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ATLANTA – Rock Hill, S.C., may not be the first place that springs to mind when people think of work with internationals. But it is there at Oakland Baptist Church that members have become engaged in ongoing, strategic ministries to refugees and other international families and students living in their city, just south of Charlotte, N.C.

It is also there that Cooperative Baptist Fellowship field personnel Butch and Nell Green are based to help churches find ways to minister to internationals.

“Butch and Nell have been instrumental in helping our church open its eyes to the many international people living in our backyard,” said Oakland’s associate pastor Christy McMillin-Goodwin. “They have taught us, led us and encouraged us.”

The Greens, who formerly worked among unreached people groups in Brussels, Belgium, said that, at one time, distance between cultures was measured by geography. Now, it is measured by differences in language, culture and worldview.

“Not only do these things create barriers to the gospel but they create barriers to meeting social needs,” Nell said. “The church is poised to minister holistically to the entire world right here. No longer is the career missionary the church’s window to cultures far away. Now we need only look out the window into our own backyards.”

With the Greens encouragement, Oakland sponsored a trip last year to visit CBF field personnel in several European and North African locations.

“Visiting our CBF field personnel and having field personnel visit Oakland has helped us as we are developing ministries for internationals,” McMillin-Goodwin said. “They have helped us understand the plight of the international person, whether refugee, legal or illegal migrant. They have helped us learn how to pray for migrants and refugees. They have given us the courage to respond to those around us and to respond to God’s calling us in new areas of ministry.”

Oakland also used the experiences from the trip to apply for an “It’s Time” grant of $25,000, which was awarded by CBF. The grant will be used to help resettle three refugee families and to expand the ministry the church has begun among international students at nearby Winthrop University. The church has plans to visit CBF field personnel working with international students in the U.S. to help it develop this ministry further.

Joel and Tiffne Whitley, who work with migrants and refugees in southern Spain, were among the field personnel Oakland members met on their 2007 trip. The Whitleys encourage churches to send teams to see their work.

“Once an American has been the minority, been treated with suspicion, misunderstood, completely unable to communicate, or blundered through a culture different from their own, they are better able to understand the situation of internationals in their home cities and more able and willing to get involved,” Joel said. “So, having mission opportunities here where we work is one way for us to help churches.”

“Internationals living in the States may know very little about American culture, customs, norms, language,” Tiffne said. “They may look and sound different, but they are people. They have a need to be accepted and understood.”

The Whitleys said churches can help meet those needs by conducting English classes, helping with physical needs or holding special services. Individually, church members can do something as simple as striking up a conversation with someone.

“It isn't about mass ministry,” Butch said. “It is about seeing that one person of a different background and loving them in the way Christ would.”

Oakland’s journey is one the Greens would like to see replicated. There are several ways, they said, that churches can be intentional about ministry to internationals:

• Learn what it means to be culturally sensitive, learn about other faiths, learn how to invite and maintain cross-cultural relationships.
• Virtually every college/university, no matter how small, has at least some international students. Most of these students never enter an American home. Churches can be intentional about providing them a home away from home.
• Thousands of refugees that have been approved for settlement in the U.S. but can’t come because they have no where to go. Churches can connect with local agencies to provide places for these refugees.
• Churches can help families and individuals see the neglected immigrants, refugees and students in their town.

At Oakland, in addition to the refugee resettlement and student ministry, the church also has a growing Spanish-speaking group that emerged from an English as a Second Language class and a group of young people composed of Baptists and Muslims that meets regularly.

“You should not expect this ministry to grow your church numerically,” Nell said. “But your church will grow spiritually. As we engage with God's world and as we become intentional about missions, God changes us. Missions is more about what God would do in us rather than through us. As Oakland and other churches have discovered, this will bring a joy and excitement than can only come as cultures intermingle and share.”

CBF field personnel are available to help churches minister to internationals in a variety of ways – working with congregations to assess their communities and the possible opportunities to connect, mapping out a plan for preparing for and introducing international ministry, teaching seminars on cultural sensitivity, world religions and visioning. In addition, field personnel can facilitate experiences for churches to engage in ministry to internationals in the United States and overseas.

To connect with CBF field personnel, contact Chris Boltin at cboltin@thefellowship.info or (800) 352-8741. To financially support the ministry of CBF field personnel serving around the world, give to the CBF Offering for Global Missions at www.thefellowship.info/give.

CBF is a fellowship of Baptist Christians and churches who share a passion for the Great Commission and a commitment to Baptist principles of faith and practice. The Fellowship’s mission is to serve Christians and churches as they discover and fulfill their God-given mission.