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International Peer Minister
Job Description (sample)
I. Qualities
A. Commitment to our Lord Jesus Christ.
B. Desire to learn more about God's Word.
C. Commitment to the ministry at Lutheran Church/Chapel.
D. Willingness to share his/her faith with people of another
culture.
E. Be a good listener.
F. Have an interest in international students.
G. Have experienced living in another culture.
II.
Duties
A. Interact with the Campus Ministry Committee.
B. Attend international events sponsored by Lutheran Church/Chapel.
C. Try to attend various other international student events.
D. Attempt to get into a one-on-one relationship with an international
student through one of these means:
- IEOP or other university group
- Referral by pastors
- ISI or another Christian international student
ministry.
E. Arrange to visit international students who are referred by the
pastoral staff.
F. Seek ways to involve people at Lutheran Church/Chapel in this ministry.
III. Scholarship of $
Per Semester
IV. Accountability
Is to the pastoral staff at Lutheran
Church/Chapel. International
student peer ministers will record the time they spend on anything
pertaining to their ministry—including any training and reading—and
report it both orally and in writing to the pastoral staff.
V.
Time Requirements
- An initial meeting with the pastors.
- Weekly meetings with the pastoral staff.
- Attending international student activities.
- One-on-one contacts with international students.
- Possible opportunities to share your ministry with the people at Lutheran
Church/Chapel. (LWML, LLL,
Board of Directors)
- Total time is about 60 hours per semester.
This job description was
originally written by Memorial Lutheran Church, Ames, Iowa
Peer Ministry Team Job Description
I. Qualifications
The team requires the
following:
- An American student who has had evangelism training, experienced
overseas study or ministry, or who is interested in reaching out to and
being open with those from other lands and cultures.
This person should be aware of or get to know the staff, programs
and resources of Calvary Chapel and the resources of the University
community in regard to international student involvement.
This person should have a good working knowledge of organizational
skills and the ability to coordinate patiently
and perceptively both persons
and activities and be sensitive to building one-to-one trust
relationships. In summary,
this person would be called upon to provide assistance in "sharing
the love of Christ" and bringing interconnectedness to persons in
both the international and local communities.
- An international Christian student who is interested in evangelism
and outreach to both Christian and non-Christian students from other
countries other than his own. The
international student would be one interested in learning how to bring the
international community and the local community together for both social
and educational events. This
person should have good command of the English language and be actively
involved in the life and ministry of Lutheran
Church/Chapel. He/she should
be able to relate well to both graduate and undergraduate students and
work in a team setting with the American student partner.
II. Accountability
The "Peer Ministry
Team" will be responsible to the pastor whose staff responsibility
includes international ministry.
The team members will also
work closely with the International Student Committee at
Lutheran
Church/Chapel and the Board of Directors' representative of this
Committee.
III. General and Specific Duties
- General
- Provide general support as needed for various activities,
particularly when it is necessary to connect persons and resources for
worship, programs, educational and Bible study needs.
- Communicate with students, graduates, faculty and family members of
Lutheran
Church/Chapel seeking to interconnect people with one another and using
their personal gifts and resources for effective ministry outreach.
- To encourage and enable Christian international students to share
their religious culture and traditions, enabling us to deepen our
understanding of the Church in the world.
- Provide specific resources in their own language (e.g. Bibles).
- Be a visionary—and creative—as to opportunities being opened
up.
- Keep the local community aware of the problems and difficulties as
well as the joys and benefits in international ministry.
B. Specific (with assistance and support of the Int'l Committee)
- Greeting int'l student worshippers on Sunday, obtain names,
addresses; introduce them to others; personally go with them for coffee
fellowship, etc.
- Organize calling committee for international student ministry, for
those names we receive on Sunday, also visiting married students/families.
- Organize Bible studies at Lutheran
Church/Chapel that involve international and American students together.
- Offer workshops, retreats, cross-cultural educational
opportunities.
- Invite (and bring them) personal activities (social) as well as
Sunday worship, matins, or vesper services.
- Arrange for transportation, when necessary, for worship on Sunday
and weekdays, especially during the winter months.
- Arrange for dinners/trips/visitations in homes of members.
- Identify host families for the community with all Lutheran churches
in the area being involved.
- Set up a vespers or special worship service in predominant language
group (or alternate cultures) once per semester, possibly a Christmas
vespers.
- Encourage use of our building for international community
involvement.
- Recruit and train people to minister to internationals both in
areas of worship and Bible study and social activities.
(Building trust relationships)
- Provide once-a-month international dinners (or once a semester)
with movies or some kind of cultural awareness and encourage
internationals, both Christian and non-Christian, to share with us.
- Encourage social exchange with other Christian campus groups.
- Investigate the possibility of weekly lunches coordinated with area
churches.
- Explore the possibility of opening our building one night a week
for socializing and conversation with international students or informal
English classes.
IV.
Work Schedule
An average of 5–6 hours per
week spent in coordinating program activities.
Meet with staff person or pastor once a week.
Be present for International Committee meetings.
V.
Salary and Benefits
Payment of $??? per semester
as "scholarship assistance."
VI.
Employment Agreement
The Peer Ministry Team will be
serving in a new support task. It
is to be evaluated at the end of each semester.
This job description was
originally written by Calvary Lutheran Church, Madison, Wisconsin
Peer Ministry to Internationals
Purpose: To welcome international students into the Christian community, to
be a friend to them and to assist them in their spiritual quest or
development.
Basic Activity:
Contact international students
by phone, through a personal visit, during a special event and invite them
to discuss themselves, their land, culture and religion in a private
one-to-one setting.
Staff & Cost:
Two persons each semester,
each working 5–10 hours a week at a cost of $4.50 per hour.
Students must be upper division (juniors and seniors) or graduate
students. Applicants will be
screened and interviewed by the campus pastor (others may participate in
interviewing.
Guidelines
to Peer Ministry
I. Resources for Contact
- International Student Affairs Office
- Campus Pastor
- Other international students
- Events hosted by international students
Once you receive the names of
international students, make an index card and on the top left corner
write down the student's name, address, and phone number.
In the top right corner put your name.
This is your student. Put
the index card in the International Ministry file box and come back to
each card after each visit or phone call with that students. Make any important notes on the card.
II. Phoning
- Before you begin, pray.
- Before you begin, have a calendar in front of you.
- If they are in . . .
- Identify yourself as a student. “My
name is . . .”
- “I'm working with Lutheran
Chapel here on campus.”
- “I'd like to get acquainted
with you, to learn about you and your country, and your religion, and to
tell you about me and my country and my religion.
Maybe I can be of help to you.
Can I meet you sometime this week?”
- If the person is busy, ask “What
about next week?”
- If the person is willing to meet, give him/her the option of
his/her room, the Student Union, or the lounge at Campus Center.
- Once that is established, arrange a mutual day and time to get
together.
- If the student chooses your campus center, you may have to give
directions.
- If he/she is busy or no one answers, try again after you have
completed other calls.
- If the person is not at home but you reach a roommate, leave your
first name and phone number and ask if he/she would return the call.
- As a rule, international students are very studious.
The best time to call is in the afternoon or evenings.
The best time for a visit is usually the weekend.
III.
The Visit
- Take a few moments beforehand for prayer.
Ask God to be with you and to let you see Him in the people you
meet.
- If the visit is at your campus center, find a place that is not
busy and where you can be alone—the lounge, library, office, classroom,
or kitchen. Do not use the
chapel—at least for the first visit.
If the visit is in the person's room and the roommate or other
people are there, ask “Do you mind
if we go to the lounge or somewhere where it is quiet and private so we
can talk?” Do this not
only for you, but especially for him/her.
Use the opportunity to get to know the roommate before having a
private visit with the person you came to visit.
- Greet the person you came to visit.
Be sure to repeat who you are and carefully listen to how he
pronounces his name. Work
with the pronunciation until you have reasonably mastered it.
In greeting the person you may want to shake hands.
Be at ease yourself and put your visitor at ease.
The main purpose for your visit is to provide an atmosphere where
the person can talk freely to you about himself, his family, his religion,
and his needs and to inform the person of the opportunities that Lutheran
Chapel has for him (especially if he is a Christian) and to analyze from
the conversation what the chapel can do to continue to befriend this
person. Extend to the person
a personal invitation to worship, Bible study and other activities.
- Questions to ask a person to help him/her open up and share.
- (See attached
form—International Survey) Note:
if you want the person to share his/her life with you, you must be open to
share your faith and life with him/her.
- f the response to the visit, and especially if the survey warrants
it, you might want to give the person a Bible or New Testament in his/her
own language. Tell the
student where to read in order to find out about Jesus Christ.
You might also want to read through a tract about basic
Christianity with the student.
- When your visit is over, offer a personal invitation to worship
with you if you have not done this already.
If you are at the campus center, introduce him/her to the pastor,
the secretary and any student who is in the building.
In your introductions refer to the international student as your
"friend." As you
say your goodbyes, tell him/her you hope to seem them again soon and wish
him/her well in their studies.
- After the visit, spend 15-minutes or so in quiet reflection.
Write a brief summary of the conversation in a journal (i.e., how
you felt, what the attitudes were, etc.).
Try your utmost to write in your journal as soon after the visit as
possible while the answers and observations are fresh in your mind.
You may wish to write some good words that apply to international
ministry. If you have any good ideas for the program, write them in a
journal also.
- Remember to keep those whom you visit in your
prayers. Do
the follow-up paperwork.
- On the back of the index card in the International Ministry file,
write down the date you visited the student.
- Check the student file cards in the secretary's office to see if
there is information you can provide.
Under "other comments" put down the date you visited the
person and your initials. Entry
would look like this: Visit, 4/46/94 REL.
Put information you want to add or information for a student not in
the file on a piece of paper for the secretary to add to the list.
- Write your visit on the International Ministry weekly report sheet.
IV. Attend International Events
- Obtain a schedule of events sponsored by the international students
and arrange to attend at least two international events each month.
- Be a learner at the international events.
Absorb as much as you can of the culture and the people to
understand the international students.
- Make yourself known to the international students at these events.
They are the hosts, and thank them for sponsoring the event.
Tell them who you are, use the opportunity to set up an appointment
for a visit in which you can exchange information and ideas at a deeper
level.
- Record in your journal immediately after the event the impressions
you had, the important things you learned, the contacts you made, and
whatever other observations you might have.
- Write your participation in the event on the "International
Ministry Weekly Report."
V.
Student Volunteers
Enlist and supervise the help
of student volunteers as opportunities for expanded ministry arise.
VI.
Keep a Time Sheet on All You Do
- Phoning
- Visits
- Writing in your journal and other paper work
- Attending international events
- Reading
- Training
This job description was
originally written by Wittenberg Lutheran Chapel, Normal, Illinois
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