Living resurrection: welcoming refugees

Ehthlei Hso enjoys his new bed. Photo: Donna Buckles

Story by Carol Fouke-Mpoyo/CWS

The Holy Week that her congregation scrambled to prepare for the imminent arrival of a refugee family was “probably the neatest we’ve ever had,” according to Rev. Lucie Perkins, pastor of the Reformed Church of Syracuse, New York.

The congregation – one of hundreds each year that cosponsor refugees resettling to the United States under Church World Service auspices – got two weeks’ notice of the arrival of a family of five from Sudan. Members spent Good Friday and Holy Saturday setting up the family’s apartment.

Why did that turn out to be a good experience during one of Christianity’s busiest seasons? “Because it was such a living gospel kind of thing,” Perkins said. “You can spend the week leading up to Easter contemplating Christ’s sacrifice, or you can do something sacrificial. And what we did had resurrection within it, because there’s life and hope within it” for the refugees.

Last year, Church World Service and its network of participating denominations and local affiliate agencies resettled 4,772 refugees to 23 states. Local congregations signed on to help welcome the new arrivals and assist them with renting and furnishing apartments, accessing social services, school enrollment, and job searches.

The eight-member Eh Hso family, Karen ethnic refugees from Burma, arrived in Phoenix, Arizona, in 2007, under Church World Service auspices. Photo: Donna Buckles

The Congregational Church (United Church of Christ) of North Barnstead, New Hampshire, was looking for a local outreach opportunity in which children, teens, and adults could be involved. But given its small membership and budget, “I did not expect that we would have much to offer,” says member Helen Fitzgerald. “I was wrong.”

CWS affiliate Interfaith Refugee Resettlement Program matched the congregation with a refugee family of three from Burundi. Volunteers coached the family on how to find its way around the supermarket, schedule doctor appointments, relate to U.S. employers and teachers, and much more.

“Helping refugees adjust to U.S. culture is an amazing experience,” Fitzgerald affirms, emphasizing that “the most urgent needs are met through relationships.” In turn, the Burundians “teach me by helping me see my culture through a fresh perspective. They are generous about sharing their culture, and I have much to learn from them about friendship, faith, optimism, and gratitude,” she says.

The American Baptist Churches USA and Cooperative Baptist Fellowship jointly have appointed Duane and Marcia Binkley to help equip their U.S. churches to welcome ethnic minority Karen refugees from Burma who are resettling to their communities. The Binkleys’ website www.karenkonnection.org is rich in resources for congregations and seeks to help Karen scattered across the country and around the world to reconnect. Many of the Karen have a strong Baptist background.

In York, Pennsylvania, an ecumenical cluster of churches has resettled 18 refugee families in 21 years. The cluster took its work to a new level this past summer when it purchased and renovated a house for new arrivals. The first to live there was a Karen family of nine, refugees from Burma.

Calvary, Zion, St. Paul’s, and Otterbein United Methodist churches; St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church, and St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church also have cosponsored families from Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, Bosnia, Kosovo, Croatia, Colombia, and Ethiopia. Glenn Lehigh, the cluster’s chair, says, “It’s challenging sometimes, but it’s all worth it, from the satisfaction you get seeing people do well.”

The Yefimchucks, Ekaterina Brichka’s sister and family, receive a warm welcome to Lincoln, Nebraska. Photo: Heartland Refugee Resettlement

As excited as she was that 19 of her relatives – refugees from the Ukraine – would join her in Lincoln, Nebraska, Ekaterina Brichka was very worried how she would accommodate them all. When she learned that all eight Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) congregations in Lincoln had joined hands to help, she burst into tears of relief.

The congregations committed to finding and furnishing apartments for the four families that comprise the 19 individuals. For its part, CWS affiliate Lutheran Refugee Services in Lincoln helped with the myriad post-arrival appointments, including medical checkups, school enrollments, and job interviews.

Becky Brown, Pastor of East Lincoln Christian Church, concluded, “Our cooperation in this outpouring of hospitality is one of the most beautiful examples of Christian welcome I have witnessed in over 20 years of ordained ministry.”

Refugee newcomers face enormous challenges during their first months in the United States. With congregational cosponsors’ help, they acculturate and become self-sufficient more quickly.

“I thank God, because we had a church,” says Patient Katabana Marandura, a refugee from civil war and persecution in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Resettled by Church World Service to Grand Rapids, Michigan, he is among refugees and cosponsors featured in a new CWS DVD, A Future with Hope: Welcoming Refugees. (Call 800-297-1516 to order a free copy for your congregation.)

Patient Marandura and his family escaped rebel soldiers who had targeted him for refusing to help them. After several difficult years in Uganda, the family was approved for U.S. resettlement and was put on a plane for Grand Rapids. “We didn’t even know the address of where we were going,” he recalls.

Members of Central Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), the family’s cosponsoring congregation, were waiting at the airport with a warm welcome. “It was like coming from nowhere to somewhere,” Marandura says, adding that members’ ongoing social support has provided comfort and hope following years of fear, trauma, and loss.

“To make the resettlement really very smooth, we need people around,” Marandura says. “I needed people to support me, to help me know how to fill the application form, go to the appointment, get a driver’s license, find a job, use the ATM, rent a house. The church was there and they knew how to help me. And that’s how I came today to be a strong man in America.”

Learn more about welcoming refugees.