Chinese Campus Ministry

The Springfield Missouri Cumberland Presbyterian Church campus ministry team at Missouri State University (MSU) and Ozarks Technical College (OTC) is growing! The Lord is blessing our outreach. There were 17 college and university students in church Sunday morning! (and some regulars were missing!)

From MSU we had 8 visitng Chinese students, 4 regularly attending Korean and Korean American students and one non asian American. We also had 3 American (or Asian American) students from OTC, and one student from Mizzou. Our campus ministry and international student outreach is growing.

The members of our campus ministry team are
Rev Peggy Appling- CP Campus Ministry leader and Associate Pastor
Rev John Ang- Chinese speaking CP pastor ministering to Chinese and international students
Rev Gordon Campbell- CP pastor on ministry team
Rev John Appling- ministry team member and CP Senior Pastor
Elder Ed Fare- ministry team support
John Barnhardt- ministry team support, Chinese speaking and van driver
Our campus ministry team members are reimbursed for any expenses they submit and given use of the building, van and any other things the church has but are not paid a salary for their campus ministry work. We are missionaries of a sort. Our church has a campus ministry fund that anyone can contribute to that pays for things like dues and ministry expenses.

Of the 17 students at church Sunday, I believe 9 will be going back to their countries (maybe 10) and the rest are immigrants or born in the US to immigrant parents. The visiting Chinese students were a little older than a traditional university student and some have families with them. There were other Chinese, American and Korean people at church who are not students but are college age.

Soon, we hope to be expanding our Cumberland Presbyterian ministry on campus even more to all groups both international and domestic. There is a lot of need for community and for a sense of belonging on campus. We believe we can serve this community and share our faith at the same time.

Pastor Ang takes the CP church van to MSU to pick up the students on Sunday morning (on it's second run of the morning, after picking up those people who cannot drive, for Sunday school. It's a busy van). The students are provided a meal after the service, usually eating with our Korean members who have a custom of eating at church after church every Sunday pot luck style. (Several of our Korean members drive a distance to get there each Sunday). The food is primarily Korean and it is fun to try new things. Koreans and Chinese people both eat rice and soup at every meal, in addition to other foods. Sometimes, Pastor Ang, John Barnhart and Ed Fare take the students out to eat.

Pastor Ang ministers to the Chinese speaking students during the week, helping them with the practical needs and conversing with them in their language. Our Chinese ministry is around 8 currently, plus visitors.

Pastor Park, our Korean speaking associate pastor from Korea, ministers to some of the Korean speaking students during the week. He is not part of the campus ministry at this time. Pastor Park and his family are in the country for a few years and his English is still in progress. Due to language barriers, his most effective ministry is to Korean speakers at this time. (The Korean CP ministry in our church numbers in the 40's, including children, and is growing).