ISMC has been operating in Canada as an evangelical outreach and service provider to international students for over 20 years. During these years we have reached and served thousands of students on post secondary campuses across Canada. Today we reach approximately 2% or 2,000 students of the annual international student population. We are expanding our vision to include growth initiatives which are . . . . to reach 5% of the international student community (approx 7,500) within the next 5 years. We pray that God will excite your heart, fill you afresh with outreach enthusiasm and encourage you to join us as we . . . . Touch a Life.
Scope:
To promote ISMC’s new growth initiative. (The intent would be to attract people to vision here, this is in contrast to the SVS which was to address current ministry deficiencies caused by recent unaddressed growth. With the SVS we were attracting peoples attention to the presence of God’s hand on our ministry as evidenced by growth.)
Vision:
Our vision is: “Impact the world through international students who are prepared to be true followers of Jesus Christ.”
Purpose:
The intention of ISMC’s new initiative is simple . . . . we want to reach a larger number of the international student community for Christ. To do this we will need to add to our existing career, associate and volunteer staff AND train these labourers in the most effective means of encouraging ”Church-wide” involvement in cross cultural evangelism.
Rationale:
In all His splendor and majesty and sovereign authority over all creation God has yet chosen us to represent His purpose, will and Son . . . . as His diplomatic corps . . . . ambassadors (1 Corr. 5), as the body of Chirst on earth. As branches (John 15) and endued with power from on high (Luke 24) it is those who embrace the great commission and advance the kingdom of God as labourers (Matthew 9) that God has chosen to bring about growth to His kingdom. ISMC consists of 25 career staff and over 500 volunteers, a ratio of 1:20. Career staff provide leadership and direction while facilitating the work of our volunteer corps. Therefore, volunteer recruitment will be the heart of ISMC’s future growth.
If ISMC is to reach more internationals for Christ over the next five years, we will need to ;
- recruit additional career staff to provide city leadership,
- develop volunteer recruitment strategies,
- improve on and provide field member care, and
- produce training materials.
A focus on church and community presentations, with an emphasis on encouraging and equipping believers to become active participants in winning internationals for Christ, will mean the addition of new national priorities.
Although these changes are welcome, they present the challenge of requiring new funding. The Touch a Life Campaign will address this need, for new resources, by sharing the need through the various channels and vehicles available to us and inviting new and existing kingdom partners to participate in this work by directing annual gifts to the National Ministry Fund (NMF).
Invitation:
We invite you to partner with ISMC in this important . . . . ministry growth and development stage . . . . of reaching greater numbers of international students and equipping them to impact the world for Christ.
Over the next 5 years we will seek to provide needed resources to our field staff to make their role in this vision more attainable. Consider prayerfully joining us as CAPACITY BUILDERS helping us to reach more students through choosing one of the options below as we together . . . . Touch a Life!
Please direct my annual gift of . . . .
$200.00
$400.00*
$800.00
$1,000.00
Other
Which I commit to for a period of at least 3 years.
*Based on current budget statistics ISMC spends $400.00 on average per year to provide services and ministry to each student we meet with.
