Founding a Faith-Based Ministry to Refugees
Introduction
Three articles on faith-based ministry to refugees precede
this one. The article titles are The Warp
and Weft of Life[1],
Conception: Empowering to Serve Refugees[2],
and Inception: Working with Refugees,
Stage One: Getting to Know Refugees[3].
Besides these, other refugee articles of mine relate stories directly from
refugees about their lives. These articles begin with the title In Their Words[4][5][6].
One other article on working with refugees deals with the importance of
letting the person tell his or her story. The title of this article is Just Listen[7].
In the 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 our vision from God, so
we are steadfast in the work when days are hard and long, and refugee stories
are painful to hear. The primary part of any faith-based refugee ministry must
be prayer-continual communication with God.
From Inception:
Working with Refugees, Stage One: Getting to Know Refugees, we learned
again prayer must enwrap any ministry established. Prayer is important
throughout all phases and stages of refugee work. With stage one of Inception, we learned once God gives us
His vision for ministry, we must get to know the people with whom we will work.
For refugee ministry, this is very important. Getting to know the refugees
around you helps you determine to which group of refugees God wants you to
minister. It reveals to you the leaders of the community, the history, culture,
and religion of the refugees. You must talk to refugees to determine if
ministry to all refugees at one time is impossible because of tribal,
political, or national bias. As you listen to the refugees tell you of their
needs, you recognize other areas in which they need help. From this
understanding of the refugees’ needs and your acquaintance with them, different
ministry areas enter your mind by which you can begin a program to help them. Prayer
must continue to enwrap this stage and all phases of ministry to ensure you
continue to follow God’s will for the ministry for which He gave you the
vision.
Stage Two: Founding a Faith-Based Ministry to Refugees
In the next stage of Inception, which I have titled Founding a Faith-Based Ministry to Refugees,
we will consider how to organize and establish a ministry program to help
refugees. What does it take to constitute a ministry? Do we use common
organization tools such as a mission statement, goals, objectives, actions, and
steps? Why is it useful to write these? Will the organization be a
Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) or Non-Profit Organization (NPO)? Again, we
must realize this stage, like all other phases and stages, must be bathed in
prayer-before, during, and after.
Prayer
As we seek to establish a faith-based NGO or NPO, prayer
must be paramount to make sure we follow God’s will for the vision He gave.
Prayer is one way in which people stay and grow in their relationship with the
Lord and learn of His will. When establishing any work for God, continual
communion with Him for His guidance on founding the ministry is necessary to ensure
the vision remains before us. Continuing communion with God helps us determine
and stay with His goals and objectives for refugee work. Additionally, it
ensures the mission statement reflects His intentions. As we seek to realize
which services/ministries to offer the refugees, we must go to God to make sure
we are planning the activities He wants to be part of the ministry. Prayer is
necessary to ensure we continue to walk closely with the Lord, grow more like
Him, and have a heart like His for refugees.
NGO or NPO?
Before establishing a charitable organization, we must decide
if it will be national/local or international in scope. If it will be
international, then an NGO (Non-governmental organization) would be the
charitable organization most likely needed for the work. An NGO may receive
government-raised funding and funds from the private sector. Its board members
are voluntary and have no affiliation with governments. An NGO operates independently
from any government entity. It provides services to communities through
analysis, expertise, and advocacy for the people. A few services NGOs offer are
health education, managing health crises, and environmental issues. Some NGOs
are for-profit corporations, but most are Non-profit organizations.
An NPO (Non-profit Organization) seeks to help people in
their local (city, county, or state) or national community. NPOs have a
specific mission to achieve. They hire management personnel and aim to raise substantial
funds through endowments and donations. NPOs do not seek to make a profit and
any profits made from investments go into its operations, not to its members,
directors, or officers. Most NPOs are tax exempt and have legal responsibilities
that include reporting income and expenses through accurate accounting
processes and auditing, and supervision and management. Services NPOs offer are
charitable, religious, educational, preventative, and scientific.
With prayer, the vision God gave you, the understanding you
gained while getting to know the refugees, the decisions about the scope of the
organization, and the base from which you want to get your financial support, you
can decide which organization style best serves the people to whom you seek to
minister. If you want your faith-based ministry to be separate from government
influence, then an NGO and NPO are both suitable for your organization. If your
ministry will deal specifically with local or national issues, then an NPO is
more suitable for your organization. If your organization wants to redistribute
profits to it leadership, members, board, or shareholders, then an NGO is the
right organizational structure for your ministry. If your faith-based ministry
wants to ensure no part of government dictates to whom or how you can use their
funding, then an NPO with a specific funding policy would be best.
Prayer
You should seek the Lord’s guidance about which organizational
structure your faith-based ministry to refugees should become-NGO or NPO. Because
God gave you His vision for the ministry, opened your eyes to the people to
whom you will work, and laid their burdens and needs upon your heart, you
should return to Him in prayer asking His will for the organizational structure
of this ministry. We each have an idea about our ministry we think is good, but
God knows best which organizational form will enable this ministry to grow and
be strong for the task He has ordained.
Mission Statement
What is a mission statement and why does the ministry need
one? Do NGOs and NPOs need mission statements? Are they not just for for-profit
organizations? The answer to the first question answers the latter questions. A
mission statement is a brief description of an organization’s principal purpose
for its workers, recipients, and for outsiders to understand and follow. To be clear,
the mission statement describes what the organization does, and how and why it
does it. All forms of organizations need mission statements. A ministry without
a mission statement is like a car with a driver who has no purpose for being in
the car.
Consider this closer. God gave you a clear vision to work
with refugees. As you got to acquainted with the refugees to whom God led you to
speak, you understood they have several primary needs-language acquisition,
document obtainment, and accommodation and food procurement. Perhaps when you
prayed over their needs, God showed you most of the refugees had a place to
live, but they had no way to get jobs since they did not speak the language. Without
jobs, they could not pay rent, buy food or clothes, or pay for transportation to
get their asylum-seeker or refugee documents. Through prayer, you decide the
most needed ministry now is teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) and
then helping with other things as financial backing increases for the ministry.
The organization will also be a resource connector and lead the refugees to the
correct person or organization who can help them with other needs-food,
clothes, rent money, document assistance, etc.
The mission statement for this NPO would be something like
this. “XYZ Refugee Care Center shares the love of Christ and provides practical
help to newly arrived refugees in the city of Toledo by teaching English as a
second language and being a resource connector and provider. It offers these
services as a testimony and in obedience to Jesus Christ to follow Him, share
the gospel, baptize believers, make disciples, and love our neighbours as
ourselves.” To be more succinct, this mission statement could say the following:
“The XYZ Refugee Care Center provides practical help to newly arrived refugees
in Toledo by teaching English as a second language and being a resource
connector and provider as a testimony of Jesus’ love for all people.” Both mission
statements answer the questions: What does your organization do? How will it do
it? Why will they do it?
Prayer
After writing the mission statement for the new faith-based refugee
ministry organization, return to commune with God. He led you to this task, introduced
you to the refugees, and showed you their needs. God placed in your mind the
services needed to help refugees you now know. He guided you as you wrote the
mission statement. As you prepare for the next step of founding a faith-based
refugee ministry, you need to pray over the goals and objectives for this
ministry. Ask God to clarify the goals He has for the ministry and the steps/objectives
needed to reach those goals by helping refugees.
Goals and Objectives
Goals and objectives are statements of what must be
accomplished for the organization to accomplish its mission. Goal setting comes
before determining what needs doing to achieve the mission statement. Objectives
are specific actions and a timeline for achieving specific goals. They help
guide and provide a measure of your progress toward your goals. After setting
goals and objectives, decide on action plans with specific steps to reach
specific goals and objectives. Without goals and objectives, no steering wheel exists
to guide the ministry toward its vision and accomplish its mission statement.
The driver is in the car and has a place to go but has no way to guide the car.
Goals are broader, more general statements of what you want
the ministry organization to accomplish. They are longer-term than objectives. Objectives
are short-term goals to get the refugee ministry toward its longer-term goals. Your
organization fulfil its goals as it accomplishes its objectives. Possible goals for your refugee ministry are
noted with Arabic numbers and related objectives are noted with lowercase
letters below.
1.
Establish relationships with key leaders in the
refugee community
a.
Determine who is a pastor to the refugees
b.
Determine who is the trusted advisor in the
refugee community
2.
Teach English as a Second Language
a.
Find a Bible-based English language curriculum
b.
Find a venue at which to teach ESL
c.
Teach 40 people English in the first year
3.
Distribute food and/or blankets to the refugee community
a.
Find a grant funder for food and/or blankets
b.
Find a vendor who will sell the food and/or blankets
at a discount
c.
Determine which refugees need food and/or blankets
d.
Write a project proposal to an NPO/NGO to provide
funds for food and/or blankets
The organization leaders will revisit the goals and
objectives each year to determine what the organization accomplished, what was
unfruitful, and what they should do next.
Prayer
Daily and continual prayer with God must be part of the
organization. God will guide the ministry on where changes should occur, where
additions should be made, and what people to include. Possibly He wants to
expand the ministry into another community or city. Perhaps God wants to change
the focus from English acquisition to emergency and material relief. Issues and
needs change and any faith-based organization that seeks to help the community
must poise itself to change or else become irrelevant. Prayer guides us to determine
the direction for an organization, and to keep each person focused on God so
the person grows in his or her relationship with God and in Christlikeness. Without
this, the ministry becomes stale and risks losing its overarching goal-being a
light for the gospel in that community.
Conclusion
The fun part of refugee ministry is seeing joy in a person’s
eyes when he or she receives help. Not every part of ministry is fun. Some are
hard, but very necessary. Faith-based ministry establishing requires activities
other than giving tangible help. It involves writing a mission statement and
setting measurable goals and objectives. Each of these comes because of God’s
vision to you and to others to work for the good of refugees. When getting to know
refugees, you learn of their needs. You must take these needs to the Lord. He
will tell you for which ones He wants you to give help. The fulfilling of these
needs become your goals upon which your objectives, actions, and plans are
based.
Each of the people and their needs must be brought before
the Lord. Each ministry possibility, ministry partner, and volunteer should be
prayed over. The mission statement, goals, and objectives will all be focused
on providing for the needs of the people to whom God calls you and for whom He
gives you a vision. Without actual needs defined, no ministry will be focused.
This makes the ministry irrelevant. All aspects of ministry to and with
refugees must be brought before the Lord and bathed in prayer. We must seek
God’s will in each facet of it. This will insure its relevance and greatest benefit.
Consider what David said in Psalm 127:1. He said, “Unless
the LORD builds the house, they labor in vain who build it.” Jesus taught in
Matthew 7:24-25, “Therefore, everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on
them may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain
fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house,
and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.” Two principles
arise from these two passages. Make sure what you build is built because God
told you to build it. Ensure every part of the refugee ministry is what God
wills and is founded on Him. Both require constant and repeated prayer.
