For many international student ministry movements, the dinner event is crucial for crafting and growing a community for international students. This event gives these students a place to come back to for friendship and support, to share a good meal together, to learn about Jesus, and a safe space to find answers to life's difficult questions.

International students are often isolated and overwhelmed by the pressures of life in America. They are especially open to Christians who love them and share the gospel with them. In this upcoming school year, we have a vision to expand our capacity to provide meaningful social connections in a Christ-centered environment we are calling Bridges International Dinner. 

At UCSD, these events will happen every week on Tuesday nights from 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM.
At SDSU, these events happen once per month on a Friday night from 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM. 

These gatherings will regularly provide friendly community and conversation, a free meal, and Bible study. They also naturally provide a way to highlight our special events outside of the dinner event, such as Vision Conference.

Costs

• FOOD: $150 per dinner X 33 Dinners

  • • One main draw of this event is having a hot, homestyle meal international students can share with each other.
      This breaks down to $150 per dinner.

Discovery Bible Study

Our Bridges movement in San Diego is embedded on a larger Cru campus ministry team. This is a massive benefit to us as the Cru team's long-term stability and ministry experience in this city and on these campuses gives us a leg up in many ways. 

Fall Retreat is the first major student event of the school year and sets the tone for many students to become grounded in the ministry organization and remain constant throughout the year. In the 2020-2021 school year, for example, we had international students attend Fall Retreat who still regularly attend our weekly Bible studies and have grown immensely in their knowledge and understanding of who Jesus is. 

For this event, we invite students from all campuses in San Diego and surrounding areas to join us at a Christian campground in Idyllwild, CA for a weekend of community, fun, and deep spiritual conversations.

Costs

• Scholarships: $100 per student X 25 students

  • • To help send 25 students to Fall Retreat

    • The cost of the retreat pays for food, lodging, and supplies for the weekend

Fall Outreach is one of our most crucial events of the year. This is our first opportunity of the year for meeting new international students who have just arrived in the States. This first week of college, which some call "Launch Week", is an orientation week with tons of clubs, groups, organizations, businesses, and even other ministries trying to catch the attention of every student on campus, but we want to be a light of service, community, and the love of Jesus to our international friends.

Our Launch Week Outreach strategy involves:

• Multiple days of Mobile Mapping

  • • Allowing us to have natural, genuine conversations with international students

• Having a booth at Launch Week

  • • Allowing us to represent the legitimacy of Bridges and showcase what our group is and does

Costs

• Food

• Table/Booth Rental

• Survey sign-up prizes

• Handouts/Gifts

• Flyers

Launch Week & Mobile Mapping

Bridges Annual Burger Sunset

Spring Break in Big Bear

Remember what it was like to be in college? Life often felt like a blur as you balanced your social calendar with the responsibilities that came along with being a student. You may have frequently pulled all-nighters as you sought that elusive "A", or maybe you worked a part-time job as you tried to keep up your friendships. Whatever your experience, although things may have changed since you attended university, students today still struggle with many of the same pressures. Because of this, we want to offer a change of pace during Spring Break to our international students here in San Diego.

International students also know that they are only here in the USA for a limited time, so they want to use their Spring Break time to seek fun and adventure. For spring break week, Bridges seeks to provide that fun and adventure while also diving deep into the theme of what it means to encounter Jesus. For this, we travel to the beautiful mountain town of Big Bear, CA. Every night we watch an episode of The Chosen for movie night. Then, every morning after breakfast, we have a Bible study based on the passage from the episode the night before. Having this visual aid allows the truth of the Gospel to sink in and rich discussions to be had amidst the fun and adventurous events of each day.

Costs

• Scholarships: $100 per student X 15 students

  • • To help send 15 students to Spring Break

    • The cost of this trip pays for food, lodging, and other supplies

"Vision is more than just a conference—it’s a gathering for international and American students to grow personally, experience a unique global community, and explore who God is through spiritual conversations."

Vision Conference happens in a new city every year at the end of December and ends with a massive New Year’s Eve dance party. Vision’s goal is to bring international students from all over the USA together in one place for 4 days to learn from engaging speakers, tour the city, and celebrate with students from over 60 countries during our Community Night event and New Year’s Eve party! Last year, though, we were blessed to have 72 countries represented with around 1,000 people in attendance!

Costs

• Scholarships: $200 per student X 5 students

  • • To help send 25 students to Vision Conference

Every summer thousands of students will go around the world on a Summer Mission with Cru. They will see God move with their own eyes – and through their own lives.

As the largest missionary organization in the world, Cru is well equipped to prepare and send students for true gospel impact. Cru has many full-time staff missionaries who lead and invest in these students as they take steps of faith to share Christ with others. Our 50+ years of experience sending high school students, local college students, and international students merges with our global ministry partnerships to form a summer that will be significant to them and to local ministries.

Cru's overall mission is Win, Build, and Send. We work all year to win students to Christ, Build them up in their faith, and send them as professing believers on their campus in their day-to-day lives. Sending them to put their faith into action through the summer is an incalculable opportunity that these students will never forget.

Costs

• Scholarships: $100 per student X 5 students

  • • To help send 25 students on a summer mission

Costs

• $500 for necessary supplies throughout the year covering such items as printing costs, pens, notebooks, stickers, Bibles, and others.