Back to most recent IRP news • Browse archive: 2005 • 2006 • 2007 • 2008
Refugee Cosponsor: "The World is Coming to Us"
Peter, a member of the family from the Democratic Republic of Congo cosponsored by Centenary United Methodist Church, with a volunteer.
Photo: Julie Broderson
|
Lexington's Centenary United Methodist Church, with 3,500 members, launched its refugee resettlement ministry with a "Home for the Holidays" Advent theme in 2004. A typical refugee shelter was marked off in the foyer with yellow caution tape.
The shelter's scarcity of amenities for a family of six -- some rice and beans, a few pans, baskets, and blanket bedrolls -- helped motivate members to donate funds and household goods. Centenary's Christmas offering was set aside for refugee resettlement, and the congregation celebrated Epiphany by bringing household supplies.
Kentucky Refugee Ministries assigned Centenary a family of four from the Democratic Republic of Congo. They arrived in February 2005, and "to the congregation's delight, it turns out that the father is a Methodist minister," said KRM's Barbara Kleine.
Taking the lead were members Sharon and Mike Adams of Versailles, Ky., with support from Centenary's Pastor of Missions, Julie Broderson, who said, "They have a heart for international people and a gift of hospitality."
Sharon and Mike Adams had met Christine D. Pohl, author of "Making Room: Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition," through a mutual friend. Pohl teaches at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Ky.
"We read the book and were really moved by it," Adams said. "The book got at why this is in God's heart and not just ours." Sharon knew about refugee sponsorship, "and it had been a long-term dream for Julie, too. We were willing to wade into it with her."
Broderson took the couple through Centenary's 12-step process of developing a new ministry and submitting a plan to a leadership team for approval.
"Mike and I have done a lot with overseas missions, serving in India for four years," Adams said. "When we came back, the world was still in our hearts. First we hosted international students from the University of Kentucky. That opened our eyes that we don't need to go overseas -- the world is coming to us."
She reflected, "In a church our size, at best one percent of members can get the opportunity to go overseas. For the other 99 percent, the world is here. Refugee resettlement is the ‘bargain of the century' for me in missions. It is so cost effective -- probably one little short-term mission costs double -- and so long-term in benefits to the refugee family and to the congregation. And it's right here -- you don't even need a passport and shots!"
"In this effort, money is not the big item, it's love and time," Adams affirmed. Especially the first month, it's high intensity, like having a newborn." Centenary got eight days' notice of its family's arrival, and set to renting and furnishing an apartment and stocking it with food.
"There was a whole series of miracles. The family moving out of the next door apartment offered us the stuff they didn't want to move. Everything we didn't have, we got from them."
Two dozen congregation members met the family at the airport on February 16, bearing coats against the winter cold. "Next," Adams said, "was to get clothes for them in their sizes, Social Security cards, Food Stamps, health checkups and inoculations, and to get the boys in school within two weeks."
Broderson estimated that as many as 100 congregants gave hands-on assistance during the first couple months. Noted KRM's Kleine, "Many members of the church ended up getting involved, particularly with the boys," who joined Centenary's youth and sports groups. The family also has volunteered in "Centenary Loves Lexington," one of the congregation's several community service ministries.
The father's employment, at a company that handles corporate billing, enabled the family to become economically self-sufficient within 90 days. "His heart's still in ministry," Adams said. "He loves any opportunity to tell how God sustained them through all they've gone through." The family narrowly escaped rebel forces, tragically losing several immediate family members in the process.
Adams commented that cosponsoring a refugee family helped prepare Centenary to help the hundreds of Hurricane Katrina evacuees who came to Lexington. "They all came through our church," she said. "The Red Cross took over the gym. Centenary provided meals and members served as ‘guest friends.'"
Broderson, who affirmed Centenary's intention to cosponsor another refugee family soon, said the first cosponsorship has given the congregation "a bigger understanding of the world. We live isolated lives with our own routines. It's all we know. To hear this family's story is to learn that life is very different for many people in the world.
"I think any church that endeavors to do this is going to be blessed," she concluded. "Genesis 12 says we are blessed to be a blessing. There are challenges, but through them you grow in your faith."
Back to most recent IRP news • Browse archive: 2005 • 2006 • 2007 • 2008 • Back to top