Practicing Ubuntu Among International Students

This article uses the concept of Ubuntu to analyse the experience of international students studying in Australia with the ‘AuburnHub’ initiative of AuburnLife Baptist Church. The Hub was instituted to cater to international students’ need for community, hospitality and conversational English. We propose that ‘I am because we are’ is a valid way of understanding being. International students, dislocated from their previous networks, present an opportunity for churches to utilize the concept of Ubuntu to guide community-building initiatives as well as an opportunity to investigate the utility of this understanding of being. AuburnHub presents a model for a Western application of Ubuntu in a globalised context. ‘I am because we are’ helps us to welcome the fact that as we change the makeup of our ‘we’ through effective ministry we will also be changed ourselves.