Global Friendships

In any language, “welcome” and global friendships can be established with a smile and a simple act of kindness.

Find Global Friendship Possibilities

Count the nationalities living near you. Business executives, university students, medical staff, migrant workers, and restaurant owners from every continent have found their way to your cities, suburbs, and farms. America’s melting pot is quickly becoming a far more diversified brew.

What an opportunity to share God’s love. You no longer need a passport or visa for international ministry, and the methods implemented can be as varied as the individuals involved.

Think about it. If you arrived in another country with few or no friends or family, what challenges would you anticipate? Although many foreign born individuals have a working knowledge of English, imagine the difficulty for those who don’t.

Mix in varied accents, grammar inconsistencies, and the number of slang expressions used in the United States with little thought of their literal meaning. Not a venture for the faint hearted.

Establish Global Friendships

So where do you go with this outreach prospect? From personal involvement and the example of others, consider the following possibilities. Then add to them as your creative juices begin to flow.

• Volunteer as an English as a Second Language (ESL) conversation partner. You don’t have to speak their language. Simply talk with them so they can practice their English skills. If you choose to go further, take classes to become an instructor.
• Offer a community tour — post office, banks, grocery and other stores, doctors, schools, and your church.
• Provide transportation for those who don’t drive, have no car, or have no access to public transportation.
• Ask them to teach you a few words of their language — hello, good-bye, God loves you — and then use them when together.
• Learn their interests and direct them to an appropriate existing network.
• Notify them of or accompany them to free concerts, community festivals, farmers markets, and other local no-cost or low-cost activities.
• Inquire, non-judgmentally, of their beliefs and request permission to share yours. Making multi-colored bead bracelets that explain the plan of salvation (black for sin, red for Jesus’ blood, white for purity, green for growth, and yellow or gold for heaven) work well, as they provide a visible as well as verbal story. Offer them as friendship gifts.
• Invite them to a family meal or plan a multi-ethnic potluck in your home or church.
• Learn their birthdays or special holidays and celebrate together.
• Plan a short visit to a local tourist attraction, take pictures, and send copies, either printed or digital.
• Become social networking friends.
• Give them a New Testament or Bible (bilingual or in their language).

Include Children in Global Friendships

Although children can help with most of the above, you may want to occasionally plan a day just for them.

• Schedule play dates for their children and yours at your house, a local park, or a recreation area at your church.
• Make cookies or crafts.
• Extend an invitation to children’s choir, mission groups, or other children’s activities your church provides. (Music makes language lessons easier and fun.)
• Do homework together.

New Global Friendship Doors

Our family’s passion as a friendship family to international university students took an unexpected turn.  A nearby town experienced record breaking flooding. One heavily damaged business belonged to a young Chinese family with limited English skills. Local volunteers helped with clean up, the required move to a new location, and general support through a number of discouraging events. However, no volunteer could help with the confusing language of numerous government agencies. After a request for assistance, I transported a Chinese speaking student to help them through the maze of technicalities and misunderstandings. The restaurant reopened, and later trips were filled with fun, fellowship, and food.

You Can Do It!

Have you noticed one consistent feature for each of these ideas, even the unexpected one? They require no special ability or talent. Almost anyone can do them.

If, however, you want to expand your area of expertise, whether music, mechanics, gardening, or others, go for it. Those same tools you use as outreach to your neighbor whose pedigree extends as far back as the Mayflower also apply to those who have just arrived.

Pray and complete a personal inventory. Who lives around you? What skills do you possess? What is your passion? Now, stir all that together, combine with a good dose of love, give of yourself, and let God work through you.

Be prepared for a flow of heartfelt gratitude. Thank you. Gracias, Xie Xie, Merci, Danke. Yet, if that never happens, God’s name has been glorified, and your family has been blessed.

“Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples” (1 Chronicles 16:24 NIV).