International Student Ministry (ISM) refers to
evangelical Christian
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual exper ...
ministry among
international student
International students, or foreign students, are students who undertake all or part of their tertiary education in a country other than their own and move to that country for the purpose of studying.
In 2019, there were over 6 million internati ...
s within an academic context, often carried out by
Protestant college religious organizations, volunteers and churches.
It is considered part of the church's
mission
Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to:
Organised activities Religion
*Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity
*Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...
, within the broader framework of diaspora missions.
The first two decades of the 21st century have seen a sharp growth in the number of international students globally
with a corresponding development in ISM.
[
]
History
ISM traces its modern roots to John R. Mott who established ''The Committee on Friendly Relations among Foreign Students'' in 1911, which was the first national ISM in the US.
Some international Christian student organizations trace their origins back to the World Student Christian Federation. Since then, and particularly since the 1950s, there has been a growth of organizations doing this mainly in Western contexts. As of 2016 there were at least 57 organizations engaged in ISM in 22 countries.
In 2004, after a century of intermittent ISM growth[ Leiton Chinn convened a global gathering in Thailand of ISM leaders, and in 2007 he was appointed the Chair of the Lausanne ISM Issue Network.] The two Lausanne
, neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR-74), ...
Issue Groups of Diaspora and International Students then published ''Diasporas and International Students: The New People Next Door''. Recent publications include those by Yaw Perbi, Jack D. Burke and Enoch Wan. The Lausanne 2010 Cape Town Commitment (section II-C-5) refers to reaching out to international students.
In May 2014 the Lausanne ISM Global Leadership Network became a "docked network" with the World Evangelical Alliance
The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) is an interdenominational organization of evangelical Christian churches, serving more than 600 million evangelicals, founded in 1846 in London, England, United Kingdom to unite evangelicals worldwide. WEA i ...
's Mission Commission.[ It operates as WIN (Worldwide ISM Network).
]
In September 2017 the Lausanne ISM Global Leadership Network hosted a global ISM forum ''Charlotte '17'' which gathered 100 participants from 25 countries and 70 organizations.
It is suggested that ISM is grounded in the ''Missio Dei
''Missio Dei'' is a Latin Christianity, Christian Theology, theological term that can be translated as the "w:Mission (Christian), mission of God," or the "sending of God." It is a concept which has become increasingly important in missiology and ...
'' and is motivated by biblical precedent and trends in migration.[
] Chinn outlines ten reasons why ISM is strategic in relation to the Great Commission
In Christianity, the Great Commission is the instruction of the resurrected Jesus Christ to his disciples to spread the gospel to all the nations of the world. The Great Commission is outlined in Matthew 28:16– 20, where on a mountain i ...
and nine reasons why it benefits local churches.
Networks and organizations
Individual churches, such as Park Street Congregational Church in Boston, have welcoming ministries reaching international students.[ This ]modality
Modality may refer to:
Humanities
* Modality (theology), the organization and structure of the church, as distinct from sodality or parachurch organizations
* Modality (music), in music, the subject concerning certain diatonic scales
* Modaliti ...
-based model of ISM is attractive because every church member can be involved in cross-cultural mission at virtually no expense. Miller outlines key qualities leading to successful ISM by local churches. Chinn and Jones point out 6 strategic outcomes for international churches intentionally including international students in their ministry focus. Perbi and Brewster argue that ISM will be strengthened by the intentional involvement of "workplace Christians." Some denominational groups have established an ISM focus such as Anglican (USA), Lutheran Church (Missouri Synod), Assemblies of God (USA) and the Presbyterian Church in America
The Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) is the second-largest Presbyterian church body, behind the Presbyterian Church (USA), and the largest conservative Calvinist denomination in the United States. The PCA is Reformed in theology and presb ...
.[
A 2019 study based in the US concluded that "Chinese international undergraduate students identify the church and its fellowship as (1) a social support community and (2) an informal learning community, one which fills in the gap in counseling services and interpersonal activities that the university fails to offer."]
Christian campus organizations, which are sodalities
In Christian theology, a sodality, also known as a syndiakonia, is a form of the "Universal Church" expressed in specialized, task-oriented form as opposed to the Christian church in its local, diocesan form (which is termed '' modality''). In E ...
, have historically focused on domestic university students. These have developed campus-based ministries for international students directly linked to universities or colleges.[
]
At a global level, the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization
The Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization, more commonly known as the Lausanne Movement, is a global movement that mobilizes evangelical leaders to collaborate for world evangelization. The stated vision is "the whole church taking the whole ...
has an ISM issue network which connects groups internationally and interdenominationally. This network now includes a North American network on ISM. The Association for Christians Ministering Among Internationals (ACMI) is another ISM networking body. Networking between European ISMs has been identified as a priority.
Trends
Recent decades have seen a rapid increase in international student populations concurrent with the plateauing of some western markets, most notably the US. Students are turning to non-traditional centers of education, such as Asia. This shift is underpinned by well-formed international education policy
Education policy consists of the principles and policy decisions that influence the field of education, as well as the collection of laws and rules that govern the operation of education systems. Education governance may be shared between the local ...
of countries like China, Malaysia, Singapore and India.
The areas of diaspora missiology and its subset, international student ministry, have seen a theological and academic maturing. In 2018/2019 three key ISM-specific training resources were launched: the ''Lausanne Global Classroom,'' ''EveryInternational,'' and ''Look at the Fields'' Two ISM training workshops ran at the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES) World Assembly in July 2019. While practical ISM training is offered by a number of ISM organisations, the ''Charlotte '17'' conference considered the need for academic training and research in ISM led by seminaries and graduate schools.[ ]Columbia International University
Columbia International University (CIU) is a private Christian university in Columbia, South Carolina.
Divisions
CIU has five colleges: the College of Arts & Sciences, the College of Counseling, the College of Education, the College of Interc ...
lists a course called "Mission to International Students" in their 2019-2020 Academic Catalog.
Global mission sending organizations are recognizing the strategic nature and necessity of diaspora missions, and especially ISM. Some have refocused ISM efforts in traditional contexts because of the perceived global impact. Asia has been identified as an emerging region for ISM. It is beginning to take shape there, for example among international churches in China. Regarding the international students in, from and within Asia, Phil Jones has identified 8 challenges and 6 opportunities that Asian ISMs encounter. In tandem with the Indian hospitality concept of Atithi Devo Bhava ("the guest is god"), Emmanuel F. Benjamin describes the impact of welcoming foreign students in Pune, India
Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...
.
Nascent ISMs exist in South Africa, Kenya and Ghana. Bill Dindi of Kenya explores the viability, trends and features of ISM in Africa. Identifying the gaps and opportunities, he seeks to "build a case for a more robust ministry among international students in Africa as well as the approaches and shape this might take." Citing the historical growth of Christianity in Africa and the central role of Christian African international students, Perbi and Ngugi argue that the continent that was a mission field now comprises a mission force. Kwiverr's 2022 research of 116 respondents from 16 African countries revealed that there are many "largely unaware and unprepared African Christian International Students ho are
Ho (or the transliterations He or Heo) may refer to:
People Language and ethnicity
* Ho people, an ethnic group of India
** Ho language, a tribal language in India
* Hani people, or Ho people, an ethnic group in China, Laos and Vietnam
* Hiri M ...
virtually unseen and unsent by the African Church, the most populous and youngest in the world." Perbi's analysis in the ''Journal of African Christian Thought'' argues that international students to and from Africa have unrecognized and untapped ramifications for mission.
A global consultation of ISM leaders in September 2020 was called to assess whether ISM was still meaningful or viable given the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
.
References
{{reflist
International student religious organizations