The SU Chinese Church opened a Cultural Center for Chinese International Students at the Saemun Church in Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul. The center’s aim is to further drive the mission work in China by raising Chinese international students in Korea as missionaries.

The new mission base will start with hosting 12 Chinese students, all of whom are current SU students and have been appointed as the FSMs (Foreigner Student Missionaries) last May. The FSM is a system that selects international students enrolled in the Sahmyook University as missionaries who are dedicated to campus missions. While studying in Korea, the FSMs preach the gospel to non-believer international students from their own country, and upon their graduation, they are appointed as SU-HERALDs and dispatched back to their country.

The reason that the SU Chinese Church launched the base for mission outside of the SU campus is to fully leverage the locational advantage of Saemun Church. Within a radius of 1 km around the church lie 3 universities: Kyung Hee University, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, and the University of Seoul. Hosting a number of Chinese students, these three universities are considered rich fishing grounds.

Currently, there are 40,000 Chinese students living in Korea. When these students accept the gospel, they can go back to China and lead the evangelization of their country. At present, mission work is hard to be carried out within China, particularly so by foreigners, which makes the role of those Chinese students even more crucial. It means that the outcomes of mission work by the natives will be incomparable.

Appointing the 12 Chinese students as FSMs, SU President Kim Il-mok said to them, “We hope that you will work at the forefront of the evangelization of China when you go back.”

Since the beginning of July, the newly appointed FSMs have been meeting with international students every Sabbath afternoon around the Saemun Church to preach the gospel. Befriending them, the 12 missionaries introduce Jesus and hand out some gifts including wet wipes and foam cleansers, each with a QR code that can be scanned with smartphones and present the Adventist message.