Influx of Refugees Offers Relational Doors for the Gospel

If you were to stop by Faith Bible Church about 3:30 on the third Saturday of the month, you would find Mike Sawatzky setting up tables and chairs in the Reception Room and getting the kitchen ready for other volunteers who will arrive soon after to prepare food for the monthly refugee Friendship Dinner. Still more volunteers, from Faith and a few other churches, provide childcare and sit at the tables with the refugee guests during the meal to build relationships and engage in redemptive conversations.

As families from Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Iran and elsewhere begin to arrive, Mike’s wife Joy drives up with a family she has picked up. Following the meal, one of the volunteers will read and comment on a Bible passage or share their testimony with the group, leading to more conversations afterwards.

Most of the refugees have never been inside a church building before, and these volunteers are the only Christians they know.

A fresh mission field

In 2017, the elders of Faith Bible Church recognized that the ministry to Nepali refugees, begun many years before, had matured into a thriving congregation with its own pastor. Meanwhile, new groups of refugees had come to Spokane, many from Iraq and Afghanistan, where they had worked for the U.S. government and could no longer remain in their own countries due to death threats and other reprisals.

In consultation with the local World Relief office, it was determined that an English class for mothers with small children would meet an important need. The call went out, and a number of Faith members responded.

Among those were Mike and Joy Sawatzky. Members at Faith since 2000, they had hosted a Growth Group for years. Mike had just retired, and he and Joy were looking for other ways to serve the Lord through the church.

The Sawatzkys had no prior experience working with people from other cultures and were at first hesitant about getting into the ministry because of stereotypes about immigrants. They learned that refugees are a specific group of people legally admitted into the United States, who would rather return to their own countries if they could, but conditions in those countries made that impossible. Sometimes called “the most thoroughly vetted humans on the planet,” refugees have experienced months—sometimes years—of interviews, background checks, health exams, etc., by State Department officials before a limited number are admitted into the U.S.

Daryl Reid, Connie Morgan and Mike Sawatzky serve by preparing halal food for the Friendship Dinner. Photo courtesy of Dan Tindal

Mike agreed to coordinate the English class outreach, many others joined the effort, and a Sunday afternoon English class got under way. Teri Gardner and Diana Ward helped with teaching, along with a couple of women from other churches who also have English Language Learning training and experience. Since the focus of the class was English conversation, other women from Faith served as conversation/practice partners for the refugee ladies.

Meanwhile, other volunteers kept the children occupied. This was no small task, but at least most of the kids already understood some English!

Because public bus schedules are limited on Sundays, another big part of this ministry was picking up the ladies and kids for the class and driving them home. This had the added advantage of the volunteers being invited into homes and building close relationships with many refugee families.

Relationships stronger than restrictions

Covid-19 brought an end to the English classes and halted the Friendship Dinners that had just started at Faith, but the relationships continued. The break provided time to think about new ways to serve refugees. One new endeavor by Faith members, again in conjunction with World Relief, was the formation of a Good Neighbor Team led by Mike and Rachel Hudspeth. This team also included the Sawatzkys, my wife Connie, and me.

A Good Neighbor Team is formed to help one refugee family navigate their first year living in the U.S. We were assigned to a newly arrived Ethiopian family with five children. The family distinguished Mike Sawatzky and Mike Hudspeth as “older Mike” and “younger Mike.”

Our team worked to helped register the children for school, drove family members to medical appointments, helped the husband get a job, helped the wife learn how to shop in American supermarkets, and much more. With language skills we gained from previous work in Africa, Connie and I were able to help with translation, and Connie became their school liaison because of the mother’s limited English.

After nearly two years, the Ethiopian family moved to Iowa to join a relative and pursue a better job opportunity. Meanwhile, the Hudspeths started a new Good Neighbor Team with other Faith volunteers who worked with a South Sudanese woman with five children. The monthly Friendship Dinners also resumed as Covid restrictions relaxed.

“My only friend in America”

Through these group activities, many personal relationships have formed. Involvement in people’s lives is where real ministry takes place. While missionaries we send to other countries receive cultural and linguistic training before they go, refugees who come here have no choice about where they are sent, and they face huge language and culture differences. American friends, and particularly Christian American friends, have the opportunity to help with the transitions and to share God’s love in the process.

Few of us at Faith will go overseas long term, but we can all go across Spokane to make disciples among other people groups living right here.

The Sawatzkys, for example, remain in regular contact with several families they initially met through the English classes. Joy is always visiting somebody, taking them shopping, helping open a bank account, or just drinking tea together. Through time together, shared meals, explaining what to do with junk mail (“no, you haven’t really won a million dollars regardless of what it says on the envelope”), helping fill out confusing forms and much more, trust is built and deeper conversations can take place.

When Mike once told one of these friends that he should check something out with his other friends, the man replied, “Mike, you are my only friend in America.”

Matthew 28:18-20 commands us to make disciples among all the people groups on earth. We often emphasize the “go” in the command, but it’s not about distance, it’s about taking initiative and using the opportunities God gives us. Few of us at Faith will go overseas long term, but we can all go across Spokane to make disciples among other people groups living right here.

More than once, those of us working with the refugee families have been asked why we are willing to help strangers who come from other countries. Mike Sawatzky answered it best: “Because God put you on my heart.”

Garry R. Morgan

Garry Morgan, a member at Faith Bible Church, is a former missionary and retired missions professor. He is also author of Understanding World Religions in 15 Minutes a Day.

View Resources by Garry R. Morgan