Navigating newness, together

For over 15 years, IFI Cleveland has been waiting at the door when international college students step off the plane, often disoriented, jet-lagged, and without so much as a meal plan or a city bus pass. That initial welcome has quietly become the heartbeat of everything the ministry does.

DJ Bradley, IFI staff member who joined the team in 2021, has watched that evolution up close. The first point of contact is simple yet effective: a welcome dinner and driving them to Walmart. It sounds small, but ask the students– it’s the kind of thing that earns trust in ways a flyer or a campus event never could.

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Lea is a second-year student at Corban University studying intercultural education. She is originally from Washington State, grew up in a military family, and has already lived more cross-culturally than most people twice her age: a gap year in Papua New Guinea, coasts crossed, cultures navigated.

When Dawnita, IFI Salem leader, came to speak at one of her classes about IFI, it felt like a natural next step.

But natural didn’t mean easy.

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Have you felt stuck in your ministry to international students due to the lack of resources and/or ideas? Our friend and IFI staff member in Muskingum, Katie Pozzuoli, shared this fun article with us to help our trusty volunteer community. Continue reading for some inspiration!

At Muskingum University, the bread and butter of our ministry to international students is our Friendship Family program (many of our IFI locations use the term “Conversation Partner”). We are a small school, and connecting every interested student with a local family is the key to fulfilling IFI’s mission “to extend life-changing hospitality and friendship to international students out of reverence for Jesus.”

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