Sue Burt - September 2023 report

September means….

..lots of students arriving in Bournemouth, including several hundred international students to study at one of our universities, the college or a language school. At first their questions will be mainly practical: Where is…? How do I open a bank account? What does this English expression mean? When will it stop raining?! As time goes on and the early practicalities are dealt with, the questions change: What does my tutor expect in this assignment? When will the heating start working?  Why do the English…? It’s at this stage that culture shock and homesickness can really kick in and of course it all coincides with the darker evenings and looming assignment deadlines. As part of my role as part-time International Chaplain at Bournemouth University and the Arts University, we seek to be there to answer questions and offer support.

During Freshers’ week (18–22 Sept) as a chaplaincy team we offer a Pocket of Peace marquee where all students (and staff) can come and relax, find some refreshments and of course ask their questions.  On Sat 30 Sept on a whole day of inductions for international students I’ll co-lead sessions on Culture Shock and British Culture. Then there’s the weekly Global Café. Here we seek to build deeper relationships and it’s always a joy to see a nucleus form who come back regularly. Many also go on to attend the Hub Café at Lansdowne on Friday evenings. There questions continue and often lead to spiritual searching. This past year it’s been a joy to see several who started out as contacts from Global Café go on to attend the Hub, then come to Word Alive[1] and then engage with Bible Studies. 

…many students finishing courses and going on to next steps. Until very recently for the great majority that would have meant going home. Now the Post Study Work Visa enables many university graduates to stay and work here for 2-3 years and maybe longer. My role as Head of Returnee Ministry for Friends International has involved helping our staff and volunteers prepare returnees to deal with reverse culture shock and in particular help those students who have come to faith in the UK to face the many family and cultural pressures they will meet back home. So our big questions now concern how can we adapt our discipleship of international students to prepare them for many different scenarios of staying or returning, maybe returning after some years or moving on to a 3rd culture? From October I shall be embarking on some part-time research at the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies to delve deeper into questions of discipleship for international students.

Jesus so often used questions in His ministry, even to answer questions! In all the questions being asked, whether by students or Friends International staff, may we discern God’s answers and may we strive to ‘Grow Friendship and Faith with international students’ to His glory. I thank God for being involved in this amazing ministry!

Sue Burt

[1] Word Alive is an annual Christian conference held in North Wales where we run an international student track