Just wanted to share some dialogue and thoughts from a International student welcome that I went to the other day. (I'm not a student here, but I go to some Christian student things anyway).
The speaker said, "So, you've been here for about a week. Has anyone showed an interest in you and who you really are since you've been here? Not what you're studying, but who you are and what you left behind in coming here? " There were heads shaking all over the room, and the listeners were really paying attention now. A chord had been struck. "We are here to welcome you; to get to know you; and to find out who you really are and who the people are that you shared a tearful good-bye with last week."
The speaker recounted a few different kinds of welcomes that he'd received in different cultures around the world, and how that even though some of them were very different, the main thing was that the person giving the welcome had the same idea of making him feel like he belonged and that someone was happy to see him.
Then he said some things about how college changes lots of people in many of different ways, and is a time when some people find faith. He went on to say that they had an interest in us and who we were, that they would love to talk with us about God and the Bible; but first and foremost that they had an interest in making us feel welcome, and in really getting to know us.
A lot of people were touched by this, everyone there knew exactly what he was talking about when he spoke of being lonely. I realized what the Bible was talking about when it tells us to welcome strangers and aliens in the name of Christ. Being lonely is one of the most horrible feelings in the world, and hospitality is an incredible evangelism tool.
"For I was an hungered, and you gave me meat: I was thirsty, and you gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me... Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." Matthew 25:35, 36, 40
The speaker said, "So, you've been here for about a week. Has anyone showed an interest in you and who you really are since you've been here? Not what you're studying, but who you are and what you left behind in coming here? " There were heads shaking all over the room, and the listeners were really paying attention now. A chord had been struck. "We are here to welcome you; to get to know you; and to find out who you really are and who the people are that you shared a tearful good-bye with last week."
The speaker recounted a few different kinds of welcomes that he'd received in different cultures around the world, and how that even though some of them were very different, the main thing was that the person giving the welcome had the same idea of making him feel like he belonged and that someone was happy to see him.
Then he said some things about how college changes lots of people in many of different ways, and is a time when some people find faith. He went on to say that they had an interest in us and who we were, that they would love to talk with us about God and the Bible; but first and foremost that they had an interest in making us feel welcome, and in really getting to know us.
A lot of people were touched by this, everyone there knew exactly what he was talking about when he spoke of being lonely. I realized what the Bible was talking about when it tells us to welcome strangers and aliens in the name of Christ. Being lonely is one of the most horrible feelings in the world, and hospitality is an incredible evangelism tool.
"For I was an hungered, and you gave me meat: I was thirsty, and you gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me... Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." Matthew 25:35, 36, 40
posted by virginagirl at
11:42 AM
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