International Ministry Takes the Whole Church

Over the past six months, I’ve met weekly to read the Bible with a Muslim friend in our city. It’s been an incredibly encouraging season to share Jesus with a friend who had never heard the gospel. But, honestly, I’m even more excited about how my church rallied alongside me to support and participate in this evangelistic lifestyle.

In my church, I lead our global missions ministry, and one of the main ways we live that out is through outreach to international students and immigrants. We want to show hospitality, build friendships, and share the gospel, all while inviting our church to participate in this ministry.

But the Christian life is filled with different seasons, and each family has a different capacity for service in the church. We don’t need every member to feel obligated to meet weekly with an international student to meaningfully participate. 

Instead, we ought to recognize that God has given each one of us unique skills, resources, and capacities in various seasons to serve him, and we need to work together to make Jesus known in our community.

PRAYING FOR INTERNATIONALS IN YOUR CITY

One of the best ways to invite your church into international ministry is by encouraging them to pray. A nearby church in my city does a wonderful job praying for the nations from their pulpit each week and gathering once a week to pray for internationals in the city. Deacons in our church have done an excellent job visiting small groups and advocating for the groups to begin praying for the students in our community. 

We encourage those who are actively sharing the gospel with international students to invite their friends and family to pray fervently. As Oswald Chambers said, “Prayer does not fit us for the greater work; prayer is the greater work.” 

As you consider how you can invite church members to participate in the Great Commission, call them to pray regularly. Don’t overlook those whose primary participation is through prayer. Instead, encourage them and give them opportunities to mobilize other church members to pray for the nations in your city.

PARTICIPATE IN OUTREACH TO INTERNATIONALS

As I met with my Arab friend, my small group regularly prayed for him, but they also began to enter into evangelistic relationships of their own. Almost weekly, a group member would share about an evangelistic conversation from the week before. And some of them even began participating in outreach to internationals in our city.

In the past few months, we’ve had families host internationals for dinner, singles drive students to the grocery store, and members bring immigrants to church. International ministry is such a beautiful picture that we need the whole body. Some members have given generously to fund outreach events, others are committed to praying consistently, some cook homemade meals for students in our communities, others offer up a spare bedroom for them to stay, and some members spend hours on campus meeting new students.

WE NEED ONE ANOTHER IN INTERNATIONAL MINISTRY

Serving in international ministry alongside the local church is a wonderful reminder that we need one another. We don’t need every member to be on the college campus meeting with international students, but we do need every member to play their role in Great Commission work. We need to help get church members off the sidelines and into their role in cross-cultural ministry. 

Recently, we hosted an outreach dinner for international students in our network, and we had around 50 volunteers serve in a variety of roles. Some of them came to the event and ate with the students. Others prepared and delivered food. Some just came and offered a ride to a student before going home to put their young kids to bed. Some of them stayed home and prayed. But every one of them was necessary.

In a large church, it would be more efficient to cater the food and streamline volunteers. But imagine how many members would lose a meaningful way to participate if we did that.

International ministry takes the whole church. As my wife regularly reminds me, efficiency is not a fruit of the spirit. And missions isn’t a side program in the church. Mission is the overflow of discipleship to Jesus, and we need the whole church to play their role.