Once this information is available, it will be much easier to get matches going. It would be good to match hosts with student who go to the same worship service, for example.
The elders and some sociable students shoudl get together with the entire church roll and go down the list, noting down whatever information each person has on each person on the list. This can be done in a big meeting, or sequentially, with the annotated list being passed along.
The problem of getting information on students not currently on the church rolls is the same as the problem of getting information on visitors generally. (1) A strong request every six months from the pulpit that everyone, old-timers and new folks, fill out the bulletin flaps is one thing to do. (2) The preacher or officiating elders should stand at the doors after services and learn visitors' names. Next to them should stand someone who will write down the names for them. Also, the preacher, after a brief hello, can pass the visitor to the other person for a real conversation so the preacher can get to the next visitor.
Every student should be personally offered the chance to have a host. The student should not have to request it. When they should be offered this is a tough question-- after one visit, 3 visits, membership...?
The relationship should be two-way. Thus, the student should be told that he should invite the host to his home or to some event at least once-- for dessert, or a meal, or just for coffee. Ideally it would be to his home, but for cultural reasons that might not work.
PLAN A. The host family should be told that they must:
1. Ask the student over to their home at least once a year.
2. Go to the student's home at least once a year. (Or do something else at the invitation of the student.)
3. Invite the student to at least one other event, such as a church picnic, a high school basketball game, or the county fair.
Hosts should be told specifically, in writing, how they can do things (as with FAQs in the computer world). There should be a long list of suggestions for events to which to take the student. There should be comments on what kind of food to serve at dinner.
Plan A doesn't sound like much, but it actually is, and some hosts will fail to fulfill their obligations. Something must be done to handle this. Some supervisor must ask them all after 3 months how they are doing on the three things above, and repeat the question after 6 months. They should be told in advance that the supervisor will ask them how they are doing. If a host fails completely, the supervisor should take care of that student himself.
PLAN B.The host family will simply be a contact. The student meets them after church one day, and that is the only obligatory contact. If, however, the student needs help-- if he is arrested, sued, hospitalized, etc.-- he should feel completely free to call up the host for help.
Every single student should be covered by Plan B, at least. Ideally, the relationship would be much deeper than even Plan A. But it is best to start with something practical. If that works, increase the pressure.
Morel-hunting in the spring is another good outing.
Even better, tho, would be week-by-week translations of the readings to be used in the service. One person would be in charge of this-- a shy, responsible foreign student would be a good person to be in charge. The chruch office would let the person know by email what the readings would be. The person would then go to the Web and get 5 foreign translations, and put all 6 into a computer file. He would email that back to the church office, which would make 20 copies for the service. These would be put near the entrance, where visitors could see them,with a big sign in the 6 languages.
This,however, is something to do only when the students currently attending the church are taken care of.
Do not set up a Bible study or Sunday school group especially for foreigners. That defeats integration, and looks suspiciously like segregation, even if meant kindly. See what's happened to African-Americans in colleges because of this kind of segregation.
Next easiest is to make it convenient for Christians or interested unbelievers to come to ECC. The church shoudl have little cards, wallet-sized, with directions from campus, times of services, and the web address of the church. (The phone number is much less important-- a foreigner who doesn't speak English well is not going to want to phone up and ask for directions or times.) Church members should carry one of these cards with them to give to people. From the pulpit in September, members shoudl be encouraged to ask new students, etc. whether they would like to go to church and pass out the cards.