“And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,
12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ…” Eph. 4:11-12

One of IFI’s core values is “resourcing, mobilizing and partnering with churches” (and volunteers) to show hospitality and befriend international college students, scholars and their families.

One of the ways IFI resources and equips volunteers is to host an annual training day. On Jan. 30th this year we held a 1½ hour zoom event: “Caring for Internationals During a Pandemic” which included international worship, an inspiring message on the topic by IFI CEO, Rich Mendola, and panels of students and volunteers talking about their experience. Click here to watch the whole event. This PDF, “Ideas for Activities to do with Students (During the Pandemic)” is also a good resource to download.

This year IFI will present a series of one hour zoom training sessions to help volunteers increase their cross-cultural IQ by building more skills for friendship with students from various cultural backgrounds. The first webinar was held on Feb. 25th when volunteers from Columbus and other IFI locations attended the webinar: “Befriending African Students”.

The one hour Zoom training was fast moving and participants learned interesting facts about Africa and the diverse cultural backgrounds of African students. They also discussed ways to initiate informed conversations with African students and met (2) African students who shared their experience. There was also an interactive Q & A and time to pray for African students using the simultaneous prayer method that is commonly practiced in the African churches.  

Future topics to be covered include:

• Helping Chinese Returnees on Wednesday, Mar. 24th, 7pm ET – Abby Zou, IFI Returnee Ministry Coordinator 

• Befriending Hindu/Indian Students on Saturday, Apr. 3rd, 1pm ET – Danny Walker, Campus Minister & Somita Bucklew, Volunteer Leader on Hindu Ministry Team

 Click here to sign up and to see the complete list of upcoming webinar trainings.