Ministry in Relationships

The 2021 school year has started with hope. Despite continued restrictions, we saw new students arriving and the restart (or reimagining) of so many International Student Ministries programs!

That’s not to say that ministry didn’t continue throughout the pandemic. Some programs were transformed into online formats and smaller gatherings, while new needs also became apparent and ISMC workers and partner churches rose to the challenge. Whether ministry took the form of care packages to meet physical needs or individual phone calls and Zoom gatherings to meet emotional and spiritual needs, God’s love was being extended to international students. The other day, I heard an encouraging story from one of our Hamilton team members that illustrates how familiar and new ministry programs have blended to reach around the world. A graduate student had been attending an ISMC Bible study. As ministry shifted online, the student’s wife, who couldn’t be in Canada with her husband, was able to join the study! Similarly, ISMC Vancouver has started reaching out to students both locally and internationally through their Zoom conversation club. God has provided fascinating opportunities for outreach and discipleship even at the height of COVID restrictions.

That said, we are excited to see face-to-face ministry resume in some capacity at campuses across the country to engage the many students God is bringing to Canada! Students like Michael, who approach the Christian faith out of curiosity and a desire to learn about Canadian culture. They give us opportunities to sow seeds and build relationships.

It has become abundantly clear that international student ministry happens in the context of relationships. We see God using ISMC programs such as FOCUS Clubs, ESL programs, Discovery Bible Studies, Friends for Dinner and Friendship Partners to initiate relationships between international students and Canadians. It is within these relationships that students are introduced to the people of God and to the person and teachings of Christ. While building relationships with Canadians is a heart desire of so many students who come to Canada, our heart’s desire is that they will also have the opportunity to build a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thank you for joining us on this exciting journey of speaking into the lives of international students! Your gifts and prayers make it possible for ISMC to continue ministering on campuses across the country. Learn more ways to get involved at ismc.ca/get-involved.

Jakob Koch
ISMC President

Students learn about ISMC programs at the Dalhousie Society & Volunteer Expo

Last year, when Dr. Yaw Perbi let ISMC know that he would be wrapping up his tenure as president to focus on a new role of Global Ambassador for International Student Ministry, the board began praying and searching for God’s person to step into the role of ISMC President for this time.

We are excited to introduce you to Rev. Jakob Koch, the new president of ISMC. While Jakob was born in Hamilton, ON, where he currently serves at West Highland Church, in between he’s had a 40-year career in Christian ministry that has focused on cross-cultural service. Jakob was a missionary in Cameroon for several years, and he has helped prepare and support new missionaries for the Liebenzell Mission of Canada in his role as Executive Director. Always involved in serving the local church, Jakob reentered full-time church ministry in 2012 with The People’s Church in Toronto.

During his years at The People’s Church, Jakob was able to support and learn from the international student ministry of Dr. See Kat Toh and his wife Dorothy. At West Highland Church, Jakob began a partnership among the international student ministries in the area and the local churches, laying the groundwork for the Hamilton International Students Network, which has grown into a provincial and now a national ministry strategy. Jakob and his wife Lorie live near McMaster University, where they have developed ongoing friendships with international students through family dinners and informal gatherings. Jakob and Lorie have three children and four grandchildren.

Jakob, a lifelong learner, is a graduate of McMaster University, did part of his training at Ontario Theological Seminary Toronto (now Tyndale) and graduated from the Edmonton Baptist Seminary (now Taylor Seminary). His vision is to mentor younger leaders within ISMC.

Jakob will initially be joining ISMC in a part-time capacity, with plans to transition to full-time in the new year.

We wish Rev. Jakob Koch rich blessings as he steps into the role of President of ISMC – and we thank Dr. Yaw Perbi for all he has done to advance the mission of reaching international students with the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. May God continue to use both powerfully in His work!

ISMC Board of Directors

But you, Daniel, roll up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end. Many will go here and there to increase knowledge. (Daniel 12:4 NIV)

For Muhammad, it was a dream come true when he won a full scholarship with a monthly stipend to pursue both a masters and PhD in a certain country. Now, he just wants to wake up from the nightmare, he says, and wishes he had chosen to study somewhere else. Muhammad returned to his home in northeast Africa a year ago, when embassies evacuated overseas students during the COVID-19 outbreak. He was among the legions of foreign students compelled to leave their countries of study, and whose futures have been stranded ever since. He is one of thousands of international students who recently signed an online petition and launched a social media campaign calling on certain countries to re-open their borders to them. In addition to having to borrow money from relatives to survive, Muhammad said trying to continue his studies online is a daily struggle, with an internet connection that makes it difficult to access needed materials and resources.

This real story, from an Asian newspaper report I recently read, starkly contrasts with the direct messages from good friends of mine in the last few weeks; they wanted to connect me/ISMC with international students coming to Canada. While the pandemic with its attendant travel and on-campus restrictions have slowed the in-person rush into Canada, students are still being processed to attend schools in Canada online, in-person, or both. There is no stopping of the global international student phenomenon in the light of biblical prophecy and government policy.

At the beginning of January, I had the privilege of leading a workshop on global trends in university policy at a retreat of international student ministry staff of InterVarsity USA. While certain countries have recently had policies that have repelled international students, Canada continues to produce attractive policies, including a recent announcement of 1.2 million new Canadian permanent residents over the next two years, many of whom will be graduated international students.

So, many will still rush to Canada to increase knowledge, for scripture cannot be broken, and Canadian international education policies are doing well to keep the traffic coming our way. May ISMC staff, volunteers, supporters, and partners be of good cheer. Inasmuch as we will have to continually make newer and better wineskins (mission strategies and methodologies) to remain relevant to the changing contexts and needs of students, as for the wine (God’s Spirit and international souls), it will keep flowing from the Lord of the harvest. O God of the nations, help us be faithful and fruitful in season and out of season!

Dr. Yaw Perbi
ISMC President

Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit (John 3:6-8 NIV).

An ISMC staff couple recently told me how they invited an international student, who wanted to know more about Jesus, to join their church’s online Alpha course. Let’s call her Fiona. Suddenly, Fiona wanted to get baptized! In the middle of COVID-19, Fiona joined a brave group who were baptized in the icy Bow River near Calgary. The couple who had invited her were astonished at what happened although they had asked people to pray daily for Fiona during the Alpha course. They told me that when they later read John 3:7-8, they understood exactly what had happened—it was the Holy Spirit blowing like the wind.

For a year in which the world has been suffocated by a coronavirus that attacks the respiratory system, it is so heartwarming to know that God’s Spirit is still blowing over the world, breathing new life! That is what He’s done from when the earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. He hovered over the surface of the waters as God spoke light and created life. To create a perpetual pattern, in the darkest hours of world history, God shows up to further His mission of filling the earth with His glory.

During my just-ended four-month sabbatical, I read sociologist Rodney Stark’s seminal work, The Rise of Christianity. It was fascinating to learn that the history of Christians facing pandemics goes back to the first century. The early church faced two epidemics; the first in 165 A.D., killed a third of Roman citizens. It is surmised the first epidemic was smallpox and that the second, just 86 years later, might have been measles.

In the midst of such calamities, Christianity thrived because:

1. Christians bolstered by their faith endured hardships better than others. More Christians than non-believers survived the epidemics and grew the faith.
2. Christians laid themselves down, even to death, comforting the dying, bringing solace to the afflicted. This made Christianity more favorable in the eyes of non-believers.
3. Large numbers of people, especially pagans, would have lost the bonds that once might have restrained them from becoming Christians.

We haven’t shut down, not even for one minute, at ISMC. Not only are we pursuing digital strategies, there have been other local initiatives such as providing accommodation to stranded international students and delivering care packages to many. Just like in the first century, people are much more open to the gospel now than they were in the times of relative stability just months ago! May the Spirit of God surprise us again and again with salvation stories and kingdom advancement amidst the pandemic. But then again, in the words of Jesus, “You should not be surprised.”

Dr. Yaw Perbi
ISMC President

Christ’s instructions to His disciples: “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask Him to send more workers into His fields” (Luke 10:2 NLT).

Four recent occurrences make me say this.

National Staff

In a Zoom meeting with ISMC senior leadership, me, and three vice presidents, I noticed that each of us had been an international student! Likewise, for the dozen people on our national leadership community, 80% were international students! While there will always be Canadians at every level of ISMC, I believe that if we do mission correctly, the fruit of our labor will be the students who have been empowered, those now at the helm and partnering with us to impact the world through Jesus Christ!

Field Staff

This spring, I joined Jose and Clara, our Sherbrooke, QC, staff to share what they see ahead for their work as they engaged ministry partners on Zoom. My heart was warmed as I thought about how they were international students just a few years ago. While Clara (Venezuela) pursued law in England, Jose (Colombia), studied in Canada and served with ISMC. After returning to Colombia to finish his studies, the Lord called Jose to serve the current crop of international students in Sherbrooke where he studied! Indeed, the harvesters are from within the harvest!

New Staff

Over the last few months, we have had the joy of accepting two new staff to ISMC, a couple originally from Hong Kong and Sri Lanka. Both studied in the United Kingdom and served there for 20 years. A few years ago, Enoch and Pin Kunarajah began working with our sister organization, Friends International, and have been accepted by our candidate committee to join ISMC. They will minister to the thousands of international students in the Greater Toronto area! Hallelujah! Indeed, the harvesters are from within the harvest!

Presidential Staff

During a recent phone call with Dr. See Seng Tan, the new president of International Students Inc. (ISI), our US counterpart, I was pleasantly surprised. Why? Because I learned that in the late 1980s, as a Singaporean undergrad in Winnipeg, he benefited from ISMC’s ministry. After postgraduate studies in the States, he served on ISI staff for about a year. He worked in academia for 19 years in Singapore before returning to the USA last year to serve as president! There are other new ministry leaders serving international students who, like me, studied in Canada, the States, or New Zealand.
Indeed, tomorrow’s harvesters are from within today’s harvest!

An Invitation

At 10:02 every morning (mirroring Luke 10:02), my alarm reminds me to pray to the Lord of the harvest for more harvesters. I invite you to join me in doing this every day in obedience to Jesus’ command. As we pray, let’s also watch for those among the harvest of international students who He is preparing to work on the other side of the sickle!

Dr. Yaw Perbi
ISMC President

Photo credit: voanews.com

“And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?”
Mark 8:36

An Iranian ISMC board member on staff at Western University described 35-year-old Mike (not his real name) as a lively man with much hope.

Mike, halfway through a Ph.D., was killed, along with 176 passengers and crew when Flight 752 was blown out of the sky in January at the Tehran Airport. The dead included 138 passengers headed to Canada, many of them international students. ISMC ministries in London, Vancouver, Montreal, Winnipeg, Guelph, and Halifax had victims, some of whom were involved with us and on the path to crossing the line of faith.

Three thoughts have stayed with me since that terrible January morning.

First, regarding world geopolitics: leadership matters immensely. It was leadership that provoked and it was leadership that retaliated to cause this disaster. Everything rises and falls on leadership. ISMC will not relent in its efforts to develop and train international students as godly and effective servant-leaders to impact the world through Jesus Christ for good and God’s glory.

Secondly, no matter how well and long we live, there is a hereafter that every promising, über-smart international student must be made to think seriously about. Beyond their supple bodies and sharp minds, each of them has a soul with an eternal destination. Beyond academic excellence and enviable living standards in Iran or Canada, this question requires deep reflection: “What do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your soul?” ISMC has been positioned by God to make the existential questions of identity, purpose, faith, salvation, and eternal life a non-threatening yet crucial conversation on our campuses from coast to coast.

Finally, I think about those on Flight 752 who were told by ISMC staff or volunteers: “When you return from Iran, we’ll take the Alpha course” or “We’ll start a Discovery Bible Study after your Christmas holidays.” Somehow, we assume we have all the time in the world and say to ourselves, “Before Mike (or whomever) finishes that Ph.D., I will share the good news of Jesus Christ.” Tomorrow never comes. Today is the day of salvation; now is the only time we have. The Tehran tragedy sparked a sharp sense of urgency in me.

My hope: that those who died rest in peace, but who can tell? All I know is I will not—cannot—rest in peace until every international student in Canada has the opportunity to encounter the love and message of Jesus Christ! How about you?

Dr. Yaw Perbi
ISMC President

“And the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then the end will come” Matthew 24:14, NLT

About 6,000 ethnolinguistic groups have no human access to the gospel, or have an inadequate number of Christ-followers (less than 2%) to form viable church planting movements. One of my mentors, Paul Borthwick, relates a marvelous experience at a church that was serious about reaching the unreached people groups. The church adopted a people group from south China; posters around the premises invited prayer for the Miao.

Paul met a young Asian man who pointed to a Pray for the Miao sign. An international student starting post-graduate studies, the young man found himself in this church, a first-time-ever experience, “because there was food”.

Paul explained the poster and the church’s mission strategy. “But,” blurted the young man, “This is amazing!”

“What’s amazing?” asked Paul.

“I am Miao!” he said. “These are my people.”

What an opportunity God has given today’s North American church to finish the task by reaching young people from the least-reached people groups (or those who have strategic access to them) studying in Canada. In the last week of October as our entire National Leadership Team took the Kairos global missions course in Regina, I was cut to the heart regarding finishables and pursuables.

ISMC National Team and the Board of Directors met for our annual Leadership Retreat in Regina.

There is no end to the pursuables—planting more churches, getting more people to grow in their Christ-likeness, buying bigger auditoriums, hiring pastors, and publishing more Christian literature. Yes, these are good and should be pursued until Jesus returns. The catch: Jesus isn’t returning until what is finishable is finished, until every one of the 6,000 unreached people groups has been reached with Christ’s glorious gospel.

As far back as the 1970s, revered missiologist Ralph Winter shockingly showed that 90% of missionaries worked among already-reached people groups, leaving only 10% to reach atheists, Buddhists, Hindus, and Muslims. Today’s financial and human resource allocations remain similar! This summer, the 16 students who came to faith in Jesus Christ through ISMC were from these unreached groups!

Pause for a moment and ask yourself: is most of my time, energy, and money going into pursuables or finishables as far as the Great Commission is concerned?

No doubt, “the good news about the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so all nations will hear it”, and certainly sure, John’s revelation will happen—“a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb”.

The question: what will your contribution be?

Student Leadership Fund

ISMC is at the leading edge of what God is doing in global missions. He has sharpened our focus to better prepare, partner with, and send now-reached internationals to impact the world’s least-reached people groups. This Christmas, as we remember God’s gift of Jesus Christ, consider offering your gift. It will be used to spread the good news of Christ’s birth, life, death, and resurrection to an unreached people group. ISMC seeks to build a $10,000 incubator program so least-reached people group student leaders from across Canada can be equipped to finish the task.

“And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high,and how deep his love is.” Ephesians 3:18, NLT

This may sound like heresy, but here goes: I tire of talking about Bakht Singh!

Why would anyone tire of talking about the Sikh international student from northern India who not only surrendered his life to Jesus Christ while at the University of Manitoba in the early 1930s, but also became a towering evangelist and church planter in India?

I occasionally encounter those still being impacted by the life (1903–2000) of this former international student. For example, at the Halifax Jesus to the Nations missions conference this spring, I met an international student from a Bakht Singh assembly in India. Some reports point to as many as 10,000 such churches globally. A missionary family’s work among refugees and immigrants in the States, as well as multiple ministries in India, are the result of Bakht Singh’s impact. The father was discipled and married by Singh in India.

As phenomenal and exemplary as the Bakht Singh story is, I tire of telling it because making more Bakht Singhs is why ISMC exists. Yes, Maged penetrates Muslim communities in Egypt with the love of Jesus . . . I could tell you about Michael’s workplace church plant in Communist China . . . about Clement’s gospel influence in secular France . . . about Manuel’s youth and marketplace ministry in Mexico. All well and good, but we need many more students and alumni empowered to impact the world through Jesus Christ.

If I needed a good description for why ISMC exists, I’d invent the word em-pact—empowered to impact!

Providing hospitality and friendship, discipling international students, and developing them as leaders is all-important and impressive, but is not the end goal. The end goal is seeing Christlike leaders making powerful kingdom impacts in every sphere and dimension—from archeology and mathematics to ecclesiology to zoology. All this, so God’s glory is evident and responded to by all nations!

Just as Paul desired the Ephesian church to experience all dimensions of God’s love—its width, its length, its height, its depth—ISMC’s strategic plan for the last six years was to grow:

Wide—From 2013–16 we spread from coast to coast and grew 70% in new staff and locations.

Deep—We grew from 2016–19 with a focus on our spiritual and emotional health, consolidating the gains of 2013–16.

High—And now, from 2019 to 2022, we want to go high by seeing an upward dependence on God and a visible focus on doing whatever it takes to see throngs of students and alumni making eternal impacts through and for Jesus Christ.

This big order can be reached with a five-fold go high strategy.

1. prioritize external engagement and impact—without neglecting internal health and spiritual formation.
2. focus more on students and alumni than staff—without neglecting the latter.
3. measure impact and output—rather than activities and programs, particularly international students and alumni impacting the world through Jesus Christ.
4. infrastructure transformation—including corporate office changes.
5. multiply action people—students and alumni, churches, agencies, volunteers, and staff—reaching the world for Jesus.

While helpful to salute Bakht Singh and his amazing ministry, we need to empower young servants like Michael Bhatti (Read his full story) to impact his native northern India. As you read and respond to the Impacting India project, we will indeed go higher together!

Dr. Yaw Perbi
ISMC President

Happy Thanksgiving from Hong Kong! History has it that the first official, annual Thanksgiving in Canada was celebrated on 6 November 1879, though Indigenous peoples in Canada have a history of celebrating the fall harvest that predates the arrival of European settlers. It is indeed a great time to pause and thank God for his bountiful blessings. For us at ISMC, we speak of a harvest of a different kind, one that should last for all eternity: a harvest of souls.

Over the last year we have witnessed a coming together of a dozen North American international student ministries (ISMs) collaborating to form a net(work) across the continent to make a significant catch of souls together. That collaboration is what took us to Hong Kong, where our North American consortium of ISMs also joined hands with our Chinese counterparts to work together to minimize the sad phenomenon of post-harvest losses of souls after students who have come to know the Lord in Canada/USA return home (sometimes as high as 80% lose their faith!)

This thanksgiving, I am grateful for this collaboration and even a declaration of unity in mission that we as leaders from East and West are calling the “Hong Kong Consensus.”

With two former Chinese international students at the Returnee Summit in Hong Kong, who are now co-harvesters/staff with us.

ISMC and I are thankful for your partnership in making and keeping the harvest of souls to the glory of God. When you, in gratitude, make a Thanksgiving offering this season, do remember us. Give thanks to the Lord here.

What Happens When Six Canadians Meet a German, Korean, Brit, and a Nigerian in Ghana? 
The answer: you get an insight into today’s reality of global mission and a strategic God who moves people for His purposes.

While space does not allow me to tell all the stories of our international encounters in Ghana, I can say this mission trip with five other ISMC national team members significantly impacted me and shifted the realities of my missionary thinking. Many of those who I spoke with about this trip were surprised that one of the top supporting churches for ISMC’s ministry is in Ghana.

Six hours after arriving in Accra, I found myself in a room where strategic Ghanaian leaders were being trained to empower ISM in their churches and campuses. Ghana has over 15,000 international students—including Canadians! The University of Ghana has students from the same Japanese university (Soka) that we minister to in Vancouver!

We were surprised to meet Hannah in our training sessions. A seminary student from Germany doing her practicum in Ghana, she said she came to faith as an international student in the States and was willing to welcome returnee students in Germany. Hannah is a living example of how missions is from everywhere and to everywhere.

Another significant moment was visiting the first Methodist Church in West Africa in Cape Coast, Ghana. As a team, we went there to pray for Ghana to be a missionary sending force. Our first encouragement: seeing the church packed for a regular prayer meeting. This church was not just a historic site, but a vibrant local church.

While there, I was impressed to hear that Rev. Thomas Birch Freeman is widely considered as the father of the Methodist churches in Ghana. He also established them in Nigeria. What makes his story so compelling to me is that he was a returnee—his ancestry is from Ghana and it was due to this that he survived in his missionary work; remarkable, because the first missionaries died within six months. I took it as an affirmation to continue reaching internationals and sending them back to their home countries so they too will survive and thrive in ways no foreigner can.

A personal milestone
I have now worshipped in churches on six continents. Little by little I get to taste, see, and experience what Revelation 7 shows us about every people group gathering around God’s throne in worship. Throughout my Ghana experience, a thought regularly occurred to me: Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The same here, there, and everywhere!

Stephen Scott
Vice President, West
ISMC National