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Houston Meetings Rich in Ideas for Congregational Refugee Ministries
Pianist Rodney Waters (right) of Houston, Texas, developed a CD of music, poetry and photographs to use in fundraising. He and IMGH Refugee Program Director Aaron Tate (left), also a songwriter, led worship for sponsorship developers.
Photo: Carol Fouke-Mpoyo/CWS
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Congregations "listening in" on a Church World Service-sponsored meeting in Houston, Texas, in late May would have picked up good ideas for their engagement with refugees.
May 22-24, CWS local refugee resettlement affiliate staff responsible for recruiting congregations and other groups to help newly arriving refugees get on their feet in U.S. communities met under the theme "Building on the Promise: A Toolkit for Refugee Cosponsorship Development."
The bottom line: "When refugees have congregational cosponsors, they become self-sufficient faster." (John Javed, Virginia Council of Churches Refugee Resettlement Program, Richmond, Virginia)
This largely peer-led working conference delved into creative ways to get congregations involved and keep them engaged pre-arrival, support the cosponsorship, and celebrate the conclusion of the cosponsorship.
Participants considered different models of cosponsorship and dialogued with denominational representatives about their role in recruiting and supporting congregational cosponsors.
Here are some of the many good ideas that surfaced at the meeting:
- No congregation is too small to cosponsor refugees. Many 40 to 50-member congregations have joined with their local refugee resettlement agency to find and furnish an apartment; meet the new arrivals at the airport; help them settle in, find their way around their new community and enroll their children in school; transport them to appointments and job interviews, and provide moral support.
- Some congregations, whatever their size, prefer to cosponsor as part of a cluster of congregations. Perhaps they had worked together before on another project. They can work out which congregation does what. Members of one might collect money and household goods, while members of the other church give time.
- A congregation or cluster can support their local refugee resettlement agency by, for example, hosting a six-week summer school or camp for refugee children, opening their food or clothing pantries to refugees, or setting up apartments for all refugees resettled through that affiliate.
- "A church can sponsor an apartment," said Richard Rybak, Sponsorship Developer for Interfaith Refugee & Immigration Ministries in Chicago. "It finds all the items on the list -- no duplicates allowed! -- and stores them. Individual donors might even hold on to larger items until the day they are needed. Then when the refugee family is on its way, everyone meets in the church parking lot and moves everything into the apartment."
- "Cosponsorship can involve the whole congregation," said Linda Williamson, Program Assistant for Refugee and Immigration Ministries, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Indianapolis. "Everyone can pray. The homebound can coordinate transport. Youth can collect school supplies. In one church, children collected quarters for refugees to use at the laundromat."
- Waiting for your refugee family to arrive? Put up a bulletin board at church with their names and post news stories about their country of origin. Then update the board with photos from the airport arrival and resettlement progress reports. (A caution: Respect sensitive and confidential information.) As you cycle items off the board, put them in a scrapbook.
- As you wait for the family, reflect on the theme of waiting -- especially what it feels like for refugees to wait, and wait, and wait. Support the CWS Durable Solutions for Displaced People program for refugees in camps with nowhere else to go.
- Give volunteers a specific assignment -- say, going with the family for groceries, period -- and a time limit. "We sign volunteers up for two hours a week, at least for the first couple of months," said Shelley Lathrop, Cosponsorship Developer for the Interfaith Refugee Resettlement Program in Concord, New Hampshire. Assign volunteers in pairs, and have them carry cellphones for safety.
- Have a sign-in book at the refugee family's home. Volunteers log their name, date, what they brought/did, the time they spent.
- Mark the closing out of the formal cosponsorship period with a celebration. Ask both church members and the refugees to bring food and to speak. Share stories about your experience with your denominational refugee office.
- Consider mentoring another church that's cosponsoring for the first time. And, of course, please cosponsor again!
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