Friends International: How can we prepare international students for returning home?
Not long ago I was at the baptism of two international students who had become Christians. They came from a country where there’s a lot of hostility towards Christianity to study in the U.K. After they arrived, they joined an English language conversation club to help them get by. It was run by local Christians, and over time they found out more about these Christians.
They joined an Alpha Course at one church in the city and loved talking through their questions. Two days before New Year’s Eve, round the house of someone from that church, they both said they wanted to become Christians. They ran an Alpha Course for friends who had questions, and eventually members of their family became Christians back home through conversations over video calls. At their baptism one of them said, “I know it will be safe for me to go home as a quiet Christian, but I want to live as a loud Christian.” The other, before going under the water, shouted, “This is my faith!” They are back home now, living and speaking for Jesus.
How can we play a part in that journey?
Phil Duncalfe is an Elder at Hope Church Guildford who has been working with Friends International in Guildford for three years. Many Commission churches are in university towns and cities, and Fearghal Kelly (Partnering in The Gospel Blog Co-ordinator) talked to Phil about how Friends International can help:
FK: Phil, how can Friends International support local churches?
PD: Our aim is to support international students, but we do so in partnership with the local church and the university. Our heart is to be a connection point for international students coming to whatever town you’re in. They then meet us and our volunteers and, through friendships, they can get connected with the churches that volunteers go to. We often have speakers from local churches at local events. In short, without the partnerships we have with churches, we couldn’t do what we do! If you have Friends International in your town or city, ask them to put on a training day for your church perhaps on cross-cultural relationships. It can be a huge blessing to your church!
We have a bunch of books at the website (friendsinternational.uk), there are free resources and guides. If you don’t have a local friends international branch, there’s one on how you can work together with other churches to start one. There’s one on the things to be aware of in becoming a welcoming space for international students, but it’s helpful for non-students from other cultures too!
FK: Why is it important to be so intentional about supporting students returning to their home country?
PD: Peter Teagle (Friends International Head of Events Speaking) tells a story of how his wife came to the U.K. and loved getting to wear jumpers. It’s much colder here! When she returned to Singapore, she didn’t have any need for jumpers. Sometimes international students can treat Christianity like a jumper. It helps while you’re in the U.K., but it doesn’t fit when you go home. How do we preach, teach, train and disciple students to see how Jesus transforms their life so their faith fits when they return home?
From a world mission perspective, this is one of the most exciting things we can do. In Guildford, we have 6,000 international students from 140 different countries. Lots of them are from countries that are often very closed to receiving overseas mission workers.
How do you help someone who has become a Christian here and is returning to a country where it’s particularly hard to live openly as a Christian? We have lots of resources in Britain to help us live as Christians whereas some countries don’t have access to as many. How do we prepare students to share the gospel they’ve heard in a British context in a way that’ll be understood back home? How do we prepare them for reverse culture shock regardless of whether they’re a Christian or not? Reverse culture shock can often be more disorientating because going home should feel like home, but it takes time.
FK: What are the ways Friends International can support students returning home?
PD: On our bookshop website we have Returning Home which was made in partnership with universities. It’s tailored to be quite secular so it’s applicable to all students. You can put on an event (it’s adaptable so it can be a day, a course, or a seminar) for all kinds of international students of any faith or none. It helps you run through comparing values from here and values back home. It helps if the person running it has some first-hand experience or second-hand stories of culture shock, such as a Friends International staff member.
There is also a resource called Think Home which is specifically for Christians going back. For some Christians, going home will mean navigating questions around ancestor worship. It’s important to talk through these things. Heading Home with Jesus is another book specifically for Christians heading back to China.
As well as books, Friends International staff would gladly also speak or work with your students to talk through returning home!
Talking about culture with students is an exciting opportunity for you yourself to grow in understanding what it means to be part of a global family, to celebrate God’s creation of all people, to worship a God who is for all nations, and to play a part in God’s mission. Humbly listening and learning about others’ culture communicates how much we value them a lot. It’s a privilege to be a part of!
Thanks to Phil Duncalfe from Friends International in Guildford for talking with us!
Written by Fearghal Kelly (Partnering in The Gospel Blog Co-ordinator)
28 April 2021
