[From The Church Next Door: Local Christians Face America’s New Religious Diversity, draft manuscript by Dr. Paul D. Numrich. Please do not quote or cite without author’s permission.]
[figure approx. here: reproduce portions of WBC’s Missions Festival brochure]
In
the previous chapter, we saw South Asian Christians evangelizing fellow
immigrants, sometimes with the aid of non-immigrant churches and
volunteers. In this chapter, we focus on
the efforts of non-immigrant churches to evangelize non-Christian immigrants
and refugees from a variety of countries who are resettling in suburban
A key participant in these efforts is World Relief DuPage, the local arm of the international non-governmental organization, World Relief, in turn the humanitarian arm of the National Association of Evangelicals. World Relief is active in 20 countries, providing a variety of services in such areas as health, poverty, agriculture, and emergency relief. Self-consciously motivated by evangelical principles, World Relief supports congregations in relieving local suffering. While World Relief itself does not directly evangelize the beneficiaries of its services, it also does not discourage its local church partners from doing so.
Except from the World Relief Web site:
We are committed to the local church, because it is
uniquely equipped to bring effective and lasting solutions to a suffering
world. Working with churches that are
established in their communities offers this advantage: churches know the
people and understand their problems.
After the “official” programs have ended, the local church remains—ready
to continue ministering to hurting people.
We believe it is imperative
to reach out to all of the world’s suffering as it is instructed in the
Gospel. We send no one to engage in
proselytizing, but we do not prevent indigenous people from sharing Christian
truth with their neighbors.
[www.wr.org/about_us.asp]
World
Relief DuPage began providing services for refugees and immigrants in
Approximately 80
percent of World Relief DuPage’s budget comes from government contracts to
resettle refugees brought to the area by the US State Department. Prior to 2001, the agency resettled an
average of 400 refugees per year in
As a World Relief DuPage representative explained
at a church workshop we attended, the majority of current local refugees are
Muslims, many coming from countries where it is difficult for Christian
missionaries to operate. This provides
an opportunity to evangelize these groups in
1. “World View Expansion,” through both discovering God’s concern for the poor and developing relationships with people from different cultures; the latter allows American Christians to learn how their own culture influences their understanding and expression of Christianity.
2. “Enlarging People’s Hearts,” by providing services that can benefit volunteers as much as recipients.
Local churches commit to helping refugees through World Relief DuPage programs at three levels, with increasing investment of volunteers, time, and resources. Level One involves a one-time commitment in order to explore longer-term involvement. At this level, a church may collect items for a refugee family, provide emergency funds, or simply invite a World Relief representative to address the congregation. Level Two involvement is long-term, with more financial commitment. Activities at this level may include opening church facilities to English-as-a-Second-Language classes and other service programs, or organizing fundraisers for refugee aid. Level Three churches commit to substantial programming and financial support on a long-term basis. This may include organizing a Good Neighbor Team that works closely with a refugee family on matters of temporary housing, transportation, and other day-to-day aspects of the resettlement process. World Relief describes the Good Neighbor Team as “the hands and feet of Christ to refugees transitioning to self-sufficiency.” The World Relief DuPage representative at the workshop explained that the ultimate goal at all three levels is for refugees “to experience a transformation in their lives through a relationship with Jesus Christ.” Many volunteers testify to their own transformation as well.
The
workshop was sponsored by the Missions Leadership Network, a consortium of
local churches that describes itself as “an evangelical interdenominational group
interested in seeing the Kingdom move forward.”
The group’s mailing list runs to more than 75 entries, several of which
work with World Relief DuPage. One of
the most committed is
The
figure at the outset of this chapter comes from the brochure for a Missions
Festival at
“Differents.” [R]efugees, immigrants, international students—they are here . . . and they are different. Saris instead of skirts. Sandals instead of shoes. Curry instead of catsup. Hummus instead of hash browns. A thousand gods, not one God. Or, one god, but so very different from the One we know.
Do we smile politely, and keep our distance? Or, do we give our fears to our Protector, and connect with these highly relational people for the sake of Jesus Christ? At WBC our global passion includes bringing the Gospel to those from other cultures who have moved right into our neighborhood.
Doug
Christgau feels that too few American churches have a vision that extends
beyond their own four walls. Those
evangelical churches that do have such a vision tend to implement it in other
countries through missionary work. Doug
hopes to inspire evangelical churches to do “local cross-cultural
ministries.” “Especially in a globalized
world, this is a mandate. We can’t just
send people over to
The
guiding rubric of
Clearly, the ultimate motivation here is evangelism. When we asked Doug how the Gospel is broached in this friendship approach, he talked about earning the right to be heard, and about the relationship between the social and spiritual aspects of such work. “We believe that we have to earn the right to be heard. The way that we earn the right to be heard is by meeting their social needs, . . . recognizing that that has value in itself. A very small percentage of these people end up converting. But we’re still committed to helping them. . . . We always have the spiritual objectives in mind, but we know, practically speaking, that that’s not going to be realized in the majority of cases. But, still, these people need our help. And we grow from being of service to them.”
Evangelical
motivation distinguishes
Doug is especially moved by Old Testament teachings about showing hospitality to strangers and providing for their practical needs. He notes that the well-known New Testament exhortations to spread the Gospel to all nations often lead churches to focus exclusively on global missions. But the Old Testament emphasis on hospitality to the strangers in our midst provides a needed balance of local missionary concern.
Wheaton
Bible Church’s international friendship ministries include annual holiday meals
on Mother’s Day, the Fourth of July, and Thanksgiving, skill training classes
(currently sewing, with plans to add computer training), and refugee
resettlement and
Thomas
Williamson served 27 years as an overseas missionary. Had we been in certain countries, he told us,
he would not have consented to an interview at all for fear of being
misrepresented and perhaps deported.
When Tom retired from overseas work several years ago, he and some
fellow retired missionaries searched for a church where they could continue
their calling locally. They chose
Tom brought a
large photo album to our interview, lovingly showing us snapshots of his work
with Afghans, Africans, Iranians, Koreans, and others in the same way that he
might share his mementos from some of their home countries. He tells stories about refugee families that
have stayed in his home during one crisis or another in their transition to
permanent settlement in
Tom draws inspiration from several biblical passages in his work with refugees and immigrants. He points out that while Christ certainly told his disciples to go out to the world and spread the Gospel, the Holy Spirit brought the whole world to them at Pentecost. Every salvation story in the Book of Acts, Tom says, is about someone who is away from home. Transience makes people more open to the Gospel. Throughout the Bible, God moves people around, taking them from one geography to another, preparing them to be receptive to God’s promptings. Tom also draws from Old Testament teachings about the disadvantaged and aliens in the land, as well as the great heavenly scene in the book of Revelation where all the nations gather around the throne of God. Tom feels privileged to take part in preparing for that day. He believes that all the languages of the world will be spoken in heaven, and that we will understand them all then.
Helen
Anton oversees the international friendship ministries of
According to Helen, the volunteers prize certain biblical teachings, such as the Golden Rule and caring for the needs of the least among us, by which we show our care for Christ Himself. For Helen and others who have lived overseas, Old Testament passages about how to treat aliens and strangers hold particular power, since they know what it means to have that status.
Through it all, volunteers can learn as much about their own faith as anything else. Says Helen: “It’s personally enriching just to build friendships with those of another culture. Often, I think that helps our own faith to grow in the process, because when we’re asked questions about, ‘Why do you believe this?’ or ‘What do you believe about this?’ it helps us to research more where we’re coming from and cement things that maybe we didn’t have solid before.”
Leanne Margot and
her husband returned from 11 years of missionary work in
Leanne
no longer sees her work with refugees and immigrants as a “safety net” for the
lostness she once felt, but it still feels “comfortable and right” to her. She loves being around different foods and
worldviews, and appreciates the general hospitality of non-Western
cultures. Like others we interviewed,
Leanne sees the Old Testament’s concern for foreigners as a model for her
work. As in the case of the biblical
Ruth, they were accepted as part of the community. Leanne also pointed out that Jesus was a
refugee child in
We
asked all three interviewees to estimate how many of the people served by
All three interviewees are committed to the friendship approach. When Tom Williamson is out and about informally, he looks for opportunities to strike up conversations with people who might come from another country. Once, while doing hospital visitations, he began talking with a Hindu nurse and has continued to say hello to her every time he visits the hospital. The key to this relationship, according to Tom: “Just the fact that she’s perceived as a person worth talking to.” The same is true for the Muslims he knows, who value the personal prayers he offers on their behalf in their presence. “I make it clear that my friendship is not based on anything that they need to do or say, that I will be their friend one way or the other.” In other words, his friendship has no evangelical strings attached to it. When individuals come back to see him after moving away, “Almost always it’s some act of friendship, or something informal, that has made the impression.” For instance, a Liberian physician couple recently told him how much they appreciated the high school graduation reception he gave them at his home.
Helen Anton explained, “Our goal is to build relationships, because relationships are where trust is built. If we ever want to earn a hearing for the Gospel, a relationship is vital. You can’t just bring in people to preach at them.” But when and how to broach the Gospel explicitly can vary, and sometimes the subject doesn’t come up at all. “For the most part, we just try to be there and listen,” Helen said. She doesn’t avoid the subject, but tries to find natural ways into it. Meals can provide such an entrée, as church volunteers who visit refugee and immigrant homes are often asked to pray before the meal their hosts serve them out of hospitality. “It’s a natural thing to do, and yet for them, a beautiful gift. It’s fun to see the big glow on their faces when someone has actually prayed for them.” For many, this is the first time they have ever heard their name mentioned in a prayer.
What
benefits do refugees and immigrants receive from the efforts of
We
observed an
World
Relief DuPage provides the teacher for the class,
The secondary lesson for the day was about so-called reduced forms of phrases. The teacher pointed out that indigenous American speakers tend to contract phrases like “have you” and “did you” into “havya” and “dijya.” If foreign speakers wish to blend in to American society and begin speaking with an American (“informal”) accent, they need to adopt such reduced forms. The students caught on to this much quicker than they had the simple past tense versus present perfect tense distinction.
Midway
through the session, the class adjourned to the church sanctuary for a
half-hour Bible story time with the other classes. This takes place once a week and is optional
for the students due to World Relief’s restrictions on direct evangelism (the
teacher told us that some students opt out, but most attend in order to hear
more spoken English). Well over 100
students representing numerous nationalities gathered in the pews. Most wore Western-style clothing, the African
women being the exception in their native dresses. A few women from
The religious and moral content of this portion of the day stood in stark contrast to the secular ESL lessons. An amateur troupe of church members acted out the Old Testament story of Jacob and Esau, from the favoritism of their parents (Isaac for Esau, Rebekah for Jacob), to Jacob’s treachery in gaining his elder brother’s inheritance, to Esau’s wrath in response. Some humorous aspects of the play drew hearty laughs from the audience, like stuffing two pillows under Rebekah’s blouse to represent Jacob and Esau in the womb. The moral of the story was stated directly—we shouldn’t be like Jacob, who wanted to take things that didn’t belong to him; rather, we should wait for the good gifts God promises to give us.
The narrator of the play concluded with a prayer, for which most of the audience bowed their heads. She thanked God for all the good gifts of life, especially the gift of God’s Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. After the “Amen,” the audience applauded in appreciation.
For More Information
The
Web site of the international relief and social development organization, World
Relief, is www.wr.org. The Web site of
World Relief’s parent organization, the National Association of Evangelicals,
is www.nae.net. World Relief DuPage can
be contacted at
Ethnic
Focus Ministry is a program of
Wheaton
College (www.wheaton.edu), a respected evangelical college in Wheaton,
Illinois, houses the Billy Graham Center for evangelism. The Center advises churches on evangelizing non-Christians
in their locales through its departments of Ethnic Ministries and Ministries to
Muslims, as well as its resource and publishing arm, the Evangelism and
Missions Information Service (
For Discussion