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The following true story is a glimpse of the 60-member Stadium Village Church (SVC), where we partner with God and other International Student Ministries to be a Worshipping, Teaching, Serving, Sending International Community at the University of Minnesota that proclaims Jesus as Lord.
Sweet spirited and studious Ying Qi came from China in 2001 to study in the Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics Department at the University of Minnesota. Her husband, who worked at the Chinese Aviation Administration, finally received a U.S. visa to join her 10 months later. As he waited for acceptance in her same program at the "U," he attended several of the more than 15 English conversation classes offered daily as an outreach of SVC. His name, Zhiyong, was difficult to pronounce so one teacher suggested the name Jerry. He liked the meaning The Lord Exalts, even though he wasn’t a Christian and was sure that there were no official Christians in China!
All of his volunteer English teachers at SVC, who came from various churches, were Christians and were not ashamed of the Gospel. If asked, they answered about their faith and about Christian holiday meanings. Some classes were actual Bible studies either topical or book studies, or they used the Jesus video (Campus Crusade for Christ’s Jesus Film Project) — for the first time he read and questioned the Bible. He liked the newspaper/current event classes, the Comics, Culture and Conversation classes and the Public Speaking Club (based on Toastmasters). Teachers invited him to their home. He went on several sightseeing trips both in town and over night to stay with farm families and to tour Duluth.
Jerry’s ESL teacher invited him to attend the Friday evening Alpha Course that is begun most Januarys at SVC. He was more eager to attend something about the Christian faith than his wife. Alpha dinners were served by small groups from other churches and their conversations at the tables interested him. A few weeks later, Ying hesitantly came. As they listened to the various professors’ and professionals’ talks about aspects of the Christian faith they became more interested in exploring the claims of Jesus. When the course ended, one church couple invited Ying and Jerry to their home for a three-month Bible study with students from their Alpha small group, where they felt comfortable asking questions about Christian beliefs.
It was sometime during that Alpha Course that they began to attend church. Worship was comfortable for them because 60 percent of the 100 worshippers were international students (20 percent were American students). Sitting in the couches at the back made it easier to be with their young daughter. They enjoyed fellowship at the weekly potlucks or soup lunches following every worship. At our 9:00 a.m. breakfasts Ying could be seen putting the cold hard-boiled egg into her tea to warm it for her daughter.
We wanted to form a Chinese language education hour class. (We don’t call it Sunday school, nor do we use much “Christianese” in our worship.) Ying declined because she said they prefer to study the Bible in English. She also indicated that although she likes the band made up of 10 multi-ethnic students, she expected organ and ‘classical’ songs. Of course, on the Sunday that the 14 Chinese members and 15 attendees planned the whole worship service, she requested her special music. She appreciates the multi-language songs we sing on a regular basis, and the power point images and sermon notes. And she realizes now that our new Bible class in Chinese helps faith to go deeper.
Finally both husband and wife, and the whole small group, decided to be baptized. The day after the baptism Ying was to return to China to bring back her 3-year-old daughter whom she hadn’t seen for 19 months. As she was preparing her testimony to read before the congregation she wondered if it was fair that God should accept her after all the years she had ignored him. Suddenly she realized that this was exactly the situation she found herself in with her daughter. Would her daughter accept her after nearly two years of separation? It all became clear to her. Spiritually she fell into the Lord’s arms as her little daughter would eventually fall into hers.
U.S. visa problems prevented her from returning to her studies for a semester, but that time in China gave her a chance to get to know her daughter again, to study and grow closer to God and to witness to her parents and friends about her new faith. She returned a mature believer, far beyond expectations for her four-month old faith.
A few months later she was asked to become our first Chinese elder. (Our session of six is two-thirds Asian born: one each from China, Taiwan, Korean, Singapore, and two from America.) Before her tenure ended two other Chinese joined her. She was able to coach them about English ecclesiastical terms and procedures. We tried to keep her commitments light, since it wasn’t easy to be an elder and a Ph.D. candidate. But we rejoiced with her at our Labor Day Research Fair, during the Education Hour, when she and other students, shared their research projects with the church.
Like many Chinese Ph.D. students, Jerry and Ying have chosen to remain in the United States. They just bought their first home and will ease into home maintenance, as they use the skills they have learned at SVC’s Work Days and as a trustee — for Jerry is serving in that capacity.
Some of their Chinese ‘Villager’ friends have moved around the United States, but the visiting scholars and professors have gone back to China. How appropriate that they can take with them a "faith souvenir" not only of a New Living Translation Study Bible, but knowledge of who Jesus is! This is effective stewardship, for they know the language and culture as they share in their home countries about the Good News of Jesus Christ.
In the past five years, Stadium Village Church has transformed into an international church with a growth of 225 percent. We are 29 Asian, two Europeans, one African and three bi-cultural members to complement the 29 Caucasian Americans (five of whom are missionaries out of the area). The members know our focus, Making Disciples who will Make Disciples, and are willing to sacrifice the "what does this church have for me" and the "we’ve never done it that way before" attitudes in order to meet the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of the students God sends to us.
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