996 Jack founded the International Friendship Connection (IFC) at Cornerstone. Why? Because when he went to South Korea, he experienced hospitality he had never given while he was in America.
This ministry grew slowly over the years to include people from many different countries and eventually began to include Cornerstone members from all ages and walks of life with a passion to reach university students. At the time I was on staff, IFC had over 80 leaders, both American and non-Western, engaging with 120 students in small groups from over 20 different countries. That was 120 international students hearing and interacting with the gospel and with Christians regularly. Here’s how it worked.
The basic strategy of IFC was: 1) Welcome; 2) Evangelize; 3) Disciple; and 4) Commission. The main context by which IFC accomplished this was through “Family Groups”. These groups met each week in the homes of American leaders around the city. In these family groups, the first goal was welcoming. There was always a meal, getting-to-know-you questions, a welcoming environment, and time to play afterwards. I hosted one of these groups in my home and the students often stayed well beyond when I had already gone to bed! They were sharing laughs, joys, ideas, and hurts, all brought together by a group of believers who loved God’s heart for the nations.
Beyond creating this family environment, each week the Bible was taught in a simple but clear way. In bringing the gospel to those of different cultures it is important to consider (1) they often do not have a Judeo-Christian background so their basic understanding of the Bible is not present as is would be in most Western cultures, and (2) their level of English, even if they attend university tends may be too low for religious discussion. Understanding engineering, when you have been studying engineering in your country, is much easier to learn than discussing metaphysics, philosophy, and religion in a different language.
This takes empathy and can be difficult to grasp in the large group setting of the American church. For this reason, Cornerstone provided options for internationals to study the Scriptures separate from our normal Sunday morning gatherings. While we were working to create an environment for people of many cultures to worship together, the language and basic understanding of Christianity created a barrier that was hard to overcome for international students to hear and respond to the gospel. A customized context was needed.
Beyond Family Groups, our leaders met with students as their friends to continue to welcome them and share the gospel with them. For those who became Christians or who knew Jesus already, they were discipled by those same American leaders. As they looked towards life after graduation or returning back home, our international ministry staff team provided equipping opportunities by which they were commissioned to join a church or to become church planters in their home country.
An overview of this ministry is captured in the graphic below:
An Added Benefit for Sending Churches
Local cross-cultural ministry itself is an extraordinary endeavor. However, there is an added benefit to ministering cross-culturally within your own community: it serves as an excellent platform for identifying, assessing, and developing potential missionaries.
Current behavior often provides a reliable indicator of future behavior. While airplanes facilitate travel to cross-cultural locations, they do not transform individuals. One of the most effective ways to determine if someone will be a faithful cross-cultural missionary is to observe their practice of missionary behavior within their own community. Before embarking on cross-cultural missions, individuals should demonstrate a consistent pattern of faithfulness to cross-cultural outreach.
In your missionary candidate development process, does cross-cultural outreach hold a milestone position? If not, we strongly recommend integrating it into your approach. This approach may vary across the diverse communities we serve. Sometimes, when a community lacks individuals from other cultures, churches may assign missionary candidates to reach out to those from different socioeconomic backgrounds. While this may not explicitly cross ethnic boundaries, it still provides valuable experience in navigating cross-cultural dynamics.
While demonstrating faithfulness to cross-cultural ministry is not a guarantee of success in a cross-cultural location, there are other methods we explore in our Upstream resources to assess this candidate’s readiness. Nevertheless, we strongly encourage you to prioritize cross-cultural ministry as a key assessment and development milestone for your church’s missionary candidates.
A Final Encouragement
Amazingly, in the modern world your church members don’t necessarily need passports to engage in cross-cultural missions. There’s an opportunity within your own community to reach people from all over the world. Let’s seize this chance to love our neighbors from different cultures. Take steps to establish a local cross-cultural ministry. By doing so, your church will enhance its capacity to love its neighbors and the nations. And it may even lead to an increase in the number of qualified and sent individuals for long-term missions!
Next Steps
The journey toward sending well happens one step at a time. Here are three ways you can continue moving upstream:
Go to an ethnic restaurant in your city with some other church members or leaders. Get to know the owner or manager of the store. Ask them some introductory questions to get to know them. See if a relationship forms through that conversation or further visits to that restaurant.
Download our “Worksheet for Developing a Cross-Cultural Ministry in Your Church” to apply the principles from this resource to your church context.
Watch the Upstream Training, “Developing an International Student Ministry.”