Outreach to International Students, or OIS had a crowded calendar in school year 2006-07, its debut as a joint pursuit of DCBC and sister church Diliman Bible Church (DBC).

Started way back in 1982 with Ate Irene Maggay of DBC as part of its original team, OIS reaches out for Christ to expatriate students in the Philippines, particularly but not just Diliman and UP. While the scope is large, resources are limited. So OIS began by setting up shop in the lobby of the International Center (IC) in UP one afternoon a week, first on Sundays, then on Fridays. It was soon a familiar face to the IC guests. (Acquaintances were made, friendships nurtured, and the Gospel shared as OIS and its new friends got to know one another.)

OIS walked the extra mile... It took its new friends on sight-seeing tours, held special events for them. It prayed for and with them, visited them, when they were sick especially, and so on. It helped them adjust to the culture, even deal with government red tape. The foreign students quickly learned that OIS was an emergency lifeline, with some in trouble even calling up their OIS friends in the middle of the night. (One young man did upon getting arrested by the police and thrown in jail.)

Last year at the beginning of classes when OIS needed fresh volunteers, Ate Irene approached her old friend — and old friend of OIS — DCBC Senior Pastor Dr. Bel Magalit. He championed the cause of OIS, inviting his flock one Sunday last June to attend a planning meeting called by Ate Irene.

Three volunteers attended the meeting together with Pastor Bel. One of them was Peema Duque, who was promptly handpicked as OIS coordinator for DCBC. She just as promptly went to work getting more to sign up with OIS, mostly UP students attending DCBC’s Sunset service.

Peema, then a new face in DCBC, had by this time already become a well-liked Ate in the Sunset service. Though a member of the English AM service, she would also attend Sunday afternoon worship to get to know the college kids since she works with some of them in student ministry. For Peema, her involvement in both Sunset service and OIS is a happy combination as many now on the team are Sunset service regulars.

OIS again took up its friendship post in IC every Friday from 5 to 6:30PM. Sometimes volunteers stay even later – part of walking that extra mile with their friends in the hope of bringing them to Christ.

DCBC – The right church for the mission
On April 21, DCBC OIS coordinator Peema took advantage of the summer break and called for a team meeting to assess and to plan. High on the agenda was the slideshow presentation OIS will make to the English service May 27 (Pentecost Sunday). OIS covets more support from the DCBC brethren for school year 2007-08. DCBC could help OIS with its special events…

• There is this year’s “OIS Welcome Reception” in June to usher in the new batch of IC students, and the “Metro Manila Tour” this August.
• There is the “OIS Christmas Party,” and opportunities for families to welcome foreign students into their homes on Christmas Day.
• This year, the truly special activity will be “OIS Day” in October when OIS celebrates its 25th Anniversary.

However, it is with routine activities that OIS needs more DCBC support (funding, and time, and hands on deck)…

• Show up at the IC at 5PM on Friday and mingle with the residents till 6:30PM at least (commit for specific Fridays, or just suddenly pop in).
• Stay at the IC as in-house OIS volunteers (Filipino postgraduate students allowed).
• “Adopt” expatriate students, involving them regularly in family activities.

It was actually an Indian student of ATS and UP, Thomas Vadakethundiyil Thomas who started OIS, and was blessed to have been mentored by Pastor Bel, then DBC Pastor. This is why Pastor Bel himself has always had a soft spot for OIS. He considers it a strategic — and crucial — program for any church in Diliman with a heart for missions.

Expatriate students in UP are sent by their countries to learn technologies they take back home for their people’s benefit. They come from diverse religious backgrounds, and the urge to transfer the technology of Christianity to them should be irresistible. (Many of these foreign students go on to influential positions in government and society back home. One Iranian student, who came to Christ through OIS rose to become an Undersecretary.)

DCBC has always had missions wired into its system. Rather than pour its resources into building itself a permanent structure, it chose to be a channel of God’s blessing for thirty years (and counting). And not just to the UP community. It has given much in financial support and prayer to pastors and missionaries here and abroad. Through OIS an unreached people is coming to DCBC, giving a rare chance to the homebodies of the church to go on missions, too.

Peema Duque - The right person for the job
Peema was born to a military professor in Social Sciences at the Philippine Military Academy in Baguio, or PMA and he named her after the institute’s acronym. (Peema herself amused points this out.)

Peema grew up in Baguio in the bosom of her Christian family, but took fourth year high school in Sultan Kudarat, Mindanao where her father was assigned. She took college in UP, graduating with a Bachelor of Physical Education. She taught in Baguio for a few years, then came back to UP to pursue her Masters (also PE).

After she got her Masters, Peema taught for some years in Miriam College before migrating to Australia in 1999 to join her sister. She taught in Melbourne for a year (PE of course). She then did some job hopping, seeking her niche, before she heard God calling her home, and to missions, at the same time. She joined OMF International, came back to the Philippines early 2006, and was “seconded” to DCBC. (This means DCBC is now her home church, and mission field, at the same time.)

Peema had set her heart on finding a church-based student ministry, which explains her affinity for the Sunset kids. She first thought DCBC would assign her to the Dormitories Christian Fellowship, or DCF so was surprised to be posted with OIS.

(She could one day add a DD or LLD to her acronym-dotted CV, as she is concurrently doing a graduate diploma in Christian Education at ATS.

OIS - Fun and games and serious Gospel
June 30, 2006 was when the renewed OIS was launched with the lively “OIS Welcome Reception” at the IC. The team members gamely dressed up in Filipino costume despite the heat, the girls looking pretty and demurely Filipina. The special revue starting at 6PM drew more or less thirty expatriate students out of their rooms.

Peema, of course, was hands on (even making invitation cards and assembling welcome kits). Paul Balite and Hannah Balingcongan brought high energy to shared duties as emcee cum game-show hosts. Pastor Bel gave the welcome remarks, and Ate Irene lectured on Philippine culture. Jojee Nogra and Ervin Lumauag treated the expatriate guests to a kundiman, the traditional Filipino love song. Rounding out the crew were other members from DCBC and DBC who helped out as needed and joined in the fun.

The final cultural treat for the night was the DCBC-sponsored Filipino dinner (pork considerately omitted). OIS volunteers, moral support, and guests enjoyed the chicken adobo, and the Cebuano bam-i (noodles with seafood and vegetables). Everybody went home warm and well fed way past 9PM.

On September 9, the “Metro Manila Tour” (an OIS tradition) took seventeen IC friends around the metropolis. The morning went from the American Cemetery, on to the Ayala Museum and a tour of “rich and poor” Makati. It ended in Chinatown and lunch along the famous Ongpin Estero. The tour resumed with must-see Intramuros then on via Rizal Park to the SM Mall of Asia (the old, and the new Metro Manila). Around fifty happy OIS tourists took in the sights. This included DCBC and DBC, seventeen Asian Theological Seminary (ATS) students, and four Alliance Graduate School (AGS).

On October 25, twenty-two people, OIS and friends took a day trip to sample farm life in Rizal. Only three IC residents went this time, so it became a team outing for OIS and brethren from Asian Theological Seminary (ATS) and OMF International.

The Christmas break is a natural opportunity for OIS to share Christ through His birthday celebration. On December 24, Ate Irene led the “OIS Christmas Party” at the IC, a Noche Buena feast. She asked funds from the sister churches for the simple but festive pasta buffet, also donations of prizes for gasmes. (One DCBC donor gave a windfall of native woven handbags.)

Ate Irene also appealed to DCBC households to host a few expatriate students for Christmas lunch or dinner (another OIS tradition). Five DBC families had already given her their commitment. Pastor Bel and Ate Lety Magalit were the first to respond from DCBC inviting to Christmas dinner at their home. They were followed by Deaconess Ate Flor Ignacio. (Ate Flor put Sunset service mainstays Shii Arcilla and Mikay de Leon in charge of Christmas lunch at her house. Shii, a Sunset Music Team original, played the piano after dessert and soon had Ate Flor’s four IC visitors singing Christian hymns.)

The final special event for OIS school year 2006-07 was the February 6-7 outing to Punta Fuego in Batangas. (Ate Irene was glad to note many expatriate ladies using their native handbags from the Christmas party.)

The birthday of an IC resident gives OIS an extra chance through fellowship to steer that person closer to knowing Christ. Whenever there is a birthday party in the IC, Ate Irene brings pansit (noodles, again).

The friendly fun and games, the special programs and outings – the food – are all part of the serious business of sharing the Gospel for OIS.

Peema Duque has found her church-based student ministry in OIS. Ate Irene Maggay has her Godsend in Peema to take over the job as He calls her elsewhere. DCBC is given the opportunity to obey the longtime OIS motto, “Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all people.” (Psalm 96:3, NKJV). Not just through the missionaries it sends. Regular members of DCBC can now go international with the Gospel of Christ — without even having to leave home.