Introduction
Four
articles about faith-based ministry to refugees precede this one. The article
titles are The Warp and Weft of Life, Conception:
Empowering to Serve Refugees, Inception: Working
with Refugees, Stage One: Getting to Know Refugees, and Inception:
Working with Refugees, Stage Two: Founding a Faith-based Ministry to Refugees. Besides these,
others of my refugee articles relay stories directly from refugees about their
lives. These articles begin with the title In
Their Words. One other article
on working with refugees teaches about the importance of letting the person
tell his or her story. The title of this article is Just Listen.
In earlier
articles of this series, we learned who refugees are, how many refugees are in
the world and that they come from many countries. For faith-based refugee work,
we must receive the vision from God, pray continually, and depend on God for
strength. Further, we must get to know the refugees by talking with them, and then
determine their needs based on those conversations with them and from your own
inspection of their lives. Another part of working with refugees is setting up
a refugee ministry organization with a clear mission statement, and clear goals
and objectives. These will keep the ministry focused. They will allow people
working with you to help refugees and people outside the organization to understand
God’s vision for you and your goals for the refugee ministry.
This
article will focus on the third stage of beginning work with refugees under the
banner of Inception. Its focus is on connecting with people. Connections
include the gatekeeper, the activist, and the caretaker of the refugees. Further,
connections must occur besides these for effective and possible expansion of
ministries and for acceptance of refugees by the community in which they live.
Prayer
As in each
of the earlier articles of this series, prayer must enwrap any ministry with
and to refugees. God is the One who must give the vision and empower the work,
so the workers will not grow weary, heavy-hearted, and give up on the work to
which He calls His people. Additionally, prayer must weave throughout each part
of the refugee ministry to know directly from God to whom or to which organization
to meet with to get volunteers and funding. Prayer will help you determine when
to change the work, and when to enlarge it. It will also help you know to whom
to reach out for added expertise. Prayer, too, opens people’s hearts as you and
the refugee organization advocate for refugees. Without prayer throughout the
entire process, the ministry weakens because it rests upon the limited wisdom
and knowledge of people instead of on all-knowing God.
Researching
Why should
you want to connect with other people and organizations instead of being a lone
ranger working with refugees? First, God intended the community to help the
sojourners and aliens. Deuteronomy and Leviticus were both written to the
Israelites as a people, a nation. To them God commanded to love the aliens because
they, too, were aliens in Egypt (Deuteronomy 10:19 and Leviticus 19:34)
Additionally, in Deuteronomy 14:28-29, Moses taught the Israelites to take care
of the aliens by keeping their third-year’s tithe in their town to feed the
widow, orphans, and aliens who lived among them. In each of these passages, no
one person helped all the poor people. It took a community concerned for the
poor to take care of them. Because of this, you should strive to work alongside
other people and organizations who already work with refugees and the poor in
the community.
If you live
and want to work with refugees in a city or town, most likely other people and
organizations already work with refugees or poor people in the community. Based
on your mission statement, goals, and objectives, decide from which experts and
skilled people you potentially might need help in the ministry to refugees.
These may include churches, social workers, counselors, doctors, lawyers,
immigration officials, educators and the education department, nurses, and job
skills teachers. Note, these areas of skills could include individuals or
organizations, and businesses or government employees. Do not scratch off an
expert because you do not need them now. Keep them in a file for the future in
case the refugee ministry expands in that direction. Develop a relationship
with these experts.
Once you
decide which skilled people or organizations you should look for, start your
search with the following methods. A good place to begin your searching is by
talking to the refugee leaders. They will know some organizations already
because the grapevine is effective among poor people. Another way you can find
out who and what organizations help poor people and refugees is by talking to
local church pastors. They are active in the community and, if they are not new
in their positions, will know of organizations and people who work with refugees
and poor people. Next, look through an internet browser for organizations who help
the poor and refugees in your community. Finally, do not overlook your own
connections: your doctors, people you know through your child’s school,
connection through your church or your spouse’s job, etc. Even if these people
will not be helping currently or soon, they may help in the future. Keep a file
of their details and skill. They could become a useful connector, skilled
volunteer, or board member.
Meeting
Once you
have a list of people and organizations who help refugees and the poor of the
community, email or call them to ask for an appointment to speak with them
about the vision God has put on your heart. Be specific about that vision, such
as saying you want to help refugees in your community by teaching them the
local language, or providing blankets, food, school uniforms, etc. If they do
not respond to your email, then call and ask for an appointment to meet with
the director of the organization.
Before you
arrive at your appointment with a person or organization, prepare what you will
tell him/her/them. Do not go in without an agenda. Your presentation and
questions should include:
1. The vision God gave
you.
2. Your mission
statement, goals, and objectives.
3. Your needs to make
this ministry operational.
4. Ask how they began
their ministry.
5. Ask what their main
ministry focus is and to whom.
6. Ask them questions about areas in which you are weakest, so you can
gain from their knowledge.
7. Ask if you can spend
a couple hours in their ministry learning what they do.
8. Ask if you can call
them should a need for their expertise arise.
9. If the organization is a business, ask if they would be interested in
setting up volunteer days for their employees to work with your organization
monthly or quarterly
10. Additionally, if the organization is a business or a funding agent,
ask if it would interest them to contribute funds to help with ministry to
refugees of the community.
Once the first
meeting with the people or organization is complete, you will have a better
idea of other assistance ministries in the community. These assistance
ministries will know about you and your organization. An initial bridge with
them will be in place by which to get help in the future. These connections
will enable you to re-enter their sphere to be an advocate for the refugees in
their community.
Advocating
Besides
connecting with the community to learn, to find other ministry individuals and
organizations, and to seek volunteers and funding, another big reason exists
for getting into the community. Advocacy for refugees is very important to the
organization’s/ministry’s success. It must happen on many levels: in neighboring
streets, churches, and schools around the ministry site, with local NGOs/NPOs,
with government offices, and in churches and schools in the city/town. Advocacy
occurs not just to get funds and volunteers. It must occur to help an
established society accept a ministry and a people group, especially a ministry
to “the least of these.”
In general,
people dislike associating with or seeing people who are “lower” than themselves
in society within their living and working spheres. Several reasons exist for
this. They are: possible decreased property value, fear for personal safety,
fear of jobs being given to people willing to accept a lower wage, and personal
prejudice. Advocacy can help ease these issues and help a community accept the
refugees and then take initiative in tangibly helping them. Without advocacy, a
ministry to refugees will struggle. Roadblocks will arise because of the above
reasons. This will cause the organizers of the ministry to spend a large amount
of time fighting fires instead of ministering to the refugees of the community.
Conclusion
For a
ministry to refugees to make a difference and grow, connecting with local community
leaders, professionals, and organizations is paramount. These connections can
help you learn quicker about how to make the refugee ministry stable and grow.
They can provide a base of volunteers and funding, too. Additionally,
connections can provide a skill base of expertise for utilization in the refugee
ministry. These professionals and skilled people can prove helpful to expand
the ministry and be the experts on the organization’s board when the
organization grows, too. Besides these reasons for connecting with the community,
another exists. Connecting with the community is advocacy for the ministry and
for refugees. It helps the people of the community, the community leaders,
professionals, and organizations to understand the lives of the refugees, their
needs, and to get past their own personal fears and prejudices. Without this
advocacy, a ministry to refugees will not grow and may even die.
As a final
note, recall what Moses taught the Israelites before they entered the Promised
Land about their tithe to God in Deuteronomy 26:5, 10-11.
5You shall answer and say before the LORD your God, 10‘Now behold, I
have brought the first of the produce of the ground which You, O LORD have
given me.’ And you shall set it down before the LORD your God, and worship
before the LORD your God; 11and you and the Levite and the alien who is among you shall
rejoice in all the good which the LORD your God has given you and your
household. [NASB]
God mandates throughout the whole Bible we are to care for
the alien, sojourner, and our neighbour. Refugees are these people about whom
God spoke. Will you choose to obey this command by God?
