While spending a month in Morocco recently, my wife and I were trying to find something somewhat familiar to eat. We wandered into a food stand that looked more Western than the rest, and as I struggled to use a small bit of Moroccan Arabic, I was shocked to hear a reply in pristine English.
We talked to the Moroccan owner for well over an hour, we covered the differences between Islam and Christianity, sharing our testimonies and the gospel with him—all of which he was eager to hear about.
As we were preparing to leave, he invited us to spend the day with him the next day and come to his family’s house for breakfast. We had literally just met him, and he’d completely rearranged his and his family’s schedule for us.
After that trip, my wife and I changed our approach to engaging with internationals in our city.
Welcome international students as they would (likely) welcome you.
What may seem strange to us in the United States may be normal to internationals. Many internationals may expect hospitality and a generous welcome from Americans since they would do the same for any foreigner visiting their countries.
Many internationals may expect hospitality and a generous welcome from Americans since they would do the same for any foreigner.
After our trip to Morocco, my wife and I began being intentional about our approach to international students. We learned to introduce ourselves, ask where they were from, and how their time in the United States had been, and invite them into our home. This has led to many relationships and opportunities to share the good news of the gospel over our dinner table or in the living room after the meal.
By God’s grace, over the last two years, we have had internationals from 18 different nations represented at our dinner table and have been able to share the gospel with nearly every single one of them.
Simply offering what is so strange to us—an invitation into a home from a relative stranger—is very normal for them! They are ready for your invitation. Simply find them, speak to them, and invite them. It is that easy. And while not all will accept, many will.
Invite Other Christians to Join You
One of the most fruitful and beautiful things we have seen the Lord do in our city is bring international students into relationships with individuals from a host of different churches, be loved on by them all, and hear the same gospel from them.
If you are becoming friends with an international in your city, invite your believing brothers and sisters along as well. Go together to dinner, the farmers market, to watch March Madness, or anything else you enjoy doing with friends. Your international friends will be grateful for the invitation and will see the unity of believers more readily.
One Muslim friend from Algeria powerfully commented to me that while he still had doubts regarding some of Christianity’s claims about the deity of Christ, he could not deny the fact that Christians loved in a way that was unlike anything he had experienced before, even from his own family. Because no matter what church a Christian he had met was a part of, they had all shown him this same love.
Don’t be Afraid to Quickly Open the Word
“So, you are Christians, right? Does that mean you worship three gods?” It is not uncommon to hear this as one of the earlier questions we are asked by our Muslim friends over dinner.
Yet again, another cultural misunderstanding we often have is that our international friends consider religion as taboo of a subject as it is here in America. But this is simply not the case. We have found that some of the most normal subjects to talk about with our friends are politics and religion.
Conversations should move into invitations to consider what Jesus has said about himself in the Bible.
While this makes it incredibly easy to get into meaningful conversations about the gospel, and quickly too, it is far too common for these to simply become a sort of back-and-forth dialogue of what we each respectively believe without any sort of engagement with the person and work of Jesus Christ himself.
Conversations should move into invitations to consider what Jesus has really said about himself in the Bible. Rather than being able to write off what you say as simply your own cultural opinion, students are brought face to face with the living God and his eternal Word in Christ Jesus.
In the context of a loving friendship, the welcoming environment of a Christian home, the community of unified believers, and engagement with the Word, the Holy Spirit has done and will continue to do a powerful saving work among the scores of internationals he has brought to our campuses, and he can use you to be a part of it.
Hunter Jewett is the International Minister at Iron City Church in Birmingham, Alabama.
