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Serving food and God’s love Vicki Brown, Jul 30, 2010
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United Methodist Women at Grace Korean UMC in Columbus, Ohio, serve a free meal each week to students at Ohio State University.
By Vicki Brown Special Contributor
About 85 international students at Ohio State University (OSU) in Columbus gather each Tuesday for fellowship and Korean food at a lunch provided by Grace Korean United Methodist Church.
“These international students could be future leaders in their own countries,” said the Rev. Miran Lee, pastor of the church, which has a focus on campus ministry. “We do not need to learn their languages and cultures, in order to reach out to them.”
Ms. Lee said there are more than 4,000 international students at OSU. More than three years ago, the church began sponsoring the luncheon program at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, which is located on the campus and allows the Grace United Methodist Women’s group use of the fellowship hall and kitchen to prepare and serve lunch. Many of the students who come are Buddhist or Muslim.
“We asked Grace Korean UMC student members to invite their classmates—both international, American students, their colleagues and professors—to our luncheon fellowship,” Ms. Lee said. “While we are preparing Korean foods, we pray for the lunch participants to foretaste God’s love.”
Heana Park, an OSU senior who is also president of the young adults group at the church, said many of the students who come are not Christian. “We don’t force anyone to believe or anything, but they can feel that we are doing this for God,” said Ms. Park, a South Korean who joined Grace Korean UMC after she came to the university to study.
Donghun Lee, a student and a member of the church, said reaching out to international students is part of the church’s mission, but it was hard to find good contact points.
“We thought the campus luncheon would be a good way to deliver God’s love to non-Christian students,” Mr. Lee said. “Even though we didn’t actively talk about Jesus and force them to come to our church, they knew we were from the United Methodist Church. What we hope is that they remember our hospitalities and seek Jesus in their life sometime in the future.”
Mr. Lee believes that giving without any strings attached has spiritual benefits for those who prepare the meals. “People might think our program is not worthy. They think that we spend a few hundred dollars every week, but almost none of the students comes to our church. In this point of view, yes, it looks like we failed.
“However, we are not disappointed because we believe that at the right time in the future all of them will be Christians,” he said, adding that he sees some students stop by the sanctuary and stand there silently. “I don’t know what they think, but the fact that they stepped into the sanctuary is a promising sign.”
Meanwhile the pastor, Miran Lee, said three OSU international students have been baptized after connecting with the church through the luncheon program. Noting that many ethnic groups live in Columbus, she believes the traditional model of sending missionaries to other countries with intensive training in other languages and cultures is no longer the only way to have a world mission.
“The world mission can be achieved in our backyard,” Ms. Lee said, “and the world mission field is everywhere, including the campus of Ohio State University and other colleges and universities within Ohio.”
Volunteer Do-in Park began helping to serve the lunches in 2008, when about 50 to 60 students came each week; now about 85 attend.
“Because sharing a meal is such a powerful way of building community,” Ms. Park said, “I see many international students and American students becoming friends by talking about the food they are enjoying, asking how it was made and having regular, everyday conversations.”
The Rev. Roger Grace, a member of the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry (GBHEM) and assistant to a district superintendent in the West Ohio Conference, recently visited the luncheon program as part of a conference audit team.
“One of the things that was most impressive to me was that while the lunch is designed to attract international students—Asians specifically because of the food and the volunteers who prepare it—the meal is actually open to all who come,” Mr. Grace said. “The audit team was greeted by the folks from the church and made to feel welcome, even though they had no idea that we might show up.”
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Mr. Lee believes that giving without any strings attached has spiritual benefits for those who prepare the meals. “People might think our program is not worthy. They think that we spend a few hundred dollars every week, but almost none of the students comes to our church. In this point of view, yes, it looks like we failed. 
