7
Rumors that God was present in Christian gatherings may have also attracted outsiders to investigate Christianity.
Alan Kreider, church historian on the early church[1]
Walid has spent all of his thirty-four years in Jordan.[2] It is the country where his parents met, where he and his siblings were born, and where he grew up, attended seminary, and served in ministry. Even so, Walid is a foreigner to the only country he has ever called home. Both sides of his family are from Palestine, but their experiences took very different turns. His mother’s parents fled to Jordan during the political upheaval of 1948 and were later granted Jordanian citizenship, but his father and his family went to Lebanon. Like hundreds of thousands of others, they found themselves as stateless Palestinian refugees. When the Lebanese civil war erupted in the mid-1970s, Walid’s father travelled to Jordan with his Palestinian travel document issued from Lebanon and met and married his wife. The Jordanian government granted him annual residency but did not permit naturalization. Walid and his siblings were likewise denied citizenship. (Jordanian law only permits men to transmit nationality to their spouses and children. It is one of twenty-seven countries in the world that discriminates against a woman’s right to pass citizenship on equal terms as a man.) Instead, they were registered as Palestinian refugees from Lebanon, making Walid a foreigner in Jordan and a foreigner to this world. He has been displaced since birth due to historical tragedies that remain unresolved and contemporary legal systems that institutionalize exclusion.
As a stateless refugee, Walid has been denied privileges and rights granted to Jordanian citizens. He is not allowed to own a home or property, qualify for health insurance, access public educational services, or pursue desired career opportunities. The challenges are practical as well as psychological. Each year Walid must apply for a one-year residency permit or risk losing any legal status in his home country. And any hope of marriage and having his own family is complicated by the fact that he cannot possess citizenship nor provide it for his children.
Walid has a deep love for Christ and a desire to be a witness to his people, country, and region. But neither Jordan nor any other Arab country will allow him the prospect of receiving citizenship and enjoying the rights and privileges entitled to all people. Walid managed to receive a visitor’s visa to a Western country, and he awaits the outcome of an application of asylum that may finally grant him the form of legal belonging that has eluded him his entire life, albeit to a country in which he has no personal or emotional link. Sadly, he joins a growing number of stateless persons in the West who are stuck in legal limbo with no country to truly call home.
Having looked at the biblical and theological foundations of being displaced from one’s home and how God views the displaced, the question now is, “How should the local church respond to the refugees, migrants, and the stateless – those who don’t belong?” The objective of this chapter is to provide examples of local churches and ministries who are responding to the needs of the displaced and to recognize both the challenges and opportunities that accompany this work.
Dudley Woodberry, who has been a missionary in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Afghanistan and then became senior professor of missions at Fuller Theological Seminary, interviewed seven hundred and fifty Muslims across the world who had decided to follow Christ and who came from thirty countries and fifty ethnic groups. Woodberry then ranked the relative importance of the influences that impacted why these Muslims chose to follow Christ. The top influence was seeing how Christians live out their faith. Many spoke about the love they experienced from Christians which in turn attracted them to the love of God. Woodberry reported, “Nearly half of all Muslims who have made a shift of faith allegiance have affirmed that the love of God was a critical key in their decision.”[3] They were particularly attracted to the person, the life, and teachings of Jesus and wanted to be part of fellowships where his teachings were lived out. This is no different than what attracts the poor and the displaced to Christ.[4]
Local churches and faith communities can have a significant impact on enabling the displaced to encounter the living God in Christ and find a place where they feel that they belong. How are local churches and faith organizations responding in love and enabling the displaced to find both space and place? The following presents a number of examples.
Many countries in Europe and the Middle East are inundated with refugees and migrants who are either trying to find a better life in a new country or fleeing from the horrors of war in their home country. In many instances, UN agencies and national governments provide assistance to the refugees,[5] which begs the question, “Is there a role for the local church in such situations?” Below are four case studies of churches and faith-based organizations located in places with many displaced persons. While these groups could have done nothing, they chose to respond to the very human needs of refugees, migrants, and stateless individuals.
The church in this case study was formed around fifteen years ago out of a Baptist Union outreach to students, and their mission is to be a church that reaches the demographics of people who are not traditionally interested in church (such as students), those who have no background with church, and those who have been burned out by past experiences of church. The church has over one hundred and fifty members and sees total Sunday worship attendance of around two hundred people in four services (conducted in Spanish, German, Farsi, and Mongolian). Once a month, the church holds a joint service when all the congregations come together for communion and worship.
This church tries to be one that is high on permission-giving and building people up to follow their passions. So they are associated with many projects that began as people felt called to start new things: an intern school, refugee outreach, and a summer camp for young adults. They are now developing a church centre that will have a co-working space, cafe, children’s group, etc. which will hopefully develop further links with the community and allow others to join in on conversations (for example with millennials) where the church has not always been well represented.
The church had been working in refugee relief and integration for around fifteen years, mainly with people from Iranian and Afghan backgrounds. The church’s refugee work started as a concrete response to one refugee who ended up being deported back to Vienna under the Dublin Agreement.[7] The church was asked to provide help and support to this individual, which they were glad to do. Gradually this individual started inviting friends to the church, and a regular group emerged, laying the foundation for the current refugee-specific programs.
Over the years, the church has added more facets to their refugee work. They offer weekly Farsi (Iranian) language services, faith courses, German courses, first-response trauma counselling, legal accompaniment and assistance with asylum processes, integration courses, and support in building cross-cultural understanding. They also offer a weekly coffee and conversation course for women which is aimed at language development, providing a safe space for fellowship, and offering a place for integration.
The church has one part-time employee in the refugee work who is responsible for both overseeing the social work aspect and functioning as the main pastor for the refugee group. Alongside him is a large team of volunteers who help with some of the legal advice and services implementation and who teach German courses. The church is also looking at expanding its volunteer base in the areas of theological education and catechism in order to spread this work over a broader team.
The programs are funded through a variety of grants from Baptist organizations, including the European Baptists and German Baptists. The church also relies on the donations of countless individuals. The funding is administered under the umbrella of the local Baptist aid organization, which allows the church some legal advantages in terms of VAT taxation and tax-deductible donations. Finances are one of the biggest bottlenecks of the church’s refugee work. While it is amazing to see what God has provided and how generous people are, financial constraints prevent the church from offering the services they would like in some instances. For example, they would like to be able to employ the pastor full time (to match the number of hours he works in reality) and to offer other urgently needed services such as more trauma counselling. However, they are unable to do this on the current level of income.
A few key lessons are the following:
1. Be flexible and willing to respond to the needs that are actually present, not the needs you assume might be present.
2. Realize that some needs can be better served by other groups and organizations. For example, a lot of groups working in Austria offer immediate aid (blankets, emergency food, bottled water). It would be inefficient to try to duplicate that effort. However, very few groups work with long-term integration.
3. Be aware that even within language groups, the cultural and educational differences between people from different regions can be sharp dividing lines and cause tensions that need to be addressed. For example, while they both speak Farsi, the difference between a university-educated Iranian from Tehran and an illiterate refugee from Afghanistan is enormous, and it needs to be carefully considered when thinking about questions of indigenous leadership, integration, group dynamics, etc.
4. Take time to hear people’s stories. A lot of people who end up as refugees bring compelling stories of trauma and loss with them. It’s important to hear these stories and realize what is bubbling below the surface.
5. Stay relationship based. One of the most frequent comments goes along the following lines: “When I left my home country, I lost all my friends and family. And now in this church, I have discovered a new family.” Again, this is a dynamic the church can provide that state actors and non-profits generally cannot.
6. Sometimes responding to need means having to pivot strategy very quickly. For example, protesting the deportation of an at-risk refugee in their congregation meant the church had to create a peaceful vigil and accompanying media and legal strategy in a matter of hours.
7. Cover everything in prayer. When the kingdom is expanding and people are giving their lives to Christ, it is important to cover everything in prayer to stand against the destructive work of the enemy.
This church in Berlin has a long history. Their location is in a part of Berlin that has a growing migrant population, and in the summer 2015, they were confronted with an influx of refugees. At this time about forty members of the church came together with the pastor for a brainstorming session where they discussed the question, “How should we as a church react to the visible needs of the displaced?” After this ninety-minute meeting, they had a clear consensus that they must do something.
After deciding to launch a response, the church worked on specific plans on how they could reach out to the refugees in their vicinity. They asked themselves, “What is the physical and emotional condition of these people after their strenuous journey? What is their cultural background? How are they doing at the refugee camps and homes? How can we make contact with them – would they be willing to receive us?”
It was clear to the church the vast majority of refugees were of a different religion than the church. They decided not to make evangelism or conversion their first priority and instead focused on addressing the refugees’ basic needs. They wanted to support the refugees with their everyday burdens while providing them places and times to rest. The church wanted the refugees to be their guests and relax, to experience a positive atmosphere.
Considering the needs of their guests and the potential of their church, the church decided to offer a German language course and a clothes distribution centre. Two refugee centres were opened very close to the church, and they first reached out there. They approached the managers of the centres and received permission to present invitations to the refugees by placing posters in the Arabic and Farsi languages. They also contacted the huge refugee centre at the Tempelhof Airport buildings, where several thousand refugees were accommodated.
A team of volunteers have been offering a language course for refugees every week since October 2015. They work in small groups and are well accepted by the guests. From here they have also developed private contacts, and several from the course have visited church services.
Also in October 2015, the church opened the clothes distribution centre. Here they collect used clothes from members and offer them to the guests. They also offer coffee and tea, biscuits, and a place to sit and relax. The refugees fill their bag with clothes and then meet with church members for coffee or a time to talk with each other or with one of the volunteers. Sometimes these contacts continue during the week. In this context the members have met an Arabic-speaking pastor, his family, and some other Arab Christians. They now have an Arabic Bible study once a week at the church.
People from at least five different language groups have shown interest in the Christian faith. The church has started Bible study groups in those languages and tries to offer translation of their Sunday worship in three languages (with the help of “churchvox” technology).
The financial expenses are not very high, so for now they can be covered by donations from members. The church had to buy material for the language courses and have to cover the expenses for coffee and biscuits.
The organizational part is more demanding, and the church has to continually ask for donations for the clothes centre. Men’s clothes and suitcases are most needed (as there are often no wardrobes in the refugee homes). The volunteer work has to be well organized, and the clothes have to be sorted out and presented well. All work is done for free by volunteers from the church and community.
From the beginning the church’s focus was on helping the refugees and showing them a welcoming spirit. This has also changed the church’s own people – they started to communicate much more with each other as they worked to fulfil a common task. Many have offered their help or volunteered their time or specific donations. The ministry for their foreign guests has definitely brought positive change to their church.
At their church services, the guests are well visible. They join worship services and other meetings, eat with church members, and also hold their own meetings in the church’s facilities. And the church members find that it is not only “us helping them,” but they also enrich members through their presence. It is good for members to have these joyful people among them. It is good for members to share their wealth. The guests bring new life into old walls. The members are grateful.
As has been mentioned, the church has an Arabic-speaking group meeting in the church, and a Korean missionary who previously lived in an Arab country has partnered with the church to minister to refugees in Berlin. He had heard of the ministry and wants to support it. Just like him, many others are coming and joining.
The church has experienced God’s guidance in many ways and received the support of other Christians they had not previously known. God has sent people at the right time to support the work; otherwise they would not have made it.
The key lesson is this: When a church starts a ministry to the poor, the members have to know that change is going to happen. The church itself will change, and a lot of change will come from outside. When a congregation is ready for this and not afraid, this church recommends ministry among refugees.
The church is in the Bekaa Valley of Lebanon in the town of Zahle, just a few kilometres from the Syrian border. The town has witnessed many battles between Lebanese militias and the Syrian military during the fifteen-year civil war in Lebanon (1975–1990). The church which started as a home group grew into a congregation of sixty adults.
As Syrian refugees began to flood into Lebanon in 2011, many of the over 1.2 million Syrian refugees settled in informal settlements or in any kind of shelter available in the Bekaa Valley. The Syrian refugees proved to be a challenge, not just because of the large numbers who came, but also because of the prior Syrian occupation of Lebanon. Most Lebanese families have stories of experiencing atrocities committed by the Syrian military during the occupation.
The church’s work among the Syrian refugees started with God working in the heart of the pastor, and he was convicted to forgive the Syrians for what they had done to his family during the war. His example encouraged others in the church to move beyond their negative feelings towards Syrian refugees. With assistance from the Lebanese Society for Educational and Social Development (LSESD – also known as the Lebanese Baptist Association), the church started providing food aid packages to a hundred refugee families. This number has since grown, and they now provide assistance to over a thousand families. They also have a school for three hundred refugee children, informal schools in two other locations for another two hundred and fifty children, and income generation projects for refugees. Partnerships with other agencies and groups have provided medical services to the refugees who would otherwise not be able to access medical help.
The church is very aware that it is not a social service agency but a church; all the activities of helping the refugees are considered a part of their witness to Christ and his kingdom. They are very clear about their identity as a Christian Evangelical church. But their help does not come with conditions, and refugees are not required to take any spiritual books or attend any meetings or church services. However, Christian material is available, and refugees are invited to church services and meetings. As a result, many attend the meetings and take the Christian material, and more are starting to attend the church services. The church also holds Discovery Bible Study groups in many of the informal settlements of the refugees, to which many others attend. The help provided is on the basis of need, regardless of religion or ethnicity.
The traditional teaching in the Lebanese Baptist churches is that the church focus only on spiritual issues. Social and humanitarian work is the responsibility of humanitarian agencies. However, the pastor of this church has a broader understanding of what ministry entails. The majority of members had come to faith and grown spiritually at the church in Zahle. There were not many transfer members. As a result, they grew up with the teaching that ministry involves meeting both the spiritual and physical needs of people.
The church was not prepared for this type of ministry, and the growth of the ministry took them by surprise. They did not have the required people, the expertise, the experience, nor the facilities. The church responded by empowering people to make decisions and by giving them specific responsibilities. The ministry flourished because of this delegation of responsibilities. Many leaders have since emerged, including many Syrian refugees who have come to faith and have become members of the church.
The church experienced a lot of resistance from neighbours because of the traffic congestion and crowds during the food distributions. Because it is a Christian neighbourhood, they were also uncomfortable with Muslim men and women congregating there, with their different ways of dressing. The neighbours were also concerned about potential security threats. They protested regularly and filed complaints with the municipality accusing the church of exacerbating religious tensions.
The church responded positively to the concerns of their Lebanese neighbours. They organized their food distributions and other activities so that they would not cause problems for those living around the church. They started helping the Lebanese poor as well in order to diffuse the resentment that only the Syrians were receiving assistance. Over time, the neighbours began to appreciate the work of compassion that the church was doing.
There were no conditions for the assistance provided. But in spite of the fact that the refugees were not required to attend any meeting or church service, large numbers started attending the Sunday services. Due to the limited space available in the church, they decided to start a second service. This service was more evangelistic in nature and was geared to those from other faiths who were not familiar with Christian vocabulary and forms of worship. Those who had already become followers of Christ would attend the first service where there was more biblical teaching about the Christian faith and life.
The results of the church being inclusive and showing compassion to those in desperate need was quite unexpected. Besides nominal Christians growing in their faith in Christ, the number of Muslims who turned up in church wanting to know about Christ and then coming to faith and being baptized was unprecedented. It had always been assumed that the local church would never be effective in reaching Muslims with the gospel. The church members were also impacted as many became involved in serving in these ministries of compassion. There was a sense of renewal within the congregation.
A number of discipleship groups using the Discovery Bible Study material have been formed. Some focus on evangelism and reaching out to their neighbours, while others are used to train new leaders.
One interesting result is that the various Syrian communities began to bond together. Syria is a deeply divided society along religious, ethnic, and political lines. These divisions were evident even in the refugee communities. However, the church would not allow political discussions. The refugees quickly learned that the church operates by different values, and these values started to shape their own attitudes and behaviour. As a result, the Syrians started to act as a unified group regardless of their backgrounds and differences.
The members of the church learned how to be tolerant towards Muslims and their traditions. They learned to appreciate the different faith journeys that Muslims take as they grow in their faith and came to accept certain cultural practices like wearing the hijab and fasting in Ramadan.
A small Protestant denomination of forty-eight churches and around two thousand members in Croatia decided to respond to the flood of refugees transiting through Croatia on their way to Western Europe. The government had set up a refugee transit camp initially at Opatovac (on the road from Vukovar to Ilok). The general secretary of the denomination was involved right from the beginning in coordinating with the mayor of Zagreb and other institutions, religious communities, and NGOs to issue a joint appeal to the citizens of their country to help. The churches of the denomination in Zagreb organized themselves to collect and distribute donations locally. They were provided with a space of eighty square meters where they could collect, pack, and distribute the supplies free of charge by a Syrian gentleman who has been living and working in Zagreb for many years. Supplies were collected from churches as well as through IFES (International Fellowship of Evangelical Students) Croatia. Some items which were lacking were purchased locally. The group also received supplies from other local organizations and from organizations in Portugal, the UK, and Sweden. The supplies are shipped from Zagreb to Opatovac. Funding has been provided by local churches and church partners in the US and Sweden.
The church was invited by the Red Cross and the assistant minister of internal affairs to provide assistance inside the camp in Opatovac. They are one of the few organizations that are allowed inside the camp. They partner with some other NGOs to assist them. In addition to volunteers from their own churches, they also have volunteers from other churches and denominations, some citizens from Osijek, and a volunteer from an NGO in Split. They even had a clown to entertain the children with songs and games.
Initially food was provided by the denomination to one thousand individuals. Though the numbers fluctuated, there were on average at least seven thousand in the camp in Opatovac. Later a second camp was opened at Slavonski Brod. The trains transporting refugees arrived between 1:00 and 3:00 am, and the volunteers working in those late hours needed a hot meal. Recognizing the need, the denomination took over the responsibility of feeding one hundred and fifty volunteers during the night shift.
When the route for the refugees through the Balkans was blocked by various countries, the church received notification from the Croatian ministry of internal affairs that the camp in Slavonski Brod would be closing and that the refugees who were in the camp would be moved to Porin, a hotel on the periphery of Zagreb. That hotel became the new asylum centre where efforts would be made to integrate those seeking asylum into Croatian society.
The government expressed an interest in cooperation and extended its gratitude to all organizations working in this refugee crisis, the largest in Europe since WWII. In Porin, the denomination is working hard on integrating refugees into society through humanitarian work and different projects. The local churches are giving lessons in Croatian language and culture on a daily basis. Many of the refugees expressed a desire to take part in regular worship services in those churches. The Lord is providing many opportunities and ways for the refugees to be a part of those services and be in the fellowship with believers around agape meals.
One of the new church projects in Croatia is setting up a safe house for children under the age of eighteen where they can be cared for. The largest need at this point is finding a house in Zagreb that will serve this purpose.
Since the closing of the borders on the Balkan route, the denomination’s activities have spread internationally. After Macedonia closed its borders, they started working in Idomeni, Greece. Their humanitarian aid in Greece has been focused on the northern part of the country, which has more than thirteen refugee camps, where they are distributing food and hygiene supplies and building sports playgrounds.
1. What struck you or caught your attention as you read the case studies above?
2. What are some questions that came to mind or issues that you felt were not discussed in the case studies above?
3. Are there activities in these case studies that you could do in your context? Are there systems that you could put in place in your ministries?
4. What challenges will you face in your church or context if you decide to respond to the needs of refugees in the community? How would you deal with these challenges?
Canada has been sponsoring Syrian refugee families to be resettled in their country, in addition to the refugees Canada accepts from across the world through UN resettlement initiatives. There are a number of different refugee sponsorship programs. The Syrian refugee resettlement program is a partnership between the government, churches, and civil society organizations. Churches can also sponsor refugees independently while still enabling the refugees to access the benefits provided by the government. Many churches across Canada are a part of these programs. They participate as either individual churches or as a small group of churches coming together to not only raise the funds but to also provide all that the refugees need to be resettled. Below are the experiences of two churches in different parts of Canada.
An important note; once the refugees arrive in Canada they cease to be refugees but become newcomers. They can be referred to as “refugee-background newcomers” to distinguish them from newcomers who are immigrants.
The church has been an active part of its small Manitoba city (pop. 8,500) for more than a century. This group of roughly one hundred people continues to faithfully seek ways to encourage each other while worshiping God in word and deed. Commitment to helpfulness is part of the congregation’s history. Stories of involvement with the Vietnamese boat people in the 1980s pop up in conversations with the older members. Though the refugees did not stay in Dauphin, the church remembers being a friendly and helpful point of entry into Canadian life.
In 2011 the current pastor travelled to Lebanon and witnessed the beginning of the mass Syrian displacement and refugee situation. Through her connections with Canadian Baptist Ministries, she was able to report the stories of how God was working in the darkness of war to bring people to himself. These stories, combined with the positive refugee memory, solidified a willing response to the present need. When the time came to sign up to help, the church was ready and eager and voted overwhelmingly in favour of this venture. Joining with two other Dauphin churches, DIRT (Dauphin Interchurch Refugee Team[11]) was formed, and working with three separate SAHs (Sponsorship Agreement Holders), they determined to sponsor three Syrian refugee families.
Finances flowed in quickly due to the media frenzy, federal election promises to speed up the refugee process, and the generosity of denominational partners. Only months prior to the churches’ involvement, the sponsorship process seemed quite clear. They were to fill out forms, pick a family, and get to know them a bit. Then the family was to say yes, the churches were to say yes, and all were to wait upwards of a year for the family’s arrival. What transpired was nothing so ordered. In January the churches filed their application, got a list, picked some numbers, and called the SAHs, and within a few weeks they received a seventy-two-hour notice that the sponsored families were coming. The committee members arrived at the Winnipeg airport to pick up the first of three families on 11 February with a sense of sheer panic; they had no idea what they were doing.
Five months in, the churches are in awe of how God orchestrated this adventure for their new Syrian friends, for their churches, and for the city of Dauphin. A few things stand out as vital to the success so far.
First, none of the participants can imagine this process without the translators DIRT was able to hire. From that first meeting at the airport (and subsequent three-hour journey by van at minus 28 degrees Celsius across the barren Manitoba winter wastelands) to the first meals together in a family home (because their house wasn’t ready), having someone to explain and understand meant everything. The group hired a Syrian man for the first three months to serve the three families and shared his costs between the three churches.
The second lesson was the importance of English classes. The first family started government-funded English classes within two days of arriving and have continued with three classes a week since. DIRT agree with the government’s insistence on making the acquisition of the official language a priority for the first year. They could see this as a solid gift to give their families as they attempted to settle in their new country. The school-aged child started school the day after he arrived, and he says his school is “seven billion million times” better than the one he attended in Jordan. The churches have struggled a bit getting regular English tutors in the summer, but trust the driving lessons for the men and the tutors for the families will start again in September.
The mountains of paperwork were filled out and signed. The rental houses were moved into, bank accounts procured, bill payment methods figured out, and the computer, TV, and internet were hooked up. All have had medical and dental appointments (inoculations up to date), and the children are now used to car seats (which was not easy). All three families planted gardens and are excitedly enjoying the yields. The three dads are employed (only part time, as they also see the importance of learning English while they have help with funding).
The third lesson is the importance of friends. After the first translator finished his three months, the churches were blessed to find a Syrian woman who had came to Canada in January as a refugee. She graciously came to help them in Dauphin and is about to finish her two months. Having her has meant a new level of communication with the women was possible. Having the first translator was wonderful, but the combination of two different translation angles has been significant in the churches relationships with the families. There is a true family feeling now having enjoyed Ramadan meals together and the celebration of Eid.
One small effort on the part of the DIRT team has possibly had one of the biggest impacts. Their second translator offered to teach them Arabic, so a few of them attempted a couple of classes a week. Their pathetic struggles gave them a clear sense of empathy for their Syrian friends as they have committed to learning a new language. This empathy has helped the team continue to cheer the refugees on in their efforts.
Dauphin, Manitoba, is not very “multicultural,” nor is it entirely open to newcomers. That all three families are Muslim was a big concern as the nearest mosque is two hours away. The churches were nervous about the refugees’ customs and what they would eat. Should they shake hands? Would people be kind on the street? Other than language, this nervousness continues to be the greatest hindrance to the Syrian families being included in the community. As church people meet and spend time with the Syrian families, they realize that these are delightful, friendly people, and the nervousness dissipates on both sides. The challenge now seems to be helping more people make the effort to invest time.
As the team considers the next six months, they hope to establish a weekly meal with the families to practice English and provide a place for others to get to know them in a friendly atmosphere. This is one of many ideas that they hope will help in the “friend” area. They are continuing to pray that they can be a blessing to their new friends and are actively investigating sponsoring some of their relatives. God is kind and good. And the DIRT team is so thankful for his leading.
Approximately seven years ago, towards the end of a church-sponsored baby shower (for a recently joined African congregant), a long-time member of the social action committee noticed a gentleman who was waiting for his wife. After chatting awhile, she asked him, also a recent immigrant, if he had found a home church in Moncton. He and his family would be welcome at this church, she said. He told her that he had little need of God, as his daughter and her family had been refused immigration to Canada. They had to be left behind in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DCR) during the severe conflict and were currently caught in very unfortunate and dangerous circumstances. This led the man to question a just God. This story was taken to the pastor, who in turn approached the deacon’s board, who agreed with the church to act as co-sponsors for this family.
Over the subsequent seven years, little was heard from the family until late summer of 2015. Apparently the immigration papers, which had not been approved due to numerous unusual circumstances, had finally come through. Would the church still be willing to act as co-sponsors for this family? After meetings with the pastor, the board of deacons, and others, the decision was made to move forward, as it was important to keep their earlier commitment.
In mid-October the church heard that their sponsored family would be arriving in the early weeks of December. Several church members met to begin to prepare for the arrival of their sponsored family. Seven committees were established with wonderful participation from many church members. They were able to fundraise; source food, clothing, household, and kitchen necessities; and begin reconstruction of a basement apartment. Within approximately six weeks, they were ready for the family to arrive (even if work in the basement apartment wasn’t quite completed).
On the day of arrival, members of the welcoming team and a few members from the congregation went to the airport with the father, mother, and brother and some of their African friends to greet and meet the family of five arriving from the Democratic Republic of Congo. It was an emotional and heartwarming reunion for the family who had been separated for so many long years. Tears of joy were in evidence! Only through God’s hands could this type of cooperation and preparation have been accomplished.
Currently the church’s co-sponsored family from the DCR has been in Moncton for seven months. Initially the seven teams (construction, clothing, food and supplies, furniture, fundraising, welcoming, and communication) organized to prepare for the family’s arrival and were very busy for the six weeks prior. But they had little information on the “how tos,” and with an early change in leadership, they were “flying by the seat of our pants!”
The church’s situation at first was different. Their commitment to become a co-sponsor had been made long before the Syrian refugee crisis began to affect public sympathy. Unfortunately due to the ongoing conflict in the DRC, the immigration process for this family was stalled for seven years. As the family is not Syrian, and due to the fact that they came ahead of the current influx of Syrian refugees, the church found it much more difficult to access support and information. Their very able team leader for November and December researched both federal and provincial government websites for information regarding appropriate financial assistance. When their pastor connected them with the Convention of Atlantic Baptist Churches (CABC), they found that the “Guidelines for Refugee Assistance” they had put in place concurred with those of the Convention. The print literature that came after their sponsored family’s arrival would have been much more helpful before their arrival.
Interestingly too, because the family was not from Syria (even though they were fleeing terrible conflict), their resettlement was not seen as a newsworthy item. From a PR point of view, the church found that their story did not garner public support financially nor public interest in the way Syrian refugee families have.
MAGMA (Multicultural Association of the Greater Moncton Area) was very helpful in the first weeks with filling forms, arranging orientation/registration for children’s schools, reviewing the responsibilities for co-sponsors, and orientation to the family of their new city, as well as providing initial language training and other services available to immigrant families. As the sponsored family are French speaking, CAFI (the French Multi-Cultural Association equivalent) has been a wonderful resource.
The church’s co-sponsor – the sponsored family’s father and grandfather and his wife – were also responsible for much of the family’s orientation. The First Baptist Sponsorship Ministry construction team continued to upgrade their newly purchased home for the needs of a blended family, and in the early weeks of arrival provided a communication and friendship bridge to the family.
While the initial set-up teams have disbanded, several members of the congregation have continued in a part-time volunteer basis to support the family. They provide a monthly cheque for the family (based on government and CABC suggested guidelines for the first year of residence) on the fifteenth of each month. This is arranged through the church treasurer, and the family pick it up from the church secretary.
The construction team members, who spent so much time at the home when the family arrived, were all invited by the father to a lovely African family dinner at their home. It truly was an indication of the appreciation they have for all the incredible work that was done. The construction team leader along with his wife continues to see the family. He is currently helping to translate immigration forms from a pro bono lawyer (whom the recently formed new immigration committee contacted) for an adopted daughter (now sixteen) who was not allowed to immigrate with the family in December. This situation continues to be a tremendous worry and heartache for the sponsored family. Hopefully the church will be able to make some progress throughout the fall so she can join her family in Moncton.
The FBSM leader for 2016 has been responsible for arranging communication between the church, family, and CABC; for family’s mental and dental requests and clothing needs, for ongoing support, and for other issues that may arise. So many other team members have been helpful in meeting needs along the way.
Currently the father of the sponsored family has been taking ESL training at McKenzie College through a private gift. The church found that he was not progressing well at MAGMA due to their course structure, and that the lack of English training was holding him back from job applications in Moncton. Of course for any new immigrant, finding a job that will enable them to support their family is of major importance. Hopefully with language improvement, he will be able to apply for a job in the near future with an hourly rate that meets their needs. Interestingly the three children (two boys and a girl, ages fifteen, thirteen, and nine) are doing well in English skills, as is often the case with immigrant children.
The church membership, staff, and pastor and his wife have been very supportive of this ministry. As they continue on in sponsorship, they see their biggest challenges as being (a) Financial, continuing to meet their financial commitment to the sponsorship ministry (especially through the summer months). (b) Communication. Their sponsored family are French speaking, and the congregation is primarily English speakers. And (c) Religion. The family are affiliated with a Jehovah Witness Church in the area. They may not be comfortable at the church, which makes a sense of affinity with the greater church membership challenging.
The church’s sponsorship ministry was put together in a very short timeline – approximately six weeks. Any effort requiring this much work, especially in the weeks preceding Christmas, could have been helped by having a longer timeline. At the same time, they wonder if too much time would have caused interest to fall off or the sense of urgency to fade to the sideline somehow. They remain amazed at how God works through his church to make efforts like this sponsorship ministry work. Such an important reminder: We can never underestimate his power.
Having pertinent information about governmental immigration policy and the CABC guidelines prior to the family’s arrival would have been more appropriate. Churches receiving sponsored families are now much better equipped with information on the how tos with checklists, Facebook information, etc.
1. What are the key issues that need to be discussed by a local church before they decide to sponsor a refugee family?
2. What services and assistance are available from the government (federal, provincial/state, and local/municipal) that the church can access?
3. Are there other community organizations, churches, or groups that the church could partner with in sponsoring and helping refugee families?
4. What do you think are the basic needs of a refugee family when they arrive in a new country for resettlement?
A number of very good resources provide detailed information on how to help refugees. Depending on the kind of assistance the church is looking to provide, some of the manuals listed below could be of assistance.
• Refugee Protection Manual
http://www.refworld.org/protectionmanual.html
• Handbook to Determine Refugee Status
http://www.refworld.org/docid/4f33c8d92.html
• Mental Health of Refugees
http://apps.who.int/disasters/repo/8699.pdf
• Resource Guide for Refugee Claimants
http://svdptoronto.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Manual-for-Refugees.pdf
• Refugee Law Reader
http://www.refugeelawreader.org/en/
• The Sphere Standards for Providing Humanitarian Assistance to People Affected by Disasters
http://www.ifrc.org/PageFiles/95530/The-Sphere-Project-Handbook-20111.pdf
• Establishing Legal Services for Immigrant Children
The process of ministering to refugees will vary from country to country depending on who the refugees are, the assistance available to them from the government and other agencies, and the capacity of the church. However, here are some guidelines for when a church is considering becoming involved with refugees.
1. The leadership and the congregation have to decide together to become involved in helping refugees. This type of ministry is not for just a few individuals but needs the involvement of many. Besides making the decision to become involved, the pastor or the pastoral team may want to teach on the biblical basis for such ministries, that God is concerned for the poor, the vulnerable, and the foreigner. Besides being compassionate and helping desperate families in need, the objective is also to reveal the kingdom of God and the God you worship.
2. Identify who else in the community is providing services to refugees and what those services are. Can you partner with them, or are they already stretched in the work they are doing? What services and help for refugees are not available in the community?
3. What government services and assistance are available for the refugees and for those helping the refugees? Is funding available from the government and/or other organizations for the programs you are planning? What is the scope of the funding – what does it cover and what does it not cover?
4. What are the processes and guidelines you have to adhere to in order to help the refugees?
5. After reviewing all the information you have gathered so far, decide on how you would like to help the refugees. Determine the budget you need to raise from within the church and what you can access from other sources. Identify and recruit people from the congregation who are willing to help and can provide specific skills that are needed. Organize the people for the various tasks – ensure proper leadership and accountability so that nothing is left undone or done improperly. Will you be partnering with organizations and other churches? What will that partnership look like? Make sure that all the details, responsibilities, and expectations are discussed, agreed upon, and written down.
6. Become aware of language and cultural issues related to the refugees. How will you prepare yourself to overcome these barriers? For example, do you know what is acceptable behaviour (like shaking hands and hugging) when relating to members of the opposite sex? If refugees will be coming to your church for activities, how will you communicate values and acceptable behaviour, especially with regards to relationships? How will you deal with cultural problems when they arise?
7. What activities can you do with the refugees that will help them integrate into the local community?
8. How can you help the refugees not only access space (a place to live), but also create a new place to restart their lives, a place they can make their home? How can you as a community help the refugees develop a new identity – one which incorporates the identity they lost when they left their home country – into the identity of being part of their new country? Are there community and national events you can take them to and explain the significance of to them? Are they aware of the history of the community and the country so that they know where and how they fit? Are there family events you can help them celebrate using symbols from both cultures?
9. As a church community, how will you show the refugees the love of Christ in ways they can understand? How can you help them experience what the kingdom of God is like and introduce them to the king? Remember, conversion is something God does in his way and in his time. Any help you provide should be unconditional and not dependent on the refugees attending church activities. At the same time, we should not be ashamed of who we are and the God we worship. We are asked to be ambassadors of the living God and witness to his reality and love.
Very few churches, if any, are involved in ministering intentionally to the stateless largely because of the challenges of the legal issues involved. However, there are examples of faith-based organizations who prioritize the stateless in their services.
Kids Alive Lebanon (KAL)[13] has been serving at-risk children and orphans in the outskirts of Beirut since 1948. Initially founded to meet the massive needs of Palestinian refugee children that emerged during the twentieth century, the organization now provides residential, educational, and care centre services to children of diverse backgrounds. The ministry community includes Lebanese nationals, but the majority of children come from the growing refugee and migrant population. As a Christian faith-based community of teachers and caregivers, they honour the intrinsic value of each child regardless of ethnicity, religion, or legal status. This care is especially extended to children suffering statelessness.
Lebanon has a stateless population numbering between 80,000 and 200,000 people[14] (not including an estimated 450,000 stateless Palestinian refugees).[15] In aiming to rescue children from vulnerable situations, KAL has long ministered directly to the particular needs of stateless children by creating educational opportunities that would otherwise be unavailable to those children lacking identification papers. KAL likewise provides a community of care and protection to stateless individuals who face the constant risks of detainment and deportation due to their lack of legal status. In response to the Syrian civil war and its massive displacement crisis into neighbouring countries, KAL opened a section of its primary school to accommodate Syrian refugees. Students are accepted even if they do not possess official documentation proving a nationality.
KAL’s specific concern for stateless children includes a small literacy program in South Lebanon near the city of Sidon. This program exists within a centre partnership that serves nearby Dom (Gypsy) and Bedouin communities. These communities are throughout Lebanon and suffer widespread poverty and marginalization. They have faced significant levels of statelessness due to a combination of causes, including historical exclusion from the Lebanese national community and the prevalence of unregistered marriages and births. Many children lack legal documents and are therefore prohibited from attending public schools. With private schooling unaffordable, they are left without access to education and are at risk to the vulnerabilities that accompany lifelong illiteracy. The KAL literacy program was established specifically to create a learning program for statelessness children. Although not a formal school, it provides undocumented children with their only opportunity to experience learning in a structured environment.
Stateless children are a special concern for KAL. The legal status (or lack thereof) of new applicants is weighed heavily when evaluating the intake of new children. It is well understood that stateless individuals in Lebanon are particularly marginalized, and the organization strategically aims to make its services available to those affected by statelessness. When possible they assist individuals in their quest to attain a citizenship, a process that is complicated and fraught with social, political, and legal roadblocks. KAL’s concern for the stateless was on display in a symbolic way at a recent annual fundraiser event. The ceremony featured a presentation of flags of the dozens of nations represented by the children in its programs. Front and centre was a plain white flag representing the stateless children; during the course of the event it was the only flag to receive any specific mention.
As this book has detailed, the displaced face a particular form of practical and psychological suffering, and the global Christian community of faith has a biblical mandate to help them belong, both within God’s kingdom and within the political systems of our world. This mandate is especially urgent in the ongoing crisis of statelessness, which is prevalent across the globe from Asia and Africa all the way to Europe and the Americas. The stateless are denied the legal right of nationality and are effectively excluded from the international community of nation-states. This problem has widespread impact. However, some resources are available for those wanting to engage statelessness.
• Learning About Statelessness
http://www.statelessness.eu/blog/new-efficient-way-learning-about-statelessness
• Handbook for Protection of Stateless People (UNHCR)
http://www.unhcr.org/protection/statelessness/53b698ab9/handbook-protection-stateless-persons.html
• Determination Guide on Statelessness
• Handbook on Nationality and Statelessness (Though it is for parliamentarians, it has valuable information.)
http://www.ipu.org/PDF/publications/statelessness_en.pdf
• World Council of Churches Assembly Statement, Recommendations and Webinar on Statelessness
https://www.oikoumene.org/en/press-centre/news/wcc-strengthens-call-to-end-statelessness
• World Council of Churches Bible Study on Statelessness
https://www.oikoumene.org/en/resources/documents/bible-study-on-statelessness
Despite its complicated dimensions, statelessness presents many opportunities to show active compassion in the face of a severe injustice, and in doing so reveals the reality of God’s kingdom. The following are three pillars on which a church can build a compassionate response to statelessness.
1. Elevate the awareness of statelessness as a global crisis. The hardship of being stateless persists in large part because this suffering tragically remains unnoticed by an unaware and uninformed public. Although statelessness is slowly emerging as a focus issue in the fields of human rights advocacy and academic scholarship, it remains widely unaddressed by and within the Christian community.[16] The church is consequently missing opportunities to continue its legacies of facing social ills by advancing causes of justice and human wholeness. Statelessness, with its complex global and local nuances, needs to be properly understood by the greater population.
One starting point in gaining knowledge about statelessness is the Institute of Statelessness and Inclusion, a Netherlands-based institute dedicated to facilitating research, advocacy, and awareness of statelessness.[17] A wealth of resources and educational opportunities are available through the institute. Additionally, in 2014 the UNHCR launched the #IBELONG campaign, which aims to end statelessness in ten years.[18] The campaign offers current information on the scope and scale of statelessness, a ten-point action plan to directly address the problem, and an open letter to voice popular support. Simply acquiring information about statelessness as a human rights injustice will help direct prayerful and practical responses.
Many churches are already engaged in development, relief, and mission activities at both local and international levels, and statelessness may be a pressing issue facing people in these ministry contexts. Faith communities and organizations would do well to evaluate the places and the people they serve and research if statelessness is a threat. The painful reality is that statelessness is likely much more prevalent and near than many realize. Before we can do anything we must know something; the church must become aware of statelessness.
2. Minister to the needs of the stateless. Stateless individuals face a host of practical challenges. Many of the necessary services, opportunities, and provisions that are readily available to citizens are elusive to the stateless. It is important for churches to act appropriately to help meet the human needs of the stateless and address their vulnerability. These actions can include helping stateless individuals and families pursue formal education, gain employment, secure housing, access financial loans and assistance, and receive medical care.
One practical way faith communities can address these problems is by taking actions that help prevent statelessness. These can include the crucial measure of assisting in birth registrations, which is particularly urgent in refugee contexts where the practical and legal realities of displacement leave children at heightened risk of becoming stateless due to barriers in registering births and proving the genuine link needed for establishing citizenship. Just as food, economic, housing, education, and health related services are commonly administered to vulnerable communities, so should services related to official documentation and status.
The predominant need of all stateless individuals is rather straightforward: legal national status. This can be obtained either in the places of residency or in new places. Churches can use their human and financial resources to help provide legal remedies for individual stateless cases or assist in resettlement to places where citizenship is attainable. Until stateless individuals gain their human right of official nationality, they will face unrelenting exclusion and marginalization. Statelessness will cease when formal citizenship is enjoyed by all.
3. Advocate for the stateless. Statelessness is in many ways a legal problem, and its solution requires a fundamental reformation of the nation-state laws and practices that allow it to perpetuate. The Christian community is in a position to advocate for policies that will seriously minimize, even eliminate, the prevalence of statelessness, including advocating for nationality laws that grant women equal rights to men for transmitting citizenship to their children. When mothers are denied their fundamental right to pass nationality, the door is opened for a host of complications that can lead to childhood statelessness. International human rights demand that women enjoy the same rights as men, and the church’s voice is needed to likewise demand that nation-states implement principles of equality in their nationality laws. Additionally, advocacy is needed to see that nation-states meet the international standards on the treatment of stateless populations and the reduction of statelessness. These practices are articulated most authoritatively in the “Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons” of 1954 and the “Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness” of 1961. Statelessness is an absolutely solvable problem, but to solve it requires an active form of advocacy that seeks institutional change in the way nation-states implement policy.