CHRISTIAN CONVERSION AGENDA

Quick Guide to Meeting
Indian Students on Campus

Events: Get involved in Indian student organizations and community activities such as playing cricket. Learn about and attend Indian cultural festivals.

Food: Eat Indian food, and ask students to show you how to cook it. Bring snacks to any gathering where you hope to have Indian students. Serve mostly vegetarian foods or chicken.

Bollywood Movies: After meeting people at cultural events, you could host a Bollywood film night or a dinner gathering at your home where you order or cook Indian food.

Gatherings: Start a get together that is focused on creating friendships that will also help them with their felt needs, like how to write a resume, get an interview, and obtain a driver’s license.

Friendships: Develop a few genuine friendships rather than many shallow friendships.

As a student group, we encourage our members to be a part of the Hindu student club on campus. Together we go to their festivals and parties. We also attend important community functions like dance recitals and Diwali. In these ways, we connect to the culture and have a natural meeting place to develop friendships with Hindus. Once the friendships are formed, it is important to train students to go deeper in friendships and really get to know one another through giving to and receiving from our Hindu friends.

ne of the most effective students I have seen in befriending Hindus takes a genuine interest in Hindu culture. She watches a lot of Bollywood films and takes dance lessons in traditional Hindu dance styles. She learned the basic stories of the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. In this way, she connects with the culture and shows her respect for their way of life. She has a love for Indian food and clothing and also attends cultural festivals and frequently invites Indian students to her apartment. Indian students are impressed to meet someone who has a sincere interest in their life. Yet, because of her genuine friendship, she also is able to share about her personal belief in Jesus and to pray to Jesus on behalf of her friends. One of her friends recently confided that he is interested in Jesus and may want to read the Bible.

Prayer is a crucial component in getting started in Hindu ministry. We have to seek the Lord and ask him to lead us to the students who are cross-cultural and able to easily relate with Indian students. We also have to pray that the gatekeepers of the Hindu community will welcome us in with open arms. Once the key people in the community are welcoming and friends with us, it will be much easier to relate with the group at large. So, we must continually put everything into God’s hands throughout the process of relating. Prayer keeps us in a solid relationship with Christ and allows us to acknowledge that God is the one at work through our relationships and that God is the only one capable of changing our friends hearts and minds.

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