Serving International Students,
In Honor of Jesus Christ.
Global Student Outreach is a ministry initiative of local Christians who have a love and appreciation for other cultures, and want to live out the Biblical instructions to show God's love to foreigners. GSO creates a network of volunteers from various backgrounds, occupations, and demographics.
The people of GSO extend sincere friendship to serve and help international students, and offer extra support to universities and schools. GSO connects with international students; to meet real holistic needs- practical, relational, and spiritual; to enrich their experience abroad; to be a welcoming community; and to demonstrate the reality of the compassionate heart of Jesus in tangible ways.
Where?
# 1- God loves the people of every tongue, tribe and nation, and desires for all people to hear the message of hope in Jesus Christ. God wants His people to reflect that reality.
# 2- When living and exploring in a new country and culture, most people appreciate having local friendships to help navigate various issues and offer genuine support. Although some universities do much to help international students, 80% of international students never get invited into a local home*, which implies an absence of meaningful relationships and richer cultural experiences beyond campus. The Christian community can step-up and help, by building cross-cultural bridges and welcoming newcomers.
GSO is based in Billings, Montana, and will be serving students mostly at Rocky Mountain College and Montana State University Billings.
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There are other ministries nationwide to help the approximate 1 million annual international students*. If you're interested in finding a similar outreach in your area, please contact us to see if we can help- we have a network!
A personal Note, from us...
* Peer-Reviewed Article from 2016, Journal of International Students.
"In 2012, over 900,000 international students studied in the US, yet an estimated 80 percent of them never set foot in an American home while visiting the United States (Bridges International, 2012)."
ISSN: 2162-3104 Print/ ISSN: 2166-3750 Online Volume 6, Issue 2 (2016), pp. 527-541 © Journal of International Students http://jistudents.org/ How Do We Get People to Interact? International Students and the American Experience.
Author, Danielle Geary- Georgia Institute of Technology (USA)
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* "About 1.1 million international students were enrolled in U.S. institutions in school year (SY) 2019-20." https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/international-students-united-states-2020 .