Would You?

“But about midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, and suddenly there came a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s chains were unfastened.” Acts 16:25-26 [NASB]

Would you be arrested because you tell people about Jesus the Messiah? Would you suffer beatings because you refuse to stop telling people about Him? Would you sing praises to God while bleeding, sore, and shackled at the ankles after people beat you because you are His child?

This happens today. It happened to Paul and Silas, too. After Paul commanded a spirit of divination to leave the body of a girl, her masters grabbed them. They took them to the magistrates proclaiming they were throwing their city into confusion and teaching customs unlawful for them to accept or observe since they were Romans. Understand, these “masters” made money from their servant foretelling people’s future. They did not want what Paul preached to turn their world upside down or cause them to lose money. The magistrates ordered the guards to whip Paul and Silas then chain them in the prison. After the jailor chained Paul and Silas, they sang praises to God, and the doors of the prison opened and the chains on all the prisoners unlocked.

People are beaten, tortured, imprisoned, and killed for proclaiming their faith in Christ today. With the world becoming smaller because of faster transportation and international media, we have heard of or seen these things happen for ourselves. Some of us have experienced these things. Others of us have faced less harsh persecution and trouble, but still it affected us. We stopped and thought about being silent,  and of not standing for our belief in God and His Word. We considered the world is a different place now and so we need to be different, too. Possibly you have even considered and wondered, because you hear it so often, if God is irrelevant. Deep within yourself, you know He is relevant. You realize He is Almighty God. You know Jesus is the Savior and Your Savior. Still, wouldn’t it be easier not to speak about it so people would not ostracize you, call you names, persecute you, or kill you?

Paul and Silas, being human just like us, possibly thought this, too. Yet, consider what happened in Acts 17:16-34 after their beating and imprisonment in Acts 16. Paul walked through Athens. He realized Athenians’ desire to make sure they worshipped every god. They feared they wouldn’t worship all the gods that existed and erected a statue to “The Unknown God.”. Paul’s heart, being like Christ’s, ached with love for these people. He cared for them and wanted to help meet their need. With his heart beating in time with Christ’s, Paul talked with Jews, God-fearing Gentiles, Epicureans, and Stoic philosophers. People took Paul to the Areopagus where philosophers and teachers spoke, argued, and dissected ideas determining if they would incorporate them into their lives. These leading thinkers of Athens asked Paul to explain what he meant in his teachings and reasonings.

When Paul spoke with the Athenian leaders, he did several things. He met them at their acknowledged need. He spoke eloquently and respectfully to them. Paul recognized their need. Jesus Christ meets people at their need. Paul brought his speech to a moment of decision. He told them he recognized they are a people who realize their own human finiteness. Paul saw they were religious. (Acts 17:16) He humbly showed them respect and acknowledged the Athenians understanding of their own limitations and the obvious existence of a power greater than humanity. (Acts 17:22) Paul did not teach them by ostracizing their gods. He approached them wanting to give them more information because he respected them. (Acts 17:23). In this verse, Paul met the people at their spoken need – to recognize all gods. He then explained about their “Unknown God” being God Almighty and His Son, Jesus Christ. He spoke to them in a way in which they would realize their needs are met in Christ. Paul explained this God is the Creator of all things and means to righteousness. (Acts 17:24-29) Finally, Paul spoke not only his mind and explained about God Almighty and Jesus Christ, he brought the Athenian leaders to a point of decision. Would these Athenians believe in this God forsaking their handmade gods? Would they believe in and accept the gift of God’s righteousness through His Son, Jesus Christ, the One He raised from the dead? (Acts 17:30)

Paul didn’t back down from speaking because of his earlier arrest, beating, and imprisonment. He, having a heart like Jesus Christ’s, cared for the Athenians. Paul respected them and their desire for knowledge. He saw their need as they recognized it. Paul boldly stepped forward and spoke respectfully with authority and conviction about Jesus. He brought his hearers to a point of decision. Paul didn’t back down from fear of arrest, imprisonment, and beating. He didn’t think himself a coward and so unable to do what Jesus calls all his disciples to do. People continued taking Paul before the authorities. He often experienced persecution and torture. Yes, Paul kept telling people about Jesus Christ, the righteousness of God made available to humanity.

Yesterday we each felt ostracism by someone because of our belief in Jesus. Today and tomorrow you might experience it, as well as persecution and torture because of your faith. Each believer in Jesus throughout time since His life, death, and resurrection will have faced it at least once. Is that supposed to stop us proclaiming God’s love and the salvation He offers to all people? Does that mean we should lambast people as being “stupid” in their beliefs? Does that mean we should grudgingly tell people about Jesus, but disrespect them or not lead them to a point of decision? NO to all these.

We are to be like Christ, whom Paul emulated well. Though faced with imminent death, Jesus continued to proclaim God’s salvation had come. He continued on the path set before Him to His purpose, to be the sacrifice for the sins of every person. Jesus said He suffered at the hands of man and His followers would suffer the same and more. BUT, Jesus never stopped loving the people for whom He came to give up His life. He never belittled them. Jesus kept telling the people the day of their salvation had come. He met them at their need – illness, poverty, imprisonment, and status in life – and made them whole because of His power and their belief in Him.

We each will face troubles, persecution, maybe torture, and possibly death because of our faith. These will come at the hands of other people. We must decide in advance we will love the people no matter what they may do to us. We must resolve to stand strong in our faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior. We must determine to treat the people with respect and tell them about Christ leading them to His throne. Above all, each of us must decide for ourselves to follow Jesus no matter what the cost. Jesus told His followers, when they asked Him what they must do to have eternal life, “Come follow Me.” (Matthew 19:21)

Will you love, proclaim, teach, and lead like Jesus?

Will you be willing to suffer the darts and arrows of Satan because you follow Jesus?

Lord, so often I stop obeying You because I am tired or scared. Please forgive me. Make me bold and courageous willing to follow You no matter what may happen. Give me a love for people who don’t know You so I will tell them about You no matter the consequences. Lord, You are Creator, Provider, and Redeemer. You hold time and our lives in Your hands. You could kill us without a thought, but Your love for us is so great You do not want us to die without knowing You and being made righteous. Lord, I am not good enough, nor can I ever make myself good enough to be in Your presence, but You have provided the way for me to be with You. Thank you, God, for loving me even though I am sinful. Thank you for providing a way for me to be with You forever. Thank you for calling me to tell others about You and making me brave enough to do it. Help me tell others with Your love in my heart. Make me whom You need me to be. Amen.

Inception: Working with Refugees, Stage One

The first two articles of this refugee ministry series are called Warp and Weft of Life[1] and Conception: Empowering to Serve Refugees[2]. In them, we learned who refugees are, how many refugees are in the world, and that they come from a multitude of countries around the globe. For faith-based work with refugees, we learned prayer must enwrap any program, and God must be the One who gives the vision so steadfastness occurs when days are long, times are hard, and refugee stories are painful to hear.

With this article, we begin to understand how to start a ministry to refugees. The process of starting a ministry to refugees includes five or six stages. This article will introduce stage one-Getting to Know Refugees-of Inception: Working with Refugees. Please remember, this article is not written from an authoritative point of view, but from an experiential basis. Circumstances differ around the world and different methods, ministries, refugee nationalities, and workers will arise that need consideration when beginning and maintaining any ministry to refugees.

Stage One: Getting to Know the Refugees

God puts within all people a heart to care for others. This innate compassion is part of being created in His image. Because of this compassion for other people, we often want to help when difficulties arise in life. This is normal. First, though, we should seek God’s will to determine if we should help this person/people. After that, we must meet them to determine their real needs, not assuming we know their needs. These things comprise the subject of stage one of Inception: Working with Refugees. Within stage one are five steps with several sub-steps.

Prayer

If you are a Christian, prayer should happen before, during, and after any task. It should lead, correct, inspire, and encourage you. Because prayer with God is about relationship, this step should be natural to all Christians, just as breathing is natural. Prayer at the beginning of a task or ministry should seek to bring God into our minds and our lives as the leader of the ministry. It leads us to remember from Whom we received our innate compassion and that we received God’s compassion when Jesus died on the cross. Prayer also reminds us from Whom we get resources for ministry, Who protects us while we minister, and in Whose strength we work. Without prayer infusing the ministry to which God calls us, we grow weary, lack mental strength to continue the task, become cynical, seek glory for ourselves, and leave God out of the equation. Because of these and much more, prayer must undergird any ministry we seek to do.

The People

From the article, Conception: Empowering to Serve Refugees, we learned through prayer God will open our eyes to the people to whom He wants us to minister. For this article series, we speak about serving refugees. In a world where refugees come from around the globe, we should decide which refugees are to be the focus of the ministry in which we seek to develop and run.

Why differentiate? Because each people group has a different language, culture, history, and religion. What works with one group may not work with another. For example, many more Somalians than Congolese are Muslim. This would require different English curriculum if you were thinking of using Bible-based English lessons. Additionally, many Somalian women have never been to school so you would need to start with Pre-school or Kindergarten level language classes that tell you what an A or B is. For most Congolese, learning the alphabet first is redundant because most of them attended school during their lives.

Besides this, working with refugees requires knowing their cultures. In some cultures, women absolutely do not teach men. Doing so would disrespect the stature of the man. Besides this, in some cultures, women cannot wear pants or dresses/skirts above mid-calf or show their upper arms and shoulders. These things are indecent to them in certain cultures.

Because of these and other things, we must seek the refugees to whom God calls us to minister. At the start, if you are doing an ESL (English Second Language) course, differentiating among refugee cultures is not as important. What is important is giving them a life skill that will enable them to get jobs. Yet, quickly different cultures, religions, and languages will cause you to need to adapt even the basic English curriculum. It will make you return to God to determine upon which people group you need to focus.

Seeking from God the people group you need to focus on is important. Working with refugees is an admirable thing. Maintaining communion with God so He can continue to lead you in ministry is most important. He may have called you to work with a specific refugee people group, not to refugees in general. Stay in constant contact with God during your ministry with Him.

The Needs

This part of stage one is very important. To have a desire to help people and to follow through with that is admirable. To do what is necessary, not what you think is needed, is paramount. Good deeds to the wrong person or people group is not helpful. To impact refugees practically requires knowing them. Getting to know them requires conversation and investment in their lives. It means speaking to them, gleaning information, and coming to care about them as individuals. Learning about these refugees’ history is important, too.

Talking to refugees has four main purposes-to build trust, to learn of their real needs, to learn to love them, and to glean from them which people in the community holds certain roles. Conversing with refugees is the first and biggest part of working with refugees. Through it you want to ascertain at least fifteen things.

1.      Build trust by asking about:

a.       their family, interests, religious background

b.      where they live at that point in time

c.       their contact details

d.      their country of origin

e.       the languages they speak

f.        what life was like in their home country and the job they had there

g.      their family still in their home country

h.      why they left their home country

i.        how living in their host country has been for them so far

2.      What are their perceptions of their needs?

3.      What you your perceptions of their needs?

4.      What is a good day and time of the week to meet with each one and the people as a group?

5.      Determine who is the gatekeeper of the groups of refugees. Who are the leaders whose permission or acceptance of you and the program you are doing will affect attendance and benefit to the refugees you seek to help?

6.      Determine who is the activist of the group of refugees you seek to help. They, too, determine if people will attend the ministries you will offer. This activist will be a voice for the people and for the ministry you will give their community.

7.      Determine who is the caretaker of the community. This person is the one who cares for the wellbeing of each person and the group. They have no agenda in the group other than the care of the people. This person wants what is best for their people, not what is easiest or most expedient. The caregiver, gatekeeper/chief, and activist can be a supporter of the work you seek to do and receive training to do it.

Once you build trust within the community, people will realize you actually care for them and are not necessarily seeking numbers to qualify your search for legitimacy and funding. The refugees will then accept you and bring their real needs and their sorrows to you. They will begin to see you as family. Once you get to know the people from their conversations, you can research their countries and people groups, and learn their historical background. Doing all this enables you to become interwoven in their community. You become warp to their weft, and then you can minister more usefully to them. At this point, too, you can give a bolder testimony about Jesus to them and they will listen attentively because you have shown you truly care about them.

Prayer

After speaking to the refugees, gaining their trust, getting to know their needs, and getting to know their leaders, you must return to prayer. With the information you gleaned from the refugees, you bring their needs before God asking Him to tell you if these people and their needs are the ones to whom He calls you to work. Added to this, you ask God to tell you where you should begin work with the refugees. What is truly their greatest need at the moment? Where do you get help? Where can you get funding for the ministry needs? Where do you set up the ministry in the community? God knows the answers to each of these questions already. He waits for you to turn to Him and seek His will. By doing this, you acknowledge Him as Lord who knows all and you as finite in knowledge. You recognize your dependence upon God.

In seeking the Lord in prayer at the end of this stage, the person who seeks to minister to refugees deepens his or her relationship with God, the One who sustains, emboldens, upholds, and enables each person. Ministering with the Lord can deepen one’s relationship with Him. Without prayer, the ministry can draw you away from God. Praying before, during, and after each stage deepens a person’s relationship with God and acknowledges Him as Lord of his or her life and the ministry.

Conclusion

When considering starting a ministry to refugees, one must seek the Lord’s will first. That is paramount. After that beginning, conversations with refugees in the community are very important. By doing this, you will establish trust by developing a relationship with them. When you speak with them, you will get to know the refugees-their history and needs-and then will know how best to help them. Added to this, when you talk with them and develop a relationship with them, you show your love for them as people, not just as a group of exiles. Doing this enables you to put yourself in their shoes and your compassion becomes empathy. This kind of relationship is what God wants from us. While talking with the refugees, you can find out who the gatekeeper/chief, activist, and caretaker of that group are, and for the whole population of refugees in your community. You will be able to decide if you can offer ministry to all refugees or if you must divide them geographically, politically, linguistically, or theologically.

Remember, more than any of these steps or stages is the need for you, for each of us in ministry with the Lord, to seek God and His will. He knows what is best for each situation, each people group, and each person. God will guide you to the ministry the people need. He will open doors for funding, volunteers, and other resources when you continue a close relationship with Him. Remember, growing in relationship with God is the most important part of our lives. Working in ministry with Him is a way to grow in our relationship with Him. Our obedience to God’s commands and teachings shows our love for Him. No matter what else you do in ministry, prayer must be paramount. It must enwrap the ministry from beginning to end and be interwoven throughout each step and stage.

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[1] http://tcmhome.blogspot.com/2018/04/warp-and-weft-of-life.html

[2] http://tcmhome.blogspot.com/2018/05/conception-empowering-to-serve-refugees.html

Rana's Story

The chubby-cheeked face peeks out of the clothes that warms it and smiles at the love emanating from his mother’s face. He peers to his other side and sees his sister bouncing in place as she looks at him expectantly. The man he’s come to recognize and whose voice booms from the depths of his chest is not visible. Still, he feels secure. Why shouldn’t he? Rana’s world is small. He recognizes just the people who cherish him most. Still, something seems not right. From the look at his sister, nothing appears to be wrong, but a second glance at his mother’s face, her tightly clenched hands, and her worried eyes speak of something he doesn’t know. Rana hears crying, but it’s not him…and it doesn’t come just from one place. Cries bounce against the mud-brick walls and flow liquidly from hut to hut. To Rana, these cries are about more than wanting food. Even in his short life, he recognizes cries from the heart, not just the belly. Could his father’s absence be related to this reverberating and piercing outcry among the walls of huts?

Days would pass, Rana and his sister, Roxana, would become familiar with others holding, feeding, and watching over them. Nights of long walks and whispers would become the new norm for Rana and Roxana. Days of hiding in bushes and having hands cover their mouths felt suffocating. Where is Papa? Why doesn’t Mama smile anymore? Where did the joy in Roxana’s face and walk go?

Many dark days and weeks have passed. Mama doesn’t cry in the dark anymore. Roxana doesn’t dance anymore. She sits and stares blankly at the ground. I cry, but am not always heard. Papa is missing from the family still. Life, it seems, is not easy.

My clothing is tight. My ears have learned many new sounds. Sounds of bass booms and rapid-fire pellets hitting trees. I have missed hearing the birds and fear the sounds of the night animals. I wish Papa was here. I would be safe. Will I ever be safe again?

Roxana would have been 6 today. I miss seeing her face full of joy and her bounce of excitement. Mama tells me she was too small and too sick. She went to Papa, wherever he is. Mama never smiles anymore. She always looks for roots and bugs. I wish we could eat the food my people tell me they used to eat. For now, I am always hungry; a little bug or a stick lined with them is not enough to fill my stomach. Even Mama notices I am small for my age. The clothes I wear as a four-year-old are Roxana’s clothes from when she was two. What must life have been like back home, wherever home was?

Today, I am a man; I am thirteen. Mama and Papa are not here to celebrate with me. Roxana was too small and sick. No more voices of laughter and love echo around me; I am without family. I live as part of the group of orphan boys. We take care of ourselves…mostly. It would be nice to have a Mama and Papa. I see others who are Mamas and Papas and wish I had one of them, too. Maybe then I could feel a hug, see joy, eat meat, celebrate life. Maybe one day, I will get to be with Mama, Papa, and Roxana again. The other Mamas say not to talk like that, but I want what they were to me. I want family.