As Fusion, we love to reach all students with the good news of Jesus. Transformations Leeds does an incredible job of enabling local Christians, churches, and student groups to reach out to international students with the good news of Jesus in culturally relevant ways. We spoke to Phil who shared Bill’s story: 

Bill came to the UK to study for an accounting degree, however, he left with something much more valuable - faith in Jesus. His interest in British culture led him to attend bible studies where he could make friends and practice his English. There he also found the message of forgiveness so attractive that he gave his life to Jesus. However, the faith he’d found in the UK was not so easy to follow back home. He was messaging me about the challenges he was facing. I’d tried to help him whilst he was here. We’d gone through what I thought were the basics of faith: prayer, reading the bible, evangelism, that sort of thing. I thought that these discipleship foundations were what would best prepare him for life after university, life back home. However, his pressure point was his all-consuming job in a workaholic East Asian culture. I felt regret. We hadn’t even discussed work once! If only I’d known more about what he was going to experience, where the challenges would lie, then I could have tailored my discipleship better.

This isn’t a unique story, it’s one Transformations Leeds have seen again and again over the years. They want to see students not just meet and follow Jesus at university, but continue to live for him throughout their lives in whatever country and culture they find themselves in. Knowing the challenges that Christian international graduates face after university can help focus our discipleship, making it more effective. Transformations Leeds are surveying as many graduated international students as they can to find out how they can best serve the next generation of uni leavers.

If you have connected with any international students over the last decade who fit the criteria below Transformations Leeds would love to hear their insights.

If you know anyone who:

• has completed study in the UK in the last 7 years, at any level from a 6-month language course through to a PhD
• are not British - so they were an international student in the UK 
• self-identify as a Christian, having either arrived in the UK as a Christian, become a Christian at university, or after university.

…we would love you to encourage them to fill out Transformations Leeds' survey. We can’t share the link directly here to protect those contributing to the survey who may have returned to places of risk for Christians. To get the survey link or find out more please contact phil.thomas@transformationleeds.org.uk.