International student ministry

[1] This modality-based model of ISM is attractive because every church member can be involved in cross-cultural mission at virtually no expense.

[1] A 2019 study based in the US concluded that "Chinese international undergraduate students identify the church and its fellowship as (1) a social support community and (2) an informal learning community, one which fills in the gap in counseling services and interpersonal activities that the university fails to offer.

[24]: 55 At a global level, the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization has an ISM issue network[25] which connects groups internationally and interdenominationally.

[28] Recent decades have seen a rapid increase in international student populations[3] concurrent with the plateauing of some western markets, most notably the US.

[33][34][35] This shift is underpinned by well-formed international education policy of countries like China,[36][37] Malaysia,[38] Singapore and India.

[39] The areas of diaspora missiology and its subset, international student ministry, have seen a theological and academic maturing.

[53][54][55][56] Regarding the international students in, from and within Asia, Phil Jones has identified 8 challenges and 6 opportunities that Asian ISMs encounter.

[57] In tandem with the Indian hospitality concept of Atithi Devo Bhava ("the guest is god"), Emmanuel F. Benjamin describes the impact of welcoming foreign students in Pune, India.

Identifying the gaps and opportunities, he seeks to "build a case for a more robust ministry among international students in Africa as well as the approaches and shape this might take.

"[61] Perbi's analysis in the Journal of African Christian Thought argues that international students to and from Africa have unrecognized and untapped ramifications for mission.