Priya (not her real name) came to our city from India at 19 to study biology. She’d grown up in a Sikh family, but her parents were basically atheists. Priya had concluded that God was just a prop that people had made up to blame things on or ask for things from.
When Priya first arrived in the US, she found her way to a party that “Ministry K” (name changed), our international student outreach, was hosting. That’s where her story with us began. But first, let me give you a little background.
Not long ago Ministry K was just an idea—something God planted in my heart when he opened my eyes to a big need that wasn’t being addressed by believers in my community. God revealed the need, planted the idea, and then brought the perfect people to shape and direct it. Ministry K has been so successful at meeting the felt needs of students that the Indian government actually contacts us when they’re aware of a new student coming to our area. They know the students will receive a supportive welcome and opportunities to connect with people locally that help them immensely.
This is how it came about. In our city, there are hundreds of students like Priya, but I was totally unaware of it. Then I came across a statistic: for every twelve people moving to this area, one of them is Indian. I learned that these Indians were a highly educated group—professionals coming here to work, or students, like Priya, coming to pursue their education.
I was pastoring a local church at the time, and realized my church was very white and non-integrated. We had no meaningful ministry engagement with that sizable Indian population. I couldn’t help but wonder if we were missing a huge outreach opportunity to the Indian people in our midst.
Just after God put this question on my heart, an Indian couple who had attended my church prior to me becoming pastor there stopped by my office. James and Mary (names changed) had since returned to their home country and were engaged in planting a church in India. With these statistics about our city fresh in my mind, I threw a crazy idea on the table: would they ever consider returning to start a ministry to the Indian population here? They would certainly have a lot to offer.
It turns out that was God’s idea, not mine. It’s a long story, but eventually James and Mary sensed God leading them to return to start Ministry K, which is now in its fourth year.
—————
God called James to direct Ministry K, and he called me to do everything in my power to support and empower James and Mary in the work. From the beginning, we shared a mutual desire that Ministry K be well connected and collaborative with local churches, and I was able to leverage my years as a local pastor to introduce James to many other area pastors and local churches. Over the years these churches have worked together to support the work of Ministry K by hosting different events for students: bringing in a well-known cricket player to do a clinic, hosting a Christmas party or concert, really anything to bring people together. I have the honor of being a board member and being an intentional mentor and encourager to James and Mary as they direct the ministry.
When they started Ministry K, James and Mary decided hospitality would be the key focus, based on their own experience as immigrants to the US and what they discovered about the felt needs of the student population in the area. They organized “host homes” to pick students up from the airport and get them to their dorms, coordinated parties and special events of interest to the students, and arranged gatherings to serve Indian foods that students might be missing from back home. Each connection and event was a chance to form relationships with students and discover where God was working in their lives.
Some of the events were specifically designed to invite students into spiritual conversations and introduce Jesus. Recognizing that these students came to the US to receive a more prestigious education and launch a successful career, James and Mary set up events where a business person with a position of significance would speak. These successful business people would share about their business involvement, philanthropy—whatever those significant pieces of their lives might be—and would also speak about their faith. Conversations flowing out of these events have led to deeper spiritual conversations with students and follow-up gatherings to learn more, such as Discovery Bible Studies (learn more about DBS here).
—————
Priya’s story is an example of how Ministry K is impacting individual students. The first event Priya came to was a Christmas party, where she got into a conversation with one of the leaders about her belief that the virgin birth was a story Joseph and Mary made up “to cover their tracks.” This was the first (but not the last) time she entered into a spiritual conversation with someone at Ministry K.
Fast forward a year or two. Priya had gone through some of the natural difficulties that come with growing up, being away from home, and the rigors of study. She was in a really low place, and started re-engaging in spiritual conversations in a different way.
Priya shares that one morning she was eating her breakfast cereal when the reality of what people had been speaking into her life for a couple of years overwhelmed her. Right then and there, with her mouth literally full, she started to cry and gave her life to Jesus. She has since returned home to India and been a witness to her family of a changed life. Her sister has come to faith as well.
Over the last few years, many other students have made similar faith decisions because of Ministry K. It has been incredibly rewarding to watch James and Mary, who are like the mom and dad of everyone in the ministry, baptize these students. Some of these new followers have been the result of more formal gatherings and DBS groups, but often, as in Priya's story, it’s simply the result of relationships and what the Holy Spirit is doing in a student’s life.
Our breakthroughs with students have less to do with a specific strategy to reach them, and more to do with simply paying attention to where God is working in their lives and joining with him there. After all, this was all his idea. He revealed the need, gave insight on how to meet it, and then brought the fruit. As we listen and engage where God directs, we get to see the good news of Jesus take root and flourish in the lives of these beloved children of God.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bob Thomas pastored for 40 years before joining Novo’s ChurchNext collective to focus on encouraging, supporting, and resourcing younger ministry leaders and pastors, like James, who are responding to the changing needs of the church today and forming the church of the future.