When The World Comes To Us | Faculty Commons

Rae Mellichamp,
Emeritus Professor, University of Alabama
Scott Luley
Faculty Commons, Princeton University

“For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink;

I was a stranger, and you invited Me in.” Matthew 25:35

In this final Ministry Minute of 2007, we would encourage you to pray about having your family invite some international students, grad students, and/or professors for dinner during the holidays. This year 583,000 international students are enrolled in U.S. universities. Nearly half of these are graduate students; you may be working with some of them this year.

Their Loneliness And Isolation

Unfortunately, over 85 % never see the inside of an American home. For them, joining an American family for a meal during the holidays offers them a chance to “connect” with new friends and overcome some of their loneliness and isolation.

Over the years, the Luley family has invited international students and professors to our home during holidays — and we have been blessed by our time together. One Russian professor came to our home for Thanksgiving when we lived in Dallas, and she became part of our family on many future occasions.

The last few years, we have asked “future professors” (Ph.D. candidates here at Princeton who plan to be professors) to join our family and another family with whom we traditionally celebrate Thanksgiving. We always enjoy fun, great food and fellowship, an explanation of the first Thanksgiving here in the U.S., and sharing about which each of us is thankful. Transitions into our faith and the reason for the season are natural and almost assumed by all.

Life-Long Friendships

We have benefitted from this. We have begun life-long friendships. My wife Jan and I, and our sons have learned about other cultures in ways that personally affected us.

As for the Mellichamps — my wife Peggy and I started a Bible study for international students while I was a fairly young business professor at Alabama. Peggy was teaching English as a Second Language to internationals and their wives through one of the local churches and so she had plenty of contacts with internationals and, of course, I had numerous contacts through the business school.

We invited a bunch of them to come to our home one night a week for a survey of the Bible in order to give them a first-hand idea of what many Americans believe about God. This study lasted for several years, and we had a grand time. For many of these students it was the only opportunity they had to go into an American home. For others, it was their first exposure to Christianity.

Two Things You Don’t Discuss

I recall one student telling me that his professor at home had severely warned him before coming to the States, “There are two things you don’t discuss with Americans: politics and religion.” There’s no telling how many international students come here with that same admonition and, thus, fail to ever gain any exposure to the religious side of American life.

I don’t recall specifically any of these students coming to faith in Christ, but I am confident that they moved to the right significantly on the spiritual receptivity continuum. I do know that after perhaps 20 years, several of them still write Christmas letters every year, sometimes in very broken English, to our “Dear Dr. Mellichamp and Peggy.”