35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and illness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.’ Matthew 9:35-38
On a Thursday night halfway through Semester 2 last year, local EU student Sophie brought her new friend Rachel*, an international student from Vietnam, to Come Home Dinner, which is the weekly gathering of euFOCUS, the EU’s ministry among international students. After dinner, Rachel and Sophie joined my small group Bible study. Many of the international and local students in the group have grown in their faith for many years. In contrast, Rachel was just beginning to investigate Jesus. The group did a good job of making Rachel feel welcome, and Sophie particularly looked out for her, but during the Bible discussion, Rachel didn’t say very much. Overall, Rachel enjoyed her first Come Home Dinner, meeting new friends, but it was over a month before she returned, joining us only for a small group social dinner.
Rachel and Sophie’s experience illustrates a tension which has been growing in euFOCUS’ Come Home Dinner – balancing the needs of Christian international students whom we want to disciple deeply, encouraging them to submit every aspect of their lives to Christ’s Lordship – and the needs of non-Christian international students, who need to get to know Jesus and his gospel from scratch, with no assumed Bible knowledge – often in simpler English.
Praise God that since borders re-opened in 2022, the number of Christian international students involved in euFOCUS has grown significantly, so that for the past few years they’ve been a clear and growing majority at Come Home Dinner. This has multiplied the opportunities for these international believers to grow together, with more mature students leading and discipling those younger in the faith. It has also led to an increase in the levels of English proficiency and Bible background knowledge in our small group Bible studies – an increase to levels beyond the capacity of the vast majority of international students on campus, like Rachel. And so, like Rachel, if they come to Come Home Dinner, it’s difficult for them to keep coming back.
At the same time, the EU’s 2030 Big Kingdom Proclamation Vision to be a multicultural, multilingual Christian community ‘passionately and proactively presenting the gospel across ethnic and linguistic differences to lead students from every culture to Christ’ arose out of our international context at Sydney University: in 2024, 40,100 of USYD’s 78,900 students came from overseas (51%)1. In 2025, euFOCUS accounted for only 17-18% of small group members (135 out of 750 in Semester 2).
We see the international harvest and pray for the Lord to raise up workers, and encourage Australian Christian students in the EU to cross ethnic and linguistic differences. This continues to be strategic for euFocus, as part of the EU’s 2030 Big Kingdom Discipleship vision, in which ‘a rich grasp of the gospel… bears fruit in loving, voluntary sacrifice & extraordinary generosity for Christ’s kingdom, investing in others that they might live likewise’.
We hope that increasing numbers of Australian EUers engage and grow in evangelising and discipling fellow USYD students from cultures and countries different from their own, and that our God who made and loves the whole world uses these experiences and training to lead them to live and serve amongst people less-reached and less-resourced with the gospel.
So, given the tension at Come Home Dinners between serving mature and exploring Christians simultaneously, the vision to equip local EU students for cross-cultural ministry, and our additional staff resources for 2026 (with our new Howie Tim and returning senior staffworker Eva both joining us), we’ve decided to start a new weekly Thursday night gathering called ‘Discovery Dinner.’ At Discovery Dinner, international students are invited to discover more about Jesus from the Bible in simpler English with Australian Christian students.
And so, as in previous years during Welcome Week, euFOCUS ran our first Come Home Welcome Dinner. As in previous years, there were introductions from our Senior Student leaders, fun games and some delicious Asian food shared together, to remind many international students of home. But unlike previous years, before dinner we introduced Discovery Dinner, alongside Come Home Dinner, and invited students who wanted to learn more about Jesus to gather at tables with others who would join the Discovery Dinner, with our Australian Christian students, the following week on campus.
Christian international students who were keen to grow and reach out to their friends together were invited to gather at tables with other Christian international students. In this way, students began getting to know those with whom, God-willing, they would be spending future weeks reading the Bible together.
I found myself on a table with three students from China (and one from Taiwan) alongside local student Paul, serving on the EU’s Executive as Secretary this year, and Athalia, a Christian from Singapore who has some Mandarin already. Even from that first week, the benefits of seeking to address the particular needs of exploring international students were becoming clear.
One of the Chinese students, Robert*, had met some Christians already in other Christian uni groups, and testified passionately to other exploring students of a Christian boss at a buffet restaurant whose relationship with God gave him an impressive sense of peace, whether the business was going well or losing money. He also recommended Australian Christians as the kindest, most patient people to get to know and practise English with. Athalia was able to use her Mandarin to explain things from time to time – including sharing why she was a Christian herself. And Paul was an exemplary model of the patient, local Australian Christian, who carefully listened, especially to Chinese couple Mary* and David*, taking the time to understand and be understood with clear, simple English.
And so the following Thursday, Mary and David joined our first Discovery Dinner, alongside three other international explorers, and after getting to know one another more over a dinner of slow-cooked Chinese shredded chicken on rice, began reading Luke’s Gospel with Paul and some other local Christians. Able to focus on their needs, David and Mary had the time and space to process the English they were reading and hearing, and discover at their own pace more of Jesus.
Please join us in praying that more international explorers would join from this week onwards – including Robert who ended up working last week, and Rachel who has returned and reconnected with Sophie. Pray that they would discover just how good the gospel of Jesus is, and that they would come to believe and have life in him.
*Names have been changed.
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