One More Friend

Jake Holladay is one of our campus ministry missionaries that we support. He and his wife, Kalli, work with Chi Alpha at the University of Northern Colorado. Chi Alpha is the Assemblies of God Campus Ministry and their mission is to reconcile university students to Christ. The Holladay’s focus on reaching international students with the Gospel. Read more below about how all of us can welcome the internationals living in our community.

Imagine being somewhere you’ve never been before. What emotions would you be feeling in that moment? Fear? Anticipation? What if you couldn’t speak the language very well, how would you feel then? If you’ve ever traveled outside of the United States, you might have experienced this, but usually only for a short period of time. There are individuals who come here for months, sometimes years at a time, rarely being able to go back to their home country to visit, if at all. They come to the United States full of hopes, dreams, fears, and curiosity. 

That’s where we can come in! The United States is a melting pot of so many different cultures and the majority of those who come here come for education, a career, or a better life. We always talk about how we should go to the nations because of Christ’s command, but sometimes we tend to forget the Lord’s heart for the foreigners who have come to us. We represent the nation of Jesus, not just the nation of the United States. 

Almost 1 million internationals come to the U.S. every year to study for a short time, and of that 1 million, over 67% come from some of the most unreached places in the world when it comes to the Gospel. These are places where it might be illegal to follow Jesus, and where our missionaries aren’t even able to reach. Yet, they’re coming here!

Although Chi Alpha is your foot on the university campus and we offer a way of ministering to international students, there are so many people coming into your country, and there can be internationals everywhere you look! The call to minister to Internationals is not just for those in full time ministry, it is for everyone who proclaims Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

Unfortunately, even though Americans live in a country very open to foreigners, we, ourselves, aren’t culturally as welcoming as we can be. Of those millions of internationals who come to the US every year, about 80% of those go back to their home country having never been invited to an American home. Many of them come to the U.S so excited to experience American culture, but many of them end up being isolated from it instead. 

 “Love the foreigner among you, because you were once foreigners in the land of Egypt”. We were once foreigners to God, so we must love those who are foreigners to us!” Deuteronomy 10:19

So the question is: how? Well, start where you’re at. Who is the foreigner to you right now? Are there international restaurants you like? Have you asked a foreign tourist if they need help finding something? Have you invited the international college student to experience an American holiday such as the Fourth of July, or Thanksgiving? There are so many places to start, we just need to look up and find a friend!

Through Chi Alpha, we work closely with students on the university campus, and we have had some of the sweetest friendships with those from other countries. We’ve been able to have some significant moments with them whether that be through hiking trips, cooking together, visiting museums, English lessons, and even teaching them how to drive!

We teach our American students in our ministry how to reach international students with one simple line: just one more friend. So, pray for that one more friend, you never know what the Lord might do through you that could touch a nation!