Mission Yearbook: Young adult advocates hold vigil at Michigan State Capitol in solidarity with immigrants and refugees

Image

Leaders and people attending the Young Adult Advocacy Conference gathered on the steps of the Capitol in Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Alex Simon)

Standing on the steps of the Michigan State Capitol, Isabella Shutt prayed passionately for God to be with immigrants and refugees who are under heightened scrutiny by U.S. authorities.

After asking God to be with the attendees and “all who wander,” Shutt prayed: “Lord, you know the names on my heart today, but there are so many unnamed. There are so many people who are part of Jesus’ story that we don't know, and we remember them as we remember all who are in fear” due to enforcement actions. “May we be witnesses to your love.” 

Shutt, a former summer fellow for the Presbyterian Office of Public Witness, was one of about 30 people who took part in a silent march and brief vigil on the final day of the Jesus and Justice Young Adult Advocacy Conference in Lansing, Michigan.

The social justice action served as an opportunity to stand in solidarity with immigrants and refugees amid increased immigration enforcement and to speak out against the violence targeting immigrant communities.

Image

The Rev. Jihyun Oh thanks the young people who gathered for the Jesus and Justice conference at First Presbyterian Church of Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Alex Simon)

The federal crackdown has included sending National Guard troops to Los Angeles; deporting people to dangerous and sometimes unfamiliar countries; restricting due process; conducting massive workplace raids; enacting travel bans; and confounding people’s efforts to receive permanent legal status or maintain work permits, and to live without fear.

In brief remarks at the Capitol steps, the Rev. Jimmie Hawkins, advocacy director of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), spoke about the importance of not remaining silent about hurtful policies and practices, such as targeting people because they have a particular skin color or language.

“Church, this is wrong and we stand opposed to it,” said Hawkins, adding, “We have been called to do what we do, as ministers, as elders, as deacons, as choir members, as those who work in the kitchen, as those who sweep the floor, as those who have a strand of Christian dignity, to say that this is not of God.” 

Prior to the march and vigil, OPW’s the Rev. Christina Cosby led a time of prayer and reflection at the First Presbyterian Church of Lansing that included visiting stations of the cross and a send-off by the Rev. Jihyun Oh, who expressed her gratitude to those gathered, who included some church members as well as some conference participants. Witnessing and advocating in different places where justice needs to happen is part of “the sheer goodness that we can do together,” said Oh, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the PC(USA) and executive director of the Interim Unified Agency.

Along with remarks, hymns, Scripture, singing and prayers, participants were given the opportunity to place flowers on the steps.

The flowers served as symbols of compassion and love and as connectors to prayer vigils around the country being led by grandmothers, mothers and aunties seeking the return of their disappeared loved ones, said Amanda Craft, manager for Immigration Advocacy in the Interim Unified Agency.

“We stand here today and remember siblings,” she said. “The siblings who have been kidnapped, the siblings who have been disappeared, the siblings who have been taken violently, the siblings who have been stripped from their families, the siblings who have been deprived of their legal, civil and human rights, the siblings who have been sent to countries they have no ties to,  the siblings who live in constant fear.”

In an interview with the Presbyterian News Service after the vigil, Shutt explained why advocating for immigrants and refugees is important to her.

“The question of immigration is the question of what do we want our community to look like moving forward and who are the people that we want to be surrounded by?” Shutt said. “For a lot of us, including myself, immigrants have been formative and have loved me into being, as Mr. Rogers says, and so making sure that’s a possibility for future generations is really important to me.” 

Darla Carter, Communications Strategist, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Click here to read original PNS Story)

Let us join in prayer for:

Shonita Bossier, VP, Operations, Presbyterian Foundation
Terri Bowman, Customer Service Lead, Hubbard Press, Administrative Services Group (A Corporation)                              

Let us pray:

God of compassion, you see every person who lives in fear, every family separated, and every heart longing for safety and belonging. Be present with immigrants, refugees and all who feel vulnerable in this moment. Amen.

Mission Yearbook: Colorado Springs church ‘the little church that could’

In order to house its immigrant neighbors, Gateway Presbyterian Church in
Colorado Springs, Colo., has transformed a former manse into House Next
Door Ministry. (Contributed photo)

In 2022, Gateway Presbyterian Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado, began offering its manse for use by refugees coming from Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. Named “The House Next Door,” the ministry started after Ruling Elder Paula Warrell was moved by news reports of Afghan refugees being resettled in Colorado. She proposed utilizing the church’s unused manse to accommodate the transitional housing needs of new arrivals to the United States.

Constructed before the church building, the manse’s basement was the first worship space along with housing the pastor’s family. In the early 2000s, the church’s pastor purchased a home in the community and the church began renting the manse. After a period of discernment, the church decided to change direction with the manse’s use.

“I asked [the session], ‘Do you feel called to be landlords?’” said the Rev. Dr. Victoria Isaacs, the church’s pastor since 2019. The response from church leadership was they wanted to use the manse for other ministries. A $30,000 remodeling effort and 1,500 volunteer hours transformed and updated the manse following the end of the rental agreement and the space was ready to receive refugees by 2022. Watch a video on that process here.

The church partnered with the Lutheran Family Services refugee and asylee program to offer a comprehensive welcome to families relocating the U.S. Lutheran Family Services provides legal services, educational and job assistance, financial guidance and support, translators and social services to the families. As per the guidelines of Lutheran Family Services, Gateway Presbyterian provides six months of transitional housing, an initial furniture and home goods setup, mentoring, day-to-day assistance and companionship.

Church member Scott Lyon leads the refugee mentorship program, saying, “We mentors certainly get as much out of the experience as the refugees.”

Now serving its fourth family, The House Next Door has helped two families from Afghanistan and a Syrian family and recently received an Iraqi family. With anywhere from five to seven active mentors at any time, Lyon said there is great enthusiasm at the church for participating in the ministry.

“I make periodic announcements during church services, and I’m sometimes surprised by the number of people that come up to me,” he said. “People are looking for ways to help. I mean, that’s why you join churches — to be a part of something good and meaningful.”

Lyon said mentors commit to an hour or two a week, helping with daily logistics, shopping and navigating a new cultural context. Refugee children are enrolled in local schools and working-age adults, depending on their language skills, find work in the community.

While communication is often a challenge, Lyon said he’s learned the pleasantries of Arabic and Dari, but adds, “a smile helps you communicate mostly what you need to know” in many situations. The father of one family and Lyon were able to communicate using basic Spanish — both calling on decades-old language acquisition to piece together simple conversations.

Isaacs recognizes how much members of the congregation have given to the mission of The House Next Door. From donations of food and furniture, to crossing cultural and religious boundaries, and learning the basics of food stamps and the immigration process, it has been a growing and learning experience.

“It’s like the old model of mission where you go to help somebody and instead you grow so much,” she said. “[The mentors] have poured themselves into these families. They learn so much about another faith and another culture, but they also learn that humanity is humanity — we’re all human and have a lot of similarities.”

Another positive byproduct of the ministry is how it has activated members of the church to see mission all around them and lets newcomers see the church is putting its faith into action.

“Many of the people who are involved are newer members,” she said. “This has been something that has been interesting, intriguing and attractive to our newer members — like we're actually doing something, getting our hands dirty.”

Gregg Brekke for the Presbyterian Foundation (Click here to read original PNS story)

Let us join in prayer for:

• Sherri Finke, Ministry Relations Officer, Presbyterian Foundation 
• Tina Finley, Accounting Clerk, Central Receiving Services, Administrative Services Group (A Corp) 

Let us pray:

Gracious God, we give thanks for moments when we can see the work we do in your name. We are grateful that new life can arise from loss and possibility of disaster. We give thanks for those who give of themselves so that others might have hope. Amen.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - ‘You shall love the alien as yourself’

The PC(USA)’s national staff hears personal stories from five grateful refugees

August 13, 2024

Photo by 2 Photopots via Unsplash

A recent Wednesday Chapel Service for the national staff of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) focused on the recorded personal stories of five refugees living and working in the United States.

Huai Pal, a Burmese refugee who came to the United States 13 years ago, recalled the challenge of her mother’s hospitalization one month following the family’s arrival. “We were lost and hopeless,” Pal recalled. After completing her studies at the University of Louisville, she landed a job as a caseworker at Kentucky Refugee Ministries, “where I can leverage my experience and language skills to help other refugees.”

“I realize my personal experiences from 13 years ago are still relevant to this day,” Pal said.

Genereuse Nodra, a Congolese refugee, praised members and staff from Second Presbyterian Church in Louisville, for all their support, both financial and friendship. Nodra now has a bachelor’s degree in social work. “Refugees come to this country without knowing anything,” Nodra said. “They need help from you guys.”

A refugee from Syria, Nedal Salaho, came to the United States eight days after World Refugee Day in 2019. The people at Second Presbyterian Church “made my life easy,” Salaho said. “They still give me their hand.” He and his brother had to shut down the family business during the Covid pandemic, but plan to reopen it once a petition to bring their younger brother and their parents to the U.S. is approved. “We encourage people to come to the U.S.A. and make their achievements,” Salaho said.

Susan Krehbiel, Associate for Migration Accompaniment Ministries in Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, read the story of Mateo, an asylum-seeker from Venezuela. A former member of that country’s national guard, Mateo refused an order directing him to attack people who were receiving aid. He sought protection in Colombia for two years, then moved to Ecuador, where his life was threatened. He worked at a water park in Mexico but was being threatened there, too, by a drug cartel.

Susan Krehbiel

After turning himself in to U.S. immigration authorities, Mateo often felt demoralized during his two-month detention. “I asked God, ‘why?’ every day,” Mateo said. He would rise at 2 a.m. “with a forgiving heart” to offer his prayers and was eventually released along with his brother.

Maryna Shkurto, a refugee from the war in Ukraine, now works for a U.S. health-care provider. “I’m grateful for the people around me. The PC(USA) helped a lot,” Shkurto said. When her family first arrived last year, the government provided food stamps and other financial assistance.

“If you have any chance to help people from Ukraine, please help them,” Shkurto said. “I have part of every person who helped us in our apartment. I’m working as hard as I can to pay taxes and show how much I appreciate the help of all these people.”

Rabbi Beth Jacowitz Chottiner of Temple Shalom in Louisville noted it takes courage, stamina, physical and mental strength “to flee one’s homeland in search of a better life.” For many, fleeing war, persecution or possible imprisonment “is often the only way to survive.”

“Let us welcome the strangers, the refugees in our midst, and treat them with the compassion and kindness they deserve,” the rabbi said, quoting from Leviticus: “The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the native-born among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”

At the conclusion of the online service, Krehbiel offered this benediction: “As you go, remember those we call last, Jesus calls first. Those we call the least of these, God calls precious. Wherever you may journey, know that God goes with you. May you be blessed with holy encounters, and may you see the face of Christ in everyone you meet. Go in peace.”

Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service

Today’s Focus: PC(USA)’s national staff hears personal stories from five grateful refugees

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Kyle Nolan, Associate Ministry Relations Officer, Presbyterian Foundation
Clara Nunéz, Associate, Program Administration, Self-Development of People, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us pray

God of grace, hear our prayers for those who do the work of the kingdom in difficult circumstances. Stand with them and inspire us by their example. May we find new ways to speak the words of faith to our neighbors as we share the gifts you have given us through Christ. Amen.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - Answering God’s call to work with refugees in Greece

Mission co-worker Nadia Ayoub sees light in the darkness

July 11, 2020

Before physical distancing, Nadia Ayoub meets with a group of refugee women to do some baking and informal worship. (Contributed photo)

In the fall of 2015, mission co-worker Nadia Ayoub was attending a conference with colleagues in Budapest when the city’s Keleti train station became the epicenter of the refugee crisis overwhelming Europe. She could not forget the images of children sleeping on cardboard, families with not enough to eat and the pervasive fear of what would happen next.

At that moment she felt a strong call to work with refugees.

Then working with the Roma people in Ukraine, she has moved to the city of Katerini on Greece’s mainland to serve in partnership with Perichoresis, a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) global partner that works to alleviate some of the hardships suffered by refugees.

Perichoresis provides housing and support for approximately 550 refugees in 115 apartments in Katerini. Initially people were taking refugees into their homes. But it quickly became apparent that was a temporary solution.

“When refugees had to camp out in Idomeni, Greece, on their Balkan route trail in 2015, members of the Evangelical Church in Greece rediscovered their own forced migration story from 100 years ago and decided to organize support,” said Burkhard Paetzold, Presbyterian World Mission’s regional liaison for Central and Western Europe.

Now their expanded programs include a nursery school sports activities, and socio-therapeutic groups for children, adolescents and women. It also supports refugees with medical appointments ad visits with lawyers.

Before forced isolation from the pandemic, Ayoub accompanied pregnant women and children to doctor’s appointments to facilitate communication and be an advocate. Currently she serves as a translator. She speaks Arabic, English, Russian and Hungarian, and her Greek vocabulary is expanding rapidly.

According to the International Rescue Committee, the refugee population in Greece is about 50,000 — more than 38,000 on the mainland and more than 11,000 on the islands. Over half are women and children and of those, about 3,000 are traveling alone.

Ayoub says she sees God at work in the families she assists.

The Fouad family, with whom she has an ongoing relationship, has just left Greece after five years to seek asylum in Germany. Perichoresis helped the family, with five children, find housing, and the father a job with a restaurant. He began by doing cleaning; then the owner trained him to work in the kitchen. Before he left, he was preparing traditional Palestinian dishes on a regular basis for the customers.

Ayoub said refugees lost job opportunities during the agricultural season because of the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving many in need of food. The Greek government promised grants, but refugees are not eligible. The Karypidis family, a Greek family she sometimes helps with translation, was disappointed they could not invite refugee families for an Easter celebration. Instead, they distributed food to the 20 families under their care. The grandfather of the family wrote small messages in Greek; Ayoub translated the messages into Arabic to include with the food packages.

“Because most people do not plan to stay in Greece, I wondered if I could create a lasting ministry with impact,” she said. “These examples show me that I can. I really am seeing the goodness of God in this land.”

Her work with Perichoresis, Ayoub believes, is part of the Matthew 25 call. “We welcome strangers into our homes and offer them shelter, food and other things they need,” she said. “They are acting as God’s hands and feet to take care of the least of Christ’s brothers and sisters as Jesus taught in Matthew 25 — what (we are) to do while waiting for the kingdom of God to come. The Greek Evangelical Church has set an example for all.”

Ayoub asks U.S. Presbyterians to keep Perichoresis in their prayers.

“I urge PC(USA) congregations to pray fervently for Perichoresis staff because they are the ones who keep it going in the right direction. Also, I humbly ask for your continued support for me so that I may continue to serve God with this God-founded institution,” she said.

Give to the Peace & Global Witness Offering to support the peace and reconciliation work of church partners through World Mission.

 Kathy Melvin, Director of Mission Communications, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us join in prayer for: 

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff

Julia Henderson, Office of the General Assembly
Lorraine Henry, Board of Pensions

Let us pray:

Spirit of the Living God, wrap us in your love and make us one. Amen.

Answering God’s call to work with refugees in Greece

Mission co-worker Nadia Ayoub sees light in the darkness

by Kathy Melvin | Presbyterian News Service

Before physical distancing, Nadia Ayoub meets with a group of refugee women to do some baking and informal worship. (Contributed photo)

LOUISVILLE — In the fall of 2015, mission co-worker Nadia Ayoub was attending a conference with colleagues in Budapest when the city’s Keleti train station became the epicenter of the refugee crisis overwhelming Europe. She could not forget the images of children sleeping on cardboard, families with not enough to eat and the pervasive fear of what would happen next.

At that moment she felt a strong call to work with refugees.

Then working with the Roma people in Ukraine, she has moved to the city of Katerini on Greece’s mainland to serve in partnership with Perichoresis, a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) global partner that works to alleviate some of the hardships suffered by refugees.

Perichoresis provides housing and support for approximately 550 refugees in 115 apartments in Katerini. Initially people were taking refugees into their homes. But it quickly became apparent that was a temporary solution.

In 2015, the Keleti train station in Budapest was the epicenter of Europe’s refugee crisis. (Photo by Burkhard Paetzold)

“When refugees had to camp out in Idomeni, Greece, on their Balkan route trail in 2015, members of the Evangelical Church in Greece rediscovered their own forced migration story from 100 years ago and decided to organize support,” said Burkhard Paetzold, Presbyterian World Mission’s regional liaison for Central and Western Europe.

Now their expanded programs include a nursery school, sports activities, and socio-therapeutic groups for children, adolescents and women. It also supports refugees with medical appointments and visits with lawyers.

Before forced isolation from the pandemic, Ayoub accompanied pregnant women and children to doctor’s appointments to facilitate communication and be an advocate. Currently she serves as a translator. She speaks Arabic, English, Russian and Hungarian, and her Greek vocabulary is expanding rapidly.

According to the International Rescue Committee, the refugee population in Greece is about 50,000 — more than 38,000 on the mainland and more than 11,000 on the islands. Over half are women and children and of those, about 3,000 are traveling alone.

Ayoub says she sees God at work in the families she assists.

The Fouad family, with whom she has an ongoing relationship, has just left Greece after five years to seek asylum in Germany. Perichoresis helped the family, with five children, find housing, and the father a job with a restaurant. He began by doing cleaning; then the owner trained him to work in the kitchen. Before he left, he was preparing traditional Palestinian dishes on a regular basis for the customers.

In early March, the Evangelical Church in Athens received a message about a single Syrian refugee woman with two children who was depressed and needed help but spoke only Arabic. The church sent her information to Nadia to so she could communicate with her. Arabic is Ayoub’s native language.

“Every day I sent her a message and asked about her and her children,” she said. “The messages included some Bible verses and Christian songs. I thank God that he encouraged me to keep talking with her, and little by little she started to be comforted. One day, she sent me a joyful message to thank me for writing to her every day and caring for her and her children. Early one morning she sent me a Bible message for the first time. I trust the Lord is helping her and she is on her way to complete healing.”

Ayoub said refugees lost job opportunities during the agricultural season because of the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving many in need of food. The Greek government promised grants, but refugees are not eligible. The Karypidis family, a Greek family she sometimes helps with translation, was disappointed they could not invite refugee families for an Easter celebration. Instead, they distributed food to the 20 families under their care. The grandfather of the family wrote small messages in Greek; Ayoub translated the messages into Arabic to include with the food packages.

“Because most people do not plan to stay in Greece, I wondered if I could create a lasting ministry with impact,” she said. “These examples show me that I can. I really am seeing the goodness of God in this land.”

Her work with Perichoresis, Ayoub believes, is part of the Matthew 25 call. “We welcome strangers into our homes and offer them shelter, food and other things they need,” she said. “They are acting as God’s hands and feet to take care of the least of Christ’s brothers and sisters as Jesus taught in Matthew 25 — what (we are) to do while waiting for the kingdom of God to come. The Greek Evangelical Church has set an example for all.”

Ayoub asks U.S. Presbyterians to keep Perichoresis in their prayers.

“I urge PC(USA) congregations to pray fervently for Perichoresis staff because they are the ones who keep it going in the right direction. Also, I humbly ask for your continued support for me so that I may continue to serve God with this God-founded institution,” she said.

Born into a Christian family in Egypt, Ayoub immigrated to the United States with her family in 1985. Before she left Egypt, she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in agriculture from Ain Shams University in Cairo and a Bachelor of Science degree in Christian theology from the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Cairo.

She believes her call to serve refugees is rooted in her own experience of being a stranger in the many places she has called home. Immigrating from Egypt to New Jersey necessitated learning a new land and culture, as did the many years she spent in Central Asia and Ukraine.

“As I think about my call to serve among refugees and strangers,” she said, “I see I was that stranger not once but many times. And God has always provided individuals and communities to welcome me. I only can give thanks to God and pray I will be able to welcome others and make them feel at home in strange places.”

Give to the Peace & Global Witness Offering to support the peace and reconciliation work of church partners through World Mission.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - For everyone born, a place at the table

The story of Zacchaeus is a reminder that God sees all of us — and that we all matter

February 17, 2020

Christina Cosby, a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, recently joined the World Mission staff as mission specialist for the Middle East and Europe. She preached a sermon about Zacchaeus from in chapel at the Presbyterian Center in Louisville on Wednesday. (Photo by Tammy Warren)

Who are you passing by today as you hurry to get to your next destination?

Christina Cosby, mission specialist for the Middle East and Europe with Presbyterian World Mission, remembers a few months ago she was watching a TV documentary about the refugee crisis in Europe and a camp, Moria, better known by its nickname “Hell on Earth.”

She learned that refugees at Moria stand in line for hours with no guarantee that they will receive food or other basic necessities. It’s a camp built for 3,000 refugees, yet it currently houses 13,000 — people living in deplorable conditions while their asylum cases are being processed.

“I turned off the TV,” she said. “I thought, ‘Oh, these people are far away. It doesn’t really affect me here. What can I do?’”

A short time later, she started her mission specialist position in Louisville and traveled to the Greek island of Lesvos, where she and other staff visited Moria Refugee Camp.

“I was called to pause, not to simply pass by, but to look up and notice the people I once deemed as ‘other,’” Cosby said.

As she preached during a recent chapel service at the Presbyterian Center, Cosby related her story to the familiar story of Zacchaeus, the tax collector who climbed a sycamore tree to see Jesus as he passed by on his way through Jericho to Jerusalem.

“In each of our lives, there are people easy to see, easy to notice, easy to pay attention to and easy to forgive,” Cosby said. “For many, our friends, family, neighbors and co-workers fall into this category, as we are familiar with their ways. When they make us mad, do us wrong, pass us by — it’s easy to look past.

“Similarly, there are people that are easy for us to overlook — the person begging for money on the street corner, the child who doesn’t speak our language, the friend who never answers our phone calls or the people featured in the news on television. When we stop to look up, to look around, to simply notice someone for who they are, we see a little of ourselves inside of them — a piece of God that we share.”

Beyond considering the forgiveness Zacchaeus received and the salvation for any wrongs he may have committed in the course of his work as a tax collector, Cosby said this passage challenges us to think deeply about those we overlook as we pass by on life’s journey. “Perhaps for us it is the poor, the orphan, the widow or perhaps it is the rich,” she said.

Asked about takeaways from her sermon about Zacchaeus, Cosby suggested three:

• God sees what humanity cannot.
• God knows the good works we do behind closed doors, and what others assume about us is irrelevant.
• God forgives us before we can begin to repay our wrongs.

Prior to joining the World Mission staff, Cosby, a native of Lynchburg, Virginia, served as director of Christian formation at Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City. She also helped oversee the church’s homeless shelter.

“In New York City, you see homeless people all the time,” Cosby said, “but actually having a chance to know them and to respect them as people, and for them to respect me, it’s just a beautiful experience.” On her last night before her move to Louisville, she threw a pizza party for the 12 men who live in the shelter. “This was a special ministry, and I wanted a chance to say goodbye,” she said. “They are just wonderful guys.”

Cosby earned her Master of Divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary and is currently a candidate for ordination. She said she feels blessed to have had supportive congregations, family and friends in her life.

“It’s nice to know you have a community of faith surrounding you, to pray for you when you can’t and to celebrate with you when you can,” Cosby said. “I think our faith is done best in community.”

Tammy Warren, Communications Associate, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us join in prayer for: 

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff

Mindi Stivers, Presbyterian Mission Agency
Brenda Stoney, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us pray:

O God, whose love stretches around the world, bless your disciples who serve your people. Enliven their ministries and show them compassion, that they may better reflect your presence in our changing world, which craves knowledge and truth only you can illuminate. Amen.