Welcome Booklets for International Students

Providing welcome booklets is a great way to introduce your ministry and the Scripture to new international students. It can also build favor with the international office.
We use a small (4” x 6”) photo album, the kind that some stores provide free when you have photos developed. Check with international student friends or someone in the international office for suggestions about what to include. Our booklet contains:

• Welcome page
• Contents page
• Conversational English information
• How to address an envelope
• Sample envelope
• How to write a check
• Sample check
• How to write a phone number and use phone books
• City bus information
• Measurement conversions (temperature, distance, weight)
• Where to find health care
• Where to buy international foods
• Where to find laundromats
• Where to find parks
• Where to find the public library
• Map of U.S. showing states
• Map of U.S. showing time zones (and explanation of daylight savings time)
• Holidays
• Bible introduction page, which says:
• More than half of the people in the U.S. are not Christians, but American history and culture have been greatly influenced by Christian values.
• The Bible was a textbook in American’s earliest schools, and much of the British and American literature of previous centuries was written with the assumption that readers were familiar with the Bible. BCM would be happy to give you a free Bible, whether in English or in your own language. If you would like to have one, contact….
• The rest of this booklet contains some of the well-known passages from the Bible.
• The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:3-17)
• The First Psalm
• The Twenty-third Psalm
• Prophecy of the Suffering Servant (Isaiah 53:3-6)
• The Sermon on the Mount ( Matthew 5:3-12)
• Roman Road of Salvation (Romans 3:23, 5:8, 6:23, 10:9-10)
• Advice for Life (Philippians 4:4-8)
• The Love Chapter (I Corinthians 13:1-8)
• BCM information page

Ask God if He wants you to provide these booklets. Pray for favor with the international office to allow you to do this. Pray for BCM students who have a heart for internationals to assemble the booklets. (It is very time-consuming!) Pray for the students who will receive the booklets. Claim God’s promise that his Word never returns void but always accomplishes the purpose that He intends.

Rose Bear
BCM, Indiana State University