Recently Luke, who leads our FOCUS ministry, shared some principles of cross-cultural interactions with the student leaders of the Uni Fellowship. We needed this training because increasingly our 'Aussie' ministry is also becoming international. The difference really is between high and low English competency, and what is the dominant culture of the group.
One comment he made in passing was that Chinese students have told him that the idea of meeting up to 'drink a coffee' is an unusual cultural thing for them. If they were going to hang out with friends, they would eat a meal, not just drink coffee.
Then he asked if a meal would be a better context for 1:1 ministry, and they said that this wouldn't work. Rather, they suggested that the best context for 1:1 ministry would be a meeting area in the library. Since 1:1 ministry was about studying the Bible, a study space made more sense to them.
Interesting, isn't it, how a European Australian constructs 1:1 ministry in a social space, whereas a Chinese person might prefer to see it in a study space?
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1:1 with international students — in a study space not a social space
