Every Wednesday, the Alpha Omega House, a non-denominational Christian house adjacent to campus, invites the University’s international students over for lunch. Each week, members of different international church communities prepare these lunches, which gave campus minister Dan Smith an idea.
“We’ve got four international churches working with us and three of them are pretty far away from school so it takes buses or rides to get there,” said Smith, who is affiliated with the Religious Directors Association. “If a student is from Japan or Korea, it’s hard to say, ‘Lets walk down and go to church.”
Earlier this term, Smith coordinated a program where Eugene Chinese Church, Japanese Baptist Church, Korean Central Presbyterian Church and Korean Presbyterian Church of Eugene send representatives to pick up students who want to attend religious services in their native languages. Students are picked up Sunday mornings outside the Duck Store.
According to a 2005 study by the Office of International Programs, 63 percent of University’s international students come from East Asia. Japan is the most represented country with South Korea, Taiwan and China close behind. Germany and Canada are the only non-Asian nations among the top 10.
“There are other international churches that are around the city,” said Smith, who would eventually like to expand the program. “These are just the four that have been active in campus and who we’ve been working with.”
? Eugene Chinese Church, located at 631 East 19th Ave. Services start at 11 a.m. and the shuttle picks up at 10:45 a.m. Languages: Mandarin, English
? Eugene Japanese Baptist Church located at 3071 River Road. Services start at 11 a.m. and the shuttle picks up at 10:30 a.m. Languages: Japanese, English
? Korean Central Presbyterian Church located at 3360 Game Farm Road, Springfield. Services start at 10:30 a.m. and the shuttle picks up at 10 a.m. Languages: Korean, English
? Korean Presbyterian Church of Eugene located at 1600 Taney St. Services start at 10, 11:30 a.m. and the shuttle picks up at 9:30 a.m., 11 a.m. Languages: English (9:30 a.m. service), Korean (11 a.m. service)
– Mike O’Brien