How would you like to be used of God to change an entire nation?
Few Americans realize it … But today in the United States, there are over 7 million non-immigrant, non-tourist foreigners and 400,000 international students attending our colleges and universities.
If we believe that God is sovereign and that He works in the affairs of nations, we have to realize that He brought these foreign visitors to America for a reason. We need to understand that the missionary vision is straight from the heart of God! We literally have the whole world sitting on our doorstep.
In Acts chapter 8, we find Philip the evangelist preaching to an Ethiopian visitor, who was quite influential in the royal court of his country. Philip led him to the Lord, and the new believer went back to transform his own nation.
Imagine the possibilities! Because Philip was simply obedient to relate the gospel to the Ethiopian eunuch, all of Africa was introduced to the message of Jesus. The same can happen today when you become a friend to an international student and lead him to Christ! Your obedience to the Spirit of God can affect the destiny of a whole nation or even an entire continent!
Right now, one fourth to one half of the future leaders of the world are on American campuses. The greatest potential for world evangelism lies in the international students studying in America. God has truly brought the whole world to our doorstep. This is God’s most effective strategy for world evangelism.
There are many nations of the world which either prohibit or restrict missionary activity. In American universities, however, there are many Muslim, Chinese, and Southeast Asian students, whose governments are sponsoring their academic endeavors.
These students are already familiar with the people, language and customs of their own country. These international students are the future leaders of their societies, often comprising the top five percent of their nation – often, most people in these nations have never even heard of Jesus Christ. If these students become Christians while studying here in America and are trained in God’s Word, they can go back and begin a spiritual awakening in their own nation – from within!
The foreign students on your campus are often lonely and are used to living around people in their own nation who show them great respect. Now, living in America, they are treated like another face in the crowd. Most international students come to this country with a real desire to have an American friend. They are looking for people who have genuine love and concern for them.
How will you respond? Will you make a friend of an international student? Your love and friendship may one day help to change the world.
