Naturally, during a global pandemic, the idea of leaving home and travelling abroad may cause stress and anxiety. Yet, hundreds of thousands of international students will arrive in the UK and Ireland this month to begin studying at university.
The predicted 50% drop in students studying abroad in the UK, due to Covid-19, has not yet materialised – with Scotland reportedly seeing an increase in international students!
Now is the time to be aware of international students in our midst. Friends International (FI), a close ministry partner of IFES Europe and UCCF Great Britain, is finding that many of these students have more concerns about studying overseas this year.
Students from China coming to Southampton University shared their feelings with FI staff:
“Will people discriminate against me because of what people are calling the ‘Chinese Coronavirus’?” Another said: “I’m nervous about coming on my own to another country; will I be able to communicate with people as I’m not confident in English?”
Some of these are common concerns for any student studying abroad, yet Covid-19 is bringing increasing uncertainty and universities are having to make significant changes. Ministry needs among international students are especially intense this year because of the added isolation of social distancing conditions—and those conditions make it especially challenging for ministries to connect with these students.
A student from France, studying at Cardiff University, shared how their university was changing:
“The usual start date for our courses has been postponed. The earliest induction date will not be until late October. They will also change the teaching experience: it will be mostly online and small-group teaching. I would say that the uni experience will certainly be different, but all those thorough implementations aim to ensure the safety of everyone. After all, better safe than sorry.”
Please pray this week:
For international students arriving in their study destinations this month—in the UK and many other countries. Pray that they would manage the changes well and not be overwhelmed.
For local churches and Christians to make every effort to welcome the new students and to connect with them even if that is online.
For FI staff and Christian students who are offering friendship and faith to these students. Pray that the hospitality schemes, English language classes and Bible studies would all help integrate the students while moving them closer to a saving faith.
Ministry continues through multiplication. Multiplication happens through empowering students to lead. Every two years, IFES Europe multiplies their efforts by investing in their student leaders through the Student Leadership Formación (SLF). The conference provides mentorship to young leaders across Europe. Sem Thomas, from IFES Belgium, attended the training in 2009. Now, he is a full-time staff member with his movement. He says that he is still in contact with at least six former participants in Flanders. Each person is either a church leader or has served in a movement for several years. Sem says,
“All of them have since grown as leaders. I would like to believe that SLF had an impact in how they lead now.”
Sem has also watched his own students grow as a result of attending SLF. Ruth was a student who showed leadership potential. Upon Sem’s recommendation, she attended SLF where she was empowered to step into new roles.
“Sending Ruth to SLF was my way of helping her to see her potential better. After going to SLF as a participant, she decided to be more involved in her local student group, where she became the president. Later she joined our staff team and went back to SLF as a community group leader. Then later she returned to be on the organizing team.”
This year, SLF will look a little different due to COVID-19. What once was a two-week conference has now lengthened to a 10-month course to compensate for going online. Though the format has changed, the goals have not. Participants will cross cultural barriers to collaborate, create, learn, and receive mentorship. The training will focus especially on equipping young leaders to adapt to the changing circumstances.
SLF begins this month, so this week let’s pray for the young leaders involved.
Pray for the new online format. Pray for the technology involved, for strong internet signals, and that participants would feel a strong sense of community with their peers even though they are not meeting in person.
Pray for a sense of direction for participants. Pray that God would reveal the areas where they are gifted. Pray that they would grow in recognising how to use these gifts to serve others.
Pray for the organizers involved. Pray that they would have many creative ideas to remain adaptable and organized in the new format. Pray for wisdom as they mentor and guide participants.
If the pandemic has taught us anything, it is the power of Christian connection. Inspired by this idea, a group of students from UCCF Great Britain created a virtual choir for Christian Unions across the country. After more than 1000 students joined the Facebook group in a matter of days, it was clear that the project was fulfilling a deep need.
What began as 50 – 100 students singing together quickly developed into a huge operation. The students divided themselves into regional coordinators, recruited tech teams, and produced a demo track. International students and students from other IFES movements joined in, adding a verse sung in multiple languages. After one week of organization, one week of video submissions, and two weeks of editing, they uploaded the final video to YouTube. With 550 singers, 60 tech people, and 50 organizers, the project was a testament of student initiative and cooperation.
As the video circulated, the students found their non-Christian friends to be very responsive. One CU student from Essex said,
“I have sent the video to everyone! My non-Christian friends liked seeing what I was involved in and one friend even prayed after watching the video.”
Looking back on the experience, students involved say that the choir revealed a deep longing for connection. Hannah Wood, one of the student organizers, says that the choir shows the power of doing something together. She says:
“Throughout the whole process there was a real sense of togetherness, that although we may all be from different backgrounds and universities and even countries, we all want the name of Jesus to be proclaimed, and that one way to do that is by singing together.”
“I’m praying for you.” Aaron’s* comment to his Muslim friend Rashid* prompted questions. How do you pray? What kind of prayers? How does it work?
Students Rashid and Aaron met last year. Rashid wants to be friends, and occasionally seems keen to talk about deeper things. And yet, like most people from his country, he is also distrustful and hesitant. Building a friendship of trust in which you can share deeply, requires patience and time – time spent together.
With the COVID-19 pandemic, being together is difficult. For many it’s impossible for Christians to physically meet up with their non-Christian friends. Classes are cancelled; students are stuck at home. Communication must happen online, where people can feel more hesitant to talk openly.
Another Christian student Ali* recently started up an English Club on his campus. He couldn’t share openly at the club, but it provided a place to build friendships. Now Ali needs to find creative ways to strengthen those new friendships, while the group cannot meet in person.
Pray for Aaron, Ali and other Christian students to find ways to keep investing in relationships with Muslim friends. Pray for opportunities to show love and to share more deeply about the hope they have.
Pray for Rashid to have the courage to ask more questions and explore the claims of the Christian faith this year.
Longer-term, pray for trust and a sense of partnership to be built with local churches so that Christian students can be discipled effectively and trained up to lead.
*names changed
How is your student group adapting to doing mission in a COVID-19 world? How are you seeing God work? We’re making a film to encourage students around the world. Email hello@ifesworld.org with videos sharing your stories and showing what you’re up to.
Resiato*, an international student from Kenya, has big dreams. She wants to start an international student ministry at her university in Estonia. Her motivation? The Great Commission from Matthew 28. Resiato sees her campus as a platform to make disciples of the nations.
It’s a big dream, but Resiato isn’t alone. A staff worker from another IFES movement heard about her plans and recently travelled to meet her. They spoke about how to share Christ with international friends and how to start a ministry. Within a few months Resiato was taking a Hindu friend to church regularly, and had arranged to talk to church pastors to share her vision.
The majority of international students in Estonia come from Nigeria, Russia and Ukraine, but there are many from India, Bangladesh and Azerbaijan as well. Resiato reflects:
“I’m interacting with so many different cultures. Sometimes I get it right, sometimes I don’t. But the materials from IFES definitely help me carry out the Great Commission.”
Resiato needs your prayers as she seeks to establish an international student ministry in Estonia:
Pray for Resiato as she shares her vision and gathers leaders to help reach out to international students.
Pray that many international students would be reached with the good news of Jesus through this new group in Estonia.
Thank God for partnership between IFES movements. Pray for more opportunities to encourage one another and share resources.
In March 2018, I tried to start a group for international students in the Bulgarian city of Varna… and failed miserably.
The journey begins
BCSU, the IFES movement in Bulgaria, had already started a group for international students in Sofia, the capital. It was going so well that we wanted to expand the work to another city. Varna was the next logical place. It had a large international student population, and there was no other Christian group available for them.
But Varna was an eight-hour train ride across the country from Sofia, where I and most BCSU staff workers lived. The only staff worker in Varna was already tied up with other ministry responsibilities. So we started praying. And we waited for an opportunity.
From bad to worse
Shortly after that, a volunteer offered to come and spend three weeks in Varna, helping to establish the group. An answer to our prayers! We had a venue ready to host us as well, so I travelled to Varna to join the volunteer.
Publicity was the first job. We handed out flyers and talked to hundreds of international students. And then the night of the first event came… and only three students showed up. It was a bad start – but the other nights were even worse. On one evening there were no students there at all! It was very discouraging. We questioned whether God had wanted us to start a group in Varna at all.
Sarah’s request
Then we got a message from Sarah*. She was one of the three students from the first night. She had enjoyed meeting us and wanted to start going to church. At least we had reached one student! God’s definition of success is different than ours, we thought. Perhaps His plan was for us to help this one student come to faith.
Sarah started getting more involved at the church. She was enjoying what she learned and loved the atmosphere. But Sarah was unable to attend the weekly church Bible studies because she didn’t speak Bulgarian. She asked us if we could help. Using resources from the IFES Breaking New Ground program, and with Sarah’s promise to invite her friends, we decided to try one more time to start something for international students in Varna.
Unexpected results
And this time, in October 2018, the students showed up! And they kept coming back. The group started looking at the gospel of John using the Uncover material. Amazingly, the group grew and flourished as international students kept inviting their friends to explore the person of Jesus.
Today it is the largest student group in the country! The group currently includes both seekers and believers from countries across South Asia, Europe and Africa. Sarah is still on her journey of figuring out what she believes. She continues to be a big advocate for the group and invites her friends to all our events.
And I have learned that God’s vision for reaching students is so much bigger than mine, and that He can use our supposed failures for His glory.
6 February 2020 was the first anniversary of the death of British pastor, evangelist and theologian Michael Green. A huge part of Michael’s life and ministry was spent telling students about Jesus. He spoke at countless mission weeks in Great Britain and across Europe, leading many to faith and inspiring students of IFES movements to live and speak for Jesus unreservedly. Two months before he went home to Glory, Michael shared his reflections on the changes, challenges and future of student ministry in the region.
What changes have you seen in student ministry over the years?
The biggest thing I’ve noticed is growth. We’re well aware of what a secularised world we’re living in these days. But we often don’t realise that the Christian church has actually never grown as fast as it has in our generation. The growth, particularly from Islam, is massive in south-east Asia, and we’re seeing this in a number of countries in Europe as well. Underneath the somewhat tired, old oak trees of Catholicism and Orthodoxy we’ve now got the green grass growing up: new movements of young men and women committed to Christ.
What are the main challenges to evangelism in the university in Europe today?
Most countries in Europe have come out of a communist situation, and so there’s still a lot of communist ideology and burnt-in atheism. But there’s also the influence of consumerism and materialism which make people very hedonistic and self-serving. These things affect the spiritual climate and make the atmosphere forbidding.
Add to that the fact that evangelical work almost anywhere in Europe is regarded as a sect. So Christians tend to keep their heads down, and generally there isn’t the confident boldness that I would like to see. People don’t expect God to do great things; they don’t expect conversions when you have meetings. And then of course they’re all covered with confusion when they see ten people coming to Christ! But it happens often enough. I love it!
But these are very difficult days. There is no doubt that the Christian gospel is facing challenges that it’s never faced before. Issues like trans-genderism were almost unknown in days gone by, but now are major. And today’s Christian young men and women have got to get so rooted in the gospel that they are able to handle challenges of this sort. So when they come upon these new, contentious issues, they don’t just give an opinion, but answer from a rooted, biblical worldview.
What encourages you as you look at the work of IFES national movements in Europe?
I’m encouraged to see a greater innovation and creativity in evangelism. In the old days it would have been straight proclamation. I believe in proclamation, but I believe in using the creative arts as well: music and drama and dance and mime and so on. We’re beginning to see more of that in Europe. Of course, the gospel is the same, but the wrappings need to be different according to the culture.
National movements are also paying more attention to apologetics training, and I wish I’d focused more on that when I was young. I now realise that apologetics never saved anybody, but it is a very valuable tool for moving the rubbish out of the road that leads to Christ. It needs to be the hand-maid of evangelism, not some sort of metaphysical discussion that never brings anybody to conclusion.
What advice would you give to this generation of Christian students?
Firstly, I would urge all Christian students to join a Bible-based organisation that is passionately evangelistic in outreach and coherent in fellowship, and the classic example is the IFES worldwide. Christian students need to be with other students who are committed believers from a different denomination, from a different nation, from a different culture. Together they need to be God’s counter-culture on campus, committed to God’s work in the university.
The future lies with people who’ve got the guts to stand up and be counted. Students must have one foot in the culture and one foot in the Scriptures. And they must have a heart blazing with passion to pass on this gospel that has made new people of them. Unless there is a new life and a new lifestyle in us, nobody’s going to listen. But if there is, and if we’re determined to reach the lost, nothing will be able to stand against us. Jesus promised that the gates of Hades would not be able to stand against the proclamation by His kingdom. And He’s never been proved wrong yet.
What’s kept you going for so long?
I think there are two things: one is my devotional life. I have kept a devotional life going every day right the way through my life. In other words, I’ve kept in touch with the source of light and life, and that is absolutely critical. The other thing is that when I find I’m not doing anything for the Lord, my spiritual temperature goes down. But once something new is thrown to me, I say to myself, ‘Hey look, I can’t do this – but the Lord can. I’ve got to rely on Him.’ And so: a mixture of keeping my devotional life going and taking opportunities for service which will cast me back to draw afresh on the resources of the Lord. Those two things have kept me fresh.
What’s your prayer for Europe’s students in the coming years?
I pray that in the next ten years there’ll be a renewed confidence in the power of the gospel, a new courage to be bold in testimony, in drama, in music, in dance, and in inventing other ways of bringing the gospel home to friends. And that confidence of course comes from going back to the cross again and again, and realising what the Lord has done for us. And if He’s done it for us, He’s done it for others. So woe to us if we don’t proclaim the gospel.
We give thanks to God for the faithful service of this remarkable man to the university world. His co-worker and friend Michael Ots, reflected:
It was an incredible joy and privilege to partner with Michael in student evangelism around Europe over the last ten years of his life. He was not only an incredible evangelist and an inspiring mentor but he also became a close friend. His many decades of involvement in evangelism around the world gave him a unique position from which to assess the strategic and valuable ministry of IFES of which he was a great supporter.
Buy a copy of the recently published authorised biography Michael Green: By His Friends. It includes reflections from Lindsay Brown (former IFES General Secretary), Richard Cunningham (UCCF Great Britain General Secretary) and Michael Ots, among others. Also available at tenofthose.com.
30 December 2019: students, graduates, staff members, and representatives from other Christian student ministries – together, united. All 3,000 voices from 68 countries raised together in prayer for God to move in Europe. For many, it was the stand-out moment of Revive,the recent IFES Europe student evangelism conference.
Giulia, a graduate from Switzerland, was one of the 3,000. She shared her reflections:
“In my workplace, I’m surrounded by people who don’t know the Lord, but sadly I’ve put little effort into sharing my faith or living as a disciple at work. Revive made it very clear to me that, as a graduate, obedience to God must come first every day of the week, not just in my free time. I left eager and equipped to be a fruitful, blazing witness in my workplace.”
Will you join us this week as we pray for Giulia and for all those who were at Revive?
Thank God for the amazing ways he answered prayer for Revive. Countless young people left feeling excited to be part of something bigger, better equipped for mission on campus and beyond, and with a renewed love for Jesus and the gospel.
Giulia asked us to pray for graduates in Europe: “Pray that we become equipped for evangelism through a flourishing relationship with our Creator and Saviour.”
As the new semester starts, pray that Revive participants would be putting into practice what they learned. Pray that through them, revival would come on campuses and in communities across Europe.
Sandbags. It was an unusual picture. Brian* had been a student at the time. Just one among the vast crowds of young people at Urbana, the InterVarsity/USA missions conference. And there God spoke to him. He gave Brian a vision for using his life to share his faith. The picture he had was of people piling up sandbags to deal with a flood, but there was one area where no one was working. If I can go anywhere to share my faith, why not go where no one else is going? he thought. And so the idea of serving among Muslim people was planted in Brian’s mind.
A short-term mission trip to Bosnia, a Muslim-majority country, confirmed it. Brian found he could relate to Muslim people well, and he enjoyed their company. Living among them and sharing his faith seemed more doable. Before, the concept of Islam had been an empty void to him. Now it had a face.
Surprises in store
Brian ended up settling in France with his young family, to serve with GBU, the IFES movement there. A large part of his time was spent reaching out to Muslim students and helping GBU students to do the same. It wasn’t easy. Being on staff didn’t make him immune from the usual fears of evangelism. Over the years that followed, Brian discovered a lot about sharing the gospel with Muslim students. And he was often surprised.
Coffee and questions
Brian and his wife set out for the campus one cold morning, armed with flasks of coffee to hand out, and a question: would you be interested in joining our Bible/Quran discussion group? One of the Muslim students they met that day was particularly keen to come along. Why? That very morning he’d been wondering what the differences were between the Bible and the Quran. He was delighted to meet someone offering him the opportunity to find out – along with a free coffee!
Time and again, Brian found that Muslim students were often happy to talk about faith matters, and to receive prayer. In fact, they were often disappointed to find that westerners – including Christians – were usually reluctant to talk about those kinds of things.
Rethinking worldviews
While it was easy enough to get into a conversation with a Muslim student, their different worldview meant that Brian needed to learn a different approach in apologetics.
Take, for example, the commonly held Muslim belief that the Bible has been changed and corrupted. In a Western context, Brian would start by inviting the student to look at the evidence, say by studying the manuscripts, to prove that the Bible hasn’t been changed. But that approach, Brian found, fell flat on a listener with a Muslim worldview. One day he tried something else:
On hearing ‘the Bible has been changed’, Brian suddenly took a step away from the student. What are you doing? they asked. “I don’t want to be standing here if you get hit by lightning”, Brian replied. “What you’re saying is really serious. This is God’s Word. Are you saying God has allowed His Word to be changed?! May God protect you from what you’re saying right now.”
Brian’s dramatic approach worked. The student quickly changed his mind. Because as a Muslim he already understood that God is sovereign and unthwartable; there was no way He’d let His Word be changed.
Daniel Morton – Unsplash
Believing forward
Of course, helping a Muslim see that the Bible hasn’t been changed was not the end goal; it was just a helpful step along the way. Brian knew that the power to transform hearts is found in the Bible. That’s why he helped start up student-led Bible/Quran discussion groups, and loved to open the Bible with his Muslim friends. Sharing his faith and his life was not quick, easy, or obviously fruitful work. But it was obedient. And that’s all that mattered.
So what about us? Why should we bother to share the gospel with our Muslim classmates on campus? Brian reflected:
We don’t have a choice but to get on board with it. If we’re really committed to reaching every corner of campus, we have to be willing to engage all people. There are staff in IFES movements today who are former Muslims. We have to ‘believe forward’, trusting that these Muslim students might one day be faithfully serving God as well.
There are Christians today living in Iran, Tunisia, Kyrgyzstan and similar places. If they could, they would beg us to reach out to their fellow compatriots while we can. Immigrants and international students, visiting scholars. It’s probably their best chance to hear the gospel, and it’s an amazing way that we can partner with our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world.
Rindra is from Madagascar but has been studying in Norway
this year, where he’s been serving NKSS, the IFES movement there, in his spare
time. In ten days, he’ll be making his way down to Germany, to gather with
3,000 other students and graduates at Revive, the European student evangelism
conference. Rindra and thousands across the region, are hungry to see a move of
God in this generation.
Rindra is particularly looking forward to two of the many
seminars on offer: ‘Talking about Jesus without sounding religious’, and ‘The
Mark Drama’. He wants to learn how to share Jesus in different ways, and see his
NKSS friends enthused about evangelism. Norway, like so many countries in
Europe, is increasingly secular and needs revival.
As students and staff from IFES and other Christian student
organisations seek God together at Revive, their prayer is that revival would
ripple out across Europe and beyond. That’s Rindra’s prayer too:
“I hope to be enthused and equipped to return home to Madagascar, to UGBM, the IFES movement there, and share His name, continually praying for revival in our universities and nation.”
Join us in praying for Revive:
The impact of Revive, for individuals, universities and countries, could be huge. But not without prayer! Pray that God would do an amazing work of reviving hearts, and ultimately universities and the whole of Europe, for His glory.
Pray for the organisers, volunteers, prayer team, speakers and those leading seminars or workshops. Pray that they would have energy and great joy as they serve together.
Pray for the students coming from smaller student movements, that Revive would be particularly encouraging and helpful for them.
Over the last 40 weeks, students of IFES movements across Europe have been making short videos about their countries and how you can pray for them. Watch all the videos here
