Refugees Plant New Life in a Dying Church

If you’re looking for a movie go see this weekend, you might have noticed a showing of All Saints at your local theater. Based on a non-fiction book of the same name, All Saints tells the story of a reverend, a crumbling church, and a group of refugees who brought growth and community.

In the book written by Michael Spurlock and Jeanette Windle, you learn about Spurlock’s journey as the new reverend of the All Saints Episcopal Church and the group of Karen refugees from Myanmar that came to Smyrna, TN seeking safety and a place to worship.

In an article about the film and the All Saints church, Bob Smietana of the Washington Post writes,

Showing up at church that first Sunday required courage on the part of the Karen, said Steve Armour, screenwriter for “All Saints.” They had been driven from their homeland, seen their families and friends killed and now were surviving in a foreign land they barely understood. Now their future relied on the kindness of fellow Christians. “That is a tremendous act of faith — to trust that these strangers would be able to do what they said they were going to be able to do,” Armour said.

Lisa Lehr, a former merchandise manager for Christian education here at Cokesbury and current sales manager of ministry and custom products at Abingdon press, became a member of the All Saints church in 2014. She explains that when she arrived the first thing she noticed was that almost all parts of the Episcopal service were done in both English and Karen. She soon learned the how the Karen members brought new life to the vibrant church she was attending.

“What I gathered was that because of the Anglican split, the church was down to about 15 people,” Lisa said. “And they were planning on closing or selling the church, but the people that stayed were committed to the church. They had been there a long time. Then these Karen visitors showed up.”

However, the fresh influx of new church members is not the only new life these Karen refugees brought to All Saints. Karen attendees asked if they could make use of the 16 acres of land the church owned to grow crops. Fresh fruits and vegetables were expensive and farming provided them an opportunity to not only feed their families but to help out the struggling church that welcomed them. The Washington Post reports,

It was a kind of miracle, said Michael Spurlock, who was pastor of All Saints at the time. God, he said, had sent more than 70 expert farmers to the church at their hour of greatest need. Before long, rows of spinach, sour leaf and other vegetables had been planted and were growing behind the church building. When the crops were harvested and sold off, most of the proceeds were donated to the church to help pay the bills.

Lisa Lehr explains that because of the Karen community, All Saints is unlike any other church she has attended. “It’s a unique place. It’s a place where if you are going there to just be fed, to just consume food (the food of faith), you’re probably going to be uncomfortable after a while. If you’re there to feed and be fed, that’s the place to be.”

As the Christian education coordinator at All Saints, she explains that another reason the church is so unique is because the young adults (teens to early twenties) are incredibly engaged and helpful. Whether it’s through volunteering, assisting with VBS, or providing essential translation for older Karen members, the Karen youth of this congregation are proving their dependability.

“You can really count on the youth to step up and do things. If you need something done, the youth are ones that are going to step up and do it. They are such hard working folk. They’re probably the best kids I could think of.”

Becoming a part of this community has made Lisa more aware of the horrifying pain and struggle refugees go through before finding safety. When discussing the current global refugee crisis, she explains that we as nation and as a Christian people must do more to help.

“Refugees need a place to go. And they need a place to go in a hurry because they are not safe. There are people here who are willing to step up and help. We need to welcome these folks with open arms.”

Facilitating Difficult Conversations

Leading conversations about difficult topics such as race can be a little scary, but anyone who approaches this work with a loving heart and an open mind can facilitate a conversation. You don’t need to be an expert; you don’t even need to have facilitated this sort of conversation before. Holding Up Your Corner: Guided Conversations about Race is a resource to help pastors and other faith leaders address issues of race and inequity in their communities. It’s a six-hour group experience with a leader guide, participant book, and DVD including video content for each conversation segment. Together these resources present key content via brief video clips, activities and guided discussion in small groups around tables, and times for sharing with the whole group.

The tips below can help individuals at all knowledge levels facilitate the Holding Up Your Corner conversation or a similar conversation of your own design.

Getting Started

• There may be someone in your church or group who is better suited to the task of leading this conversation than you are. If that’s the case, ask and empower that person to lead and assist in all the ways you’re able.
• Other faith leaders in your community may have done this before. If you need support or help, ask someone with experience to come alongside you the first time you lead this conversation. Or ask them for advice and encouragement as you prepare.
• BUT, do not spin your wheels in thinking, preparing, and discussing in advance. Know that you will probably make some mistakes or say something not quite the way you intended. That’s okay! Give yourself permission to do what you can, and know that God will use it. The main thing is simply to take the authority you have been given to act.

Prepare

• Get the dates on your calendar! For many of us, just deciding to do something and making the commitment is half the battle. Don’t wait until you’re “ready.” You will never feel ready, but if you believe this conversation is important, you will find that you have what you need.
• Before facilitating this conversation, examine your own biases on the topic to ensure that you can remain neutral while leading discussion. Remind yourself to remain neutral throughout the experience. Model active listening.
• Study the materials thoroughly before facilitating a dialogue. Pastors and other faith leaders should read Holding Up Your Corner: Talking About Race in Your Community by F. Willis Johnson and Fear of the Other: No Fear in Love by Will Willimon. These books will provide foundational understanding, empowering you to lead wisely.
• Be ready for the event physically, spiritually, mentally, and emotionally so that you will have stamina and grace. Your preparation will set the tone.

Invite

• Extend an open invitation to your congregation and the broader community. Include people from education, health care, city government, civic organizations, law enforcement, business, and so on. Make the invitation for all, not just hand-selected people in your community. Or, if that seems too much to take on, hold the first conversation (or two or three) just with leaders in your congregation, or perhaps with your leaders and those from another church in your area. Those leaders can then share about their experiences with others in the church and community, laying the groundwork for you to lead subsequent conversations with a broader group.
• Offer some way for people to register so that you can prepare accordingly. You may choose to set up a Facebook event and ask people to join it.

Guiding the Conversation

• Keep the conversation focused and on schedule. It’s important to address questions and allow participants ample time to process their thoughts; however, as facilitator, you must ensure that the conversation stays on topic and that the timeline of the event is adhered to. Think of yourself as the bumper guards in a children’s lane at a bowling alley. Give the conversation some leeway, but don’t let it get out of the lane.
• Ensure all participants feel comfortable enough to contribute. Invite quiet participants to speak up and/or encourage participants who dominate the circle to listen to others.
• Handle any issues, tensions, or conflicts that arise by moving the conversation. If something troubling is said, give other participants the chance to address it (example: Does anyone have a different opinion?). It may be helpful for you to rephrase comments to achieve clarity (example: I believe you are saying _______. Is that what you meant?).
• Consider providing a Conversation Covenant to keep the conversation productive and grounded in your common faith. (A sample covenant is included in the Holding Up Your Corner: Guided Conversations leader guide.) Review the covenant at the beginning of each session and refer to it when necessary. For example: “Let’s look again at our covenant, which asks us to give everyone a chance to speak before sharing a second time.”
• Ensure that the conversation is oriented around dialogue rather than debate. Debate focuses on winning while dialogue focuses on finding and exploring common ground and understanding. Encourage participants to keep an open mind, to listen to opinions that differ from their own, and to seek to understand rather than influence each other.

Continuing the Conversation

• At the end of the session, ask participants to complete a brief evaluation form so that you can improve the conversation for next time. Also plan a time to debrief the session with a few colleagues or participants.
• Facilitate a way for next steps and continued connection to happen. This should be contextual, ways that make sense and are comfortable for your community. You might agree together to set a date for a second conversation, including new people. You might set up smaller ongoing action groups, based on conclusions made by participants at the event. You may ask someone to set up a closed group on Facebook or another social media site where people can continue the conversation and begin to gather around particular actions.

Remember…

• Give yourself—and the participants—permission to do and say the “wrong” things. Be comfortable being uncomfortable, and share that expectation with participants. Be courageously vulnerable! Model it for your community, and invite them to lay down their own assumptions and defenses, too. Know that the conversation will be awkward, and be okay with that.

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F. Willis Johnson is the senior minister at Wellspring Church in Ferguson, Missouri. His writing and lecturing credits range from TIME Magazine, National Public Radio, universities and seminaries, to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History Culture. This article is an excerpt from his book Holding Up Your Corner: Talking about Race in Your Community.

Faith Language with Children

We often begin speaking to children while they are still in the womb and immediately after a child is born we begin engaging with children verbally. Infants and toddlers are sponges for information and particularly attentive to language. Before 9 months old, babies are easily able to distinguish between five different languages, and by the time they are 3 years old children have heard up to 45 million words. But how many of these words have been about faith?

It is important to teach children everyday words such as yes and no, please and thank you, and happy and sad. But when do they begin hearing words of faith such as God, love, Jesus, church, and creator? Why not begin sharing words of faith from the beginning of a child’s life? Faith must be an imperative part of our sharing with children so that they too can be on a lifelong faith journey.

I recently heard a lecture by Dawn Rundman about ministry with babies and toddlers. She shared that we baptize our babies but then wait until the age of three to send them to Sunday school. When we use this model, we miss important and formative years to share our faith with our children. Rundman also recognizes that it is hard work to be a parent and to have to add something else to our ‘parenting list’ can be daunting. But you do not have to be a religious expert to share faith with your children. Sharing faith language with children can be done simply through reading Bible stories, looking at pictures and images, saying a prayer together, and reminding children they are loved by God. Dawn also shared that infants and toddlers learn more from a face to face interaction then from a screen. Doing simple activities such as holding a child in your lap and reading them a story about God’s love creates formative faith implications.

Here are some suggestions of Bibles and books you might wish to read with your children:

Deep Blue Toddler Bible Storybook, Daphna Flegal and Brittany Sky

God Gave Us You, Lisa Tawn Bergren

Goodnight, Ark, Laura Sassi

Goodnight, Manger, Laura Sassi

The Family Story Bible, Ralph Milton

What Does God Look Like? & Where is God? Rabbi Lawrence Kushner

 

Erin R. Floyd holds a B.A. in Religious Education from Oklahoma City University, and is pursuing an M.A. of Christian Education from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. Erin is the writer and editor of the Deep Blue Middle Elementary resources. Erin is passionate about child and faith development, and enjoys being a part of an amazing team at The United Methodist Publishing House. In her free time, she enjoys journaling, taking walks, volunteering, and trying new coffee shops.