Diaspora and Returnee Ministries, Chicago, USA
Serving International Students
I serve international students at Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), both on IIT's main campus and downtown campus (law and business school). I partner together with another OMF colleague as well as a Bridges International team. We engage students through a variety of activities, to help meet practical needs, provide fellowship, engage in spiritual conversations, and host Bible studies for those interested. Chicago each year has about 25,000 international students, and the biggest three sending countries are China, India, and Saudi Arabia. What an opportunity we have to share Christ freely with students who would have limited opportunity to hear about Him in their home country (where Christian workers struggle to gain access)!
In addition to this, I also work with returnees. Through retreats and various follow-up discipleship groups, we seek to help Chinese Christians abroad prepare for the challenges they will face when they return to China. The sad realitity is that 80% of Christians returning to China fall away from the faith, so we, along with partner organizations, are seeking to help these believers grow more rooted in their faith and get connected to believers, churches, and returnee fellowships in China.
