Alban at Duke Divinity School at
Church on a mission to extend sanctuary learns to live with uncertainty - Alban Weekly
Durham, North Carolina, United States for Monday, 9 October 2017
PRACTICAL WISDOM FOR LEADING CONGREGATIONS:
"
Faith & LeadershipCONGREGATIONS, CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP
Church on a mission to extend sanctuary learns to live with uncertainty
Church offering sanctuary learns to live with uncertainty
DECISION TO BE A SANCTUARY IS THE START OF A CONGREGATION'S JOURNEY
The volunteers know the drill:
The doors must stay locked.
No law enforcement officers are allowed on the premises without an original copy of an arrest warrant signed by a judge.
If immigration enforcement officers arrive, the volunteer on duty must call six people in order on a list kept in a black three-ring binder in the multipurpose room.
Those are among the safety protocols put into place by St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Greensboro, the first congregation in North Carolina in recent history to offer sanctuary to an undocumented immigrant facing immediate threat of deportation.
The election of President Donald J. Trump, who ran as an immigration hardliner and has cranked up state and federal enforcement of immigration laws, has spurred churches to offer sanctuary to those facing deportation. An estimated 1,000 churches across the country have pledged to support the efforts, including opening their doors to people fearing repatriation.
DECISION TO BE A SANCTUARY IS THE START OF A CONGREGATION'S JOURNEY
The volunteers know the drill:
The doors must stay locked.
No law enforcement officers are allowed on the premises without an original copy of an arrest warrant signed by a judge.
If immigration enforcement officers arrive, the volunteer on duty must call six people in order on a list kept in a black three-ring binder in the multipurpose room.
Those are among the safety protocols put into place by St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Greensboro, the first congregation in North Carolina in recent history to offer sanctuary to an undocumented immigrant facing immediate threat of deportation.
Volunteers who stay at the church with Ortega have instructions for how to respond to law enforcement.
The church added the measures to protect its most vulnerable new occupant: Juana Luz Tobar Ortega, a 45-year-old Guatemalan native who came to live at St. Barnabas in May.The election of President Donald J. Trump, who ran as an immigration hardliner and has cranked up state and federal enforcement of immigration laws, has spurred churches to offer sanctuary to those facing deportation. An estimated 1,000 churches across the country have pledged to support the efforts, including opening their doors to people fearing repatriation.
A sign at the church.
But so far, only a dozen U.S. congregations have actively provided shelter to undocumented immigrants. Notably, Greensboro, the state's third-largest city, has two such churches. (The other is Congregational United Church of Christ.)
In the four months since Ortega moved into St. Barnabas, the 125-member congregation has doubled down on its commitment to offer sanctuary and to ensure the health and safety of its fragile resident. Ortega’s arrival has united the church in a conviction that this particular form of civil disobedience is the right thing to do. But it has also added to the church workload and introduced a new level of uncertainty.
Would your organization be willing to make such a long-term, open-ended commitment?
“The biggest misconception about sanctuary is that once a person is in sanctuary, it’s done,” said Andrew Willis Garces, organizing coordinator with the American Friends Service Committee,(link is external) a Quaker organization that helped the church establish sanctuary. “That’s totally the wrong way to look at it. It’s more than, ‘We’ve got them situated’; now we have to figure out a way to get them out.”
A social justice orientation
That a small church of mostly older members has taken the lead in sheltering an undocumented immigrant may seem surprising. But not to the Rev. Randall Keeney, the church vicar.
“People get to know each other pretty well, and they have an opportunity to care for one another more than in a corporate-type church,” Keeney said.
St. Barnabas, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, has always had a social justice orientation. Many of its members describe themselves as “children of the ’60s.” They were active in civil rights struggles and opposed the war in Vietnam.
The church building, a modern brick edifice on a flat concrete slab, is handicapped-accessible and welcoming to people with physical and developmental disabilities. Its vision statement says it works “cooperatively with other groups to provide direct community service and to effect systemic change.”
Keeney was introduced to the problem of undocumented immigrants facing deportation at a League of Women Voters luncheon four years ago. There he met a man who had fled El Salvador to escape gangs and was applying for asylum. Soon, the congregation began helping him, his wife and his son.
Last year, when it became likely that the man would be deported, the church began to study and pray about whether it should offer him sanctuary. They learned that churches that take in undocumented persons might be breaking a federal criminal law that prohibits concealing, harboring or shielding undocumented immigrants.
What is your organization's discernment process for decisions of this magnitude?
After consulting with lawyers and immigrant advocates such as the American Friends Service Committee, they also learned that churches -- along with schools and hospitals -- are considered “sensitive locations,”(link is external) meaning that federal immigration enforcement officers will avoid arresting, searching or interviewing people there under most circumstances.
Ultimately, the Salvadoran who had prompted the church’s discernment was sentenced to detention while awaiting an asylum hearing.
But in mid-May, Keeney got a call from the American Friends organization and was told that another undocumented immigrant, a mother and grandmother who has lived in the U.S. for 24 years with no criminal record, was ordered to leave the country by May 31. To ensure her compliance, ICE officers fastened an ankle-monitoring bracelet to her right leg and told her it would remain there until she boarded a flight out of the country.
Ortega had initially escaped Guatemala because she was threatened by guerrillas. In the U.S., she had applied for asylum(link is external) and was granted a work permit that was revoked.
After meeting Ortega and her family, the church called a congregational meeting after church services. Keeney explained the legalities involved.
Ortega would not be hiding at the church. Thanks to her ankle bracelet, immigration officials know exactly where she is.
While transporting an undocumented immigrant is clearly illegal, circuit courts have interpreted the harboring and shielding provisions of the law differently. A church was prosecuted for transporting undocumented immigrants in the 1980s; however, no church has been prosecuted for extending sanctuary in recent memory.
Have you or your faith community ever taken risks that led to learning and growth, increased workload and uncertainty? What are you willing to risk?
Some members asked about finances. How much would it cost to house Ortega? Keeney said the church would have to pay for some minimal expenses, such as cable TV and higher power bills, but that a special fund would be created that would accept donations from the community.
Finally, people wondered how long Ortega would stay in sanctuary. Keeney didn’t have a good answer. Ultimately, he said, “If we’re going to do this, we need to do this to the end.”
Then he asked for a voice vote. All present said yea.
“This was a very easy decision,” said Christine Merriman, a member of the vestry. “We had been deeply thinking about it for a while, and we didn’t have negatives.”
Round-the-clock protection
Shortly after the church voted to offer Ortega sanctuary, Keeney got on the phone with the interim bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina.
Bishop Suffragan Anne Hodges-Copple knew of the church’s efforts with the man from El Salvador and supported them. After consultations with the diocesan chancellor, a lawyer, she decided not to interfere with the church’s plan.
While the diocese didn’t exactly bless St. Barnabas’ efforts, neither did it stand in the way.
“I would not second-guess their decision to open their doors,” said Hodges-Copple, referring to St. Barnabas. “But this is definitely not a policy of the diocese.”
Hodges-Copple said she welcomes a range of responses to the national immigration crisis, so long as congregations thoughtfully engage with the issue.
Having run the idea past the bishop, the practical work of offering sanctuary began.
A vesting room was cleared and turned into a bedroom outfitted initially with a futon (later, a queen-size bed), a bureau and a small TV. An adjacent nursery was transformed into a sitting room with a couch and a desk.
The church had two bathrooms, one for men and one for women, but no shower. Ortega’s son-in-law, a plumber, volunteered to install a shower in one of them, and the other was turned into a unisex bathroom.
Ortega, who until recently worked as a seamstress for a furniture company in nearby High Point, quickly settled in, receiving frequent visits from her husband, Carlos, a naturalized U.S. citizen, her four children, aged 15 to 28, and two grandchildren.
“So many people here have a huge heart,” Ortega said. “Without knowing me, they opened their doors. That’s something really beautiful that I will never forget.”
That meant someone had to be at the church 24/7 alongside her. The church arranged three shifts during the day and one shift overnight.
Scheduling those shifts fell to the Rev. Leslie Bland, the church deacon, who has been slotting 28 shifts a week for the past four months. By August, Bland had a list of 38 volunteers, mostly church members, but a few from Episcopal churches in the larger Greensboro area.
“As I hear of more names, I talk it over with Randall [Keeney], and if we’re confident we know these people, then I send out an invitation to them to sign up,” she said.
Anne Carter, a 73-year-old St. Barnabas member, has been volunteering for two overnight shifts a week, sleeping on a folding bed with a mattress in the church’s multipurpose room.
“I used to work nights as a nurse,” she said. “At least when I do nights here, I get to sleep. I sleep as good as I do at home.”
Ortega has a standing invitation to the Monday Ladies Group that meets for lunch and a discussion. To the right of the group is a recliner where volunteers pass the hours while keeping watch.
So far, the process has worked smoothly, in large part because Ortega has endeared herself to so many. She loves to cook and sew. She prepared pupusas (stuffed tortillas) for the church’s women’s group and uses her sewing machine to make pillows and tablecloths to earn a little money. One St. Barnabas church member tutors her weekly in English. Another has taught her needlepoint.
Church members say they need more volunteers, though they don’t like to talk about volunteer fatigue or burnout.
“I haven’t heard any comments to the effect of, ‘No, I wish we weren’t doing this,’” said Mary Lee Rembert, the senior warden, the primary elected lay leader of the congregation. “That has not come up.”
For St. Barnabas, now begins the hard part: finding a way to get Ortega back to her home in Asheboro, North Carolina. Since she has already exhausted all the legal means available to her, the church must now agitate to get her a so-called “stay of removal.”
Barring the passage of legislation that would allow a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, the church must appeal to members of Congress who have direct oversight of federal immigration agencies.
“Launching a public campaign is a lot of the work,” said Garces, the American Friends organizing coordinator. “In order to get the political willpower we need to make a difference in those cases, we’ll need a lot more people of faith and religious leaders to step up, especially people less vocal about the issues already. We absolutely won’t make headway without more leadership from faith communities on this issue.”
What role do community partnerships play in St. Barnabas becoming a place of sanctuary?
Keeney has written letters to U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis and U.S. Rep. Mark Walker inviting them to share a meal with Ortega at the church. So far, neither has responded. The American Friends organization is also working on several fronts.
In the meantime, both the church and Ortega are living with a lot of unknowns.
“Being here is difficult, because you’re locked in here and you can’t go out,” Ortega said. “You feel depressed. You feel a little bit desperate.”
Still, Ortega is making do, and she is thankful for the help and support she’s received.
“They’ve been very good to me,” she said. “I’m very, very grateful. They keep me comfortable.”
Each Sunday, she attends services, often alongside her family. The church has begun reciting the first Scripture reading in Spanish, and Ortega typically volunteers for the honor.
One Sunday in August, her two 9-year-old granddaughters performed a liturgical dance to the tune of contemporary Christian singer Lauren Daigle’s “First.” Another Sunday, Ortega sang “How Great Thou Art,” in Spanish, her eyes closed and tears streaming down her cheeks.
“Who would ever say our country would be safer without her or our faith would be firmer if we allowed her to be kicked out of our country?” Merriman said. “It’s not even thinkable if you know her as a person.”
And so church members go on, holding on to the uncertainty as they rally around their new occupant. They are not alone and share notes with Congregational UCC, the other sanctuary church in town, as well as a newly established network of sanctuary churches across the country.
There’s no question the decision to offer sanctuary has at times been onerous. It has, as one person put it, “sucked all the oxygen out of the room.”
But as Keeney explained, “Being a person of faith sometimes requires we do risky things.” The gospel, he said, demands it.
Questions to consider:
IDEAS THAT IMPACT: MISSION MINISTRIES
Faith & Leadership
In the four months since Ortega moved into St. Barnabas, the 125-member congregation has doubled down on its commitment to offer sanctuary and to ensure the health and safety of its fragile resident. Ortega’s arrival has united the church in a conviction that this particular form of civil disobedience is the right thing to do. But it has also added to the church workload and introduced a new level of uncertainty.
Would your organization be willing to make such a long-term, open-ended commitment?
“The biggest misconception about sanctuary is that once a person is in sanctuary, it’s done,” said Andrew Willis Garces, organizing coordinator with the American Friends Service Committee,(link is external) a Quaker organization that helped the church establish sanctuary. “That’s totally the wrong way to look at it. It’s more than, ‘We’ve got them situated’; now we have to figure out a way to get them out.”
A social justice orientation
That a small church of mostly older members has taken the lead in sheltering an undocumented immigrant may seem surprising. But not to the Rev. Randall Keeney, the church vicar.
Ortega chats with the Rev. Randall Keeney outside St. Barnabas.
Small churches function more like extended families, he said, and may have greater theological and political unity. Those with older members, especially retirees, may also have more time on their hands.“People get to know each other pretty well, and they have an opportunity to care for one another more than in a corporate-type church,” Keeney said.
St. Barnabas, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, has always had a social justice orientation. Many of its members describe themselves as “children of the ’60s.” They were active in civil rights struggles and opposed the war in Vietnam.
The church building, a modern brick edifice on a flat concrete slab, is handicapped-accessible and welcoming to people with physical and developmental disabilities. Its vision statement says it works “cooperatively with other groups to provide direct community service and to effect systemic change.”
The decision to offer sanctuary reflects the church's history and values.
In more recent years, the church has been open to gays and lesbians, and its vicar has blessed a few of those relationships. He was arrested twice for marching in Moral Monday rallies protesting the Republican-led policies of the North Carolina legislature.Keeney was introduced to the problem of undocumented immigrants facing deportation at a League of Women Voters luncheon four years ago. There he met a man who had fled El Salvador to escape gangs and was applying for asylum. Soon, the congregation began helping him, his wife and his son.
Last year, when it became likely that the man would be deported, the church began to study and pray about whether it should offer him sanctuary. They learned that churches that take in undocumented persons might be breaking a federal criminal law that prohibits concealing, harboring or shielding undocumented immigrants.
What is your organization's discernment process for decisions of this magnitude?
After consulting with lawyers and immigrant advocates such as the American Friends Service Committee, they also learned that churches -- along with schools and hospitals -- are considered “sensitive locations,”(link is external) meaning that federal immigration enforcement officers will avoid arresting, searching or interviewing people there under most circumstances.
Ultimately, the Salvadoran who had prompted the church’s discernment was sentenced to detention while awaiting an asylum hearing.
But in mid-May, Keeney got a call from the American Friends organization and was told that another undocumented immigrant, a mother and grandmother who has lived in the U.S. for 24 years with no criminal record, was ordered to leave the country by May 31. To ensure her compliance, ICE officers fastened an ankle-monitoring bracelet to her right leg and told her it would remain there until she boarded a flight out of the country.
Ortega's whereabouts are known to the authorities through her electronic monitoring ankle bracelet.
A church member was dispatched to meet Ortega and her family, and the vestry voted unanimously to offer her sanctuary.Ortega had initially escaped Guatemala because she was threatened by guerrillas. In the U.S., she had applied for asylum(link is external) and was granted a work permit that was revoked.
After meeting Ortega and her family, the church called a congregational meeting after church services. Keeney explained the legalities involved.
Ortega would not be hiding at the church. Thanks to her ankle bracelet, immigration officials know exactly where she is.
While transporting an undocumented immigrant is clearly illegal, circuit courts have interpreted the harboring and shielding provisions of the law differently. A church was prosecuted for transporting undocumented immigrants in the 1980s; however, no church has been prosecuted for extending sanctuary in recent memory.
Have you or your faith community ever taken risks that led to learning and growth, increased workload and uncertainty? What are you willing to risk?
Some members asked about finances. How much would it cost to house Ortega? Keeney said the church would have to pay for some minimal expenses, such as cable TV and higher power bills, but that a special fund would be created that would accept donations from the community.
Finally, people wondered how long Ortega would stay in sanctuary. Keeney didn’t have a good answer. Ultimately, he said, “If we’re going to do this, we need to do this to the end.”
Then he asked for a voice vote. All present said yea.
“This was a very easy decision,” said Christine Merriman, a member of the vestry. “We had been deeply thinking about it for a while, and we didn’t have negatives.”
Round-the-clock protection
Shortly after the church voted to offer Ortega sanctuary, Keeney got on the phone with the interim bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina.
Ortega and volunteer Christine Merriman,
who stays in shifts with Ortega at the church.
He voiced the church’s conviction that in light of the nation’s broken immigration policies, St. Barnabas members felt called to extend sanctuary to undocumented people.Bishop Suffragan Anne Hodges-Copple knew of the church’s efforts with the man from El Salvador and supported them. After consultations with the diocesan chancellor, a lawyer, she decided not to interfere with the church’s plan.
While the diocese didn’t exactly bless St. Barnabas’ efforts, neither did it stand in the way.
“I would not second-guess their decision to open their doors,” said Hodges-Copple, referring to St. Barnabas. “But this is definitely not a policy of the diocese.”
Hodges-Copple said she welcomes a range of responses to the national immigration crisis, so long as congregations thoughtfully engage with the issue.
Having run the idea past the bishop, the practical work of offering sanctuary began.
A vesting room was cleared and turned into a bedroom outfitted initially with a futon (later, a queen-size bed), a bureau and a small TV. An adjacent nursery was transformed into a sitting room with a couch and a desk.
The church had two bathrooms, one for men and one for women, but no shower. Ortega’s son-in-law, a plumber, volunteered to install a shower in one of them, and the other was turned into a unisex bathroom.
Ortega, who until recently worked as a seamstress for a furniture company in nearby High Point, quickly settled in, receiving frequent visits from her husband, Carlos, a naturalized U.S. citizen, her four children, aged 15 to 28, and two grandchildren.
“So many people here have a huge heart,” Ortega said. “Without knowing me, they opened their doors. That’s something really beautiful that I will never forget.”
Ortega snapped a photo of her grandchildren in a recent visit.
The church decided early on that should immigration officers come knocking, it would not be wise for Ortega herself to answer the door.That meant someone had to be at the church 24/7 alongside her. The church arranged three shifts during the day and one shift overnight.
Scheduling those shifts fell to the Rev. Leslie Bland, the church deacon, who has been slotting 28 shifts a week for the past four months. By August, Bland had a list of 38 volunteers, mostly church members, but a few from Episcopal churches in the larger Greensboro area.
“As I hear of more names, I talk it over with Randall [Keeney], and if we’re confident we know these people, then I send out an invitation to them to sign up,” she said.
Anne Carter, a 73-year-old St. Barnabas member, has been volunteering for two overnight shifts a week, sleeping on a folding bed with a mattress in the church’s multipurpose room.
“I used to work nights as a nurse,” she said. “At least when I do nights here, I get to sleep. I sleep as good as I do at home.”
So far, the process has worked smoothly, in large part because Ortega has endeared herself to so many. She loves to cook and sew. She prepared pupusas (stuffed tortillas) for the church’s women’s group and uses her sewing machine to make pillows and tablecloths to earn a little money. One St. Barnabas church member tutors her weekly in English. Another has taught her needlepoint.
Church members say they need more volunteers, though they don’t like to talk about volunteer fatigue or burnout.
“I haven’t heard any comments to the effect of, ‘No, I wish we weren’t doing this,’” said Mary Lee Rembert, the senior warden, the primary elected lay leader of the congregation. “That has not come up.”
Ortega spends time cooking and sewing, and also is taking English lessons.
Building a public campaignFor St. Barnabas, now begins the hard part: finding a way to get Ortega back to her home in Asheboro, North Carolina. Since she has already exhausted all the legal means available to her, the church must now agitate to get her a so-called “stay of removal.”
Barring the passage of legislation that would allow a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, the church must appeal to members of Congress who have direct oversight of federal immigration agencies.
“Launching a public campaign is a lot of the work,” said Garces, the American Friends organizing coordinator. “In order to get the political willpower we need to make a difference in those cases, we’ll need a lot more people of faith and religious leaders to step up, especially people less vocal about the issues already. We absolutely won’t make headway without more leadership from faith communities on this issue.”
What role do community partnerships play in St. Barnabas becoming a place of sanctuary?
Keeney has written letters to U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis and U.S. Rep. Mark Walker inviting them to share a meal with Ortega at the church. So far, neither has responded. The American Friends organization is also working on several fronts.
In the meantime, both the church and Ortega are living with a lot of unknowns.
“Being here is difficult, because you’re locked in here and you can’t go out,” Ortega said. “You feel depressed. You feel a little bit desperate.”
Still, Ortega is making do, and she is thankful for the help and support she’s received.
“They’ve been very good to me,” she said. “I’m very, very grateful. They keep me comfortable.”
Each Sunday, she attends services, often alongside her family. The church has begun reciting the first Scripture reading in Spanish, and Ortega typically volunteers for the honor.
One Sunday in August, her two 9-year-old granddaughters performed a liturgical dance to the tune of contemporary Christian singer Lauren Daigle’s “First.” Another Sunday, Ortega sang “How Great Thou Art,” in Spanish, her eyes closed and tears streaming down her cheeks.
“Who would ever say our country would be safer without her or our faith would be firmer if we allowed her to be kicked out of our country?” Merriman said. “It’s not even thinkable if you know her as a person.”
And so church members go on, holding on to the uncertainty as they rally around their new occupant. They are not alone and share notes with Congregational UCC, the other sanctuary church in town, as well as a newly established network of sanctuary churches across the country.
There’s no question the decision to offer sanctuary has at times been onerous. It has, as one person put it, “sucked all the oxygen out of the room.”
But as Keeney explained, “Being a person of faith sometimes requires we do risky things.” The gospel, he said, demands it.
Questions to consider:
- What strikes you most about the choices and actions of the congregation of St. Barnabas in offering sanctuary to Juana Luz Tobar Ortega?
- Where do you struggle most in reflecting on this story?
- The congregation entered into a process of communal discernment in order to make the decision to offer sanctuary. What is your organization's discernment process for decisions of this magnitude?
- Andrew Willis Garces of the American Friends Service Committee stresses that offering sanctuary is just the beginning of this church's commitment to help Ortega. Would your organization be willing to make such a long-term, open-ended commitment?
- St. Barnabas chose to take risks based on their values and practices. Have you or your faith community ever taken risks that led to learning and growth, increased workload and uncertainty? What are you willing to risk?
- What role do community partnerships play in St. Barnabas becoming a place of sanctuary? Does your organization have partners with which it can engage in this way?
IDEAS THAT IMPACT: MISSION MINISTRIES
Faith & Leadership
MISSIONS & EVANGELISM
Sustaining relationships in a changing mission paradigm
Sustaining relationships in a changing mission paradigm
Grass-roots missions offer great benefits to American congregations as well as to those overseas. But one challenge is sustaining those relationships over time, says Ross Kane.
Before I left on a recent trip to Sudan with my parish, a number of people asked, “What are you going to do there?” “We’re going to visit,” I responded. While our parish has helped build schools, a cathedral and a theological college in the Diocese of Renk, our primary connection for more than 15 years has been a relationship with their bishop. We did not go to Sudan to do anything in particular; we went to be with people and deepen our connections.
My parish’s link with this diocese is a typical example of how mission relationships between American churches and churches in the developing world have changed. Many churches are shifting from institutional connections to local, grass-roots connections. National church ministries continue to offer support for work overseas, of course, but the grass-roots connection such as the one in my parish is becoming the new paradigm.
One of the main advantages of this new model is the emphasis upon partnership based in friendship. When a national church supports missionaries or funds projects, knowledge of this work rarely trickles down to local parishioners. When a parish connects with a church overseas, however, individual parishioners hear of these connections week after week; those previously oblivious of mission projects engage new relationships overseas.
Suddenly the theology of what it means to be “one holy, catholic and apostolic church” has a profound meaning for those in the pew. While denominations generally fund broad initiatives, this paradigm allows funding for smaller projects because of the people-to-people connection. Traveling through Sudan, I saw agricultural projects, brick-making initiatives and small cafes generating income for small dioceses and churches -- projects often initiated with American partners.
There are also disadvantages to this model, however. Since these mission connections are based upon personal relationships, a leadership change in one organization can profoundly affect the mission. One Sudanese church leader told me that he worries when his American partner organizations change leaders, because he doesn’t know if the new leader will share the same connection with -- the same passion for -- his diocese.
Another disadvantage of this model is that it tends to favor church leaders overseas who are more charismatic and have a stronger command of English. These leaders tend to form relationships easily, while others struggle to make connections.
The question becomes, how do we sustain these new mission relationships? Our Christian commitment pushes us to care for churches overseas and support people living in poverty. This commitment entails more than short-term projects; it is inherently a long-term affair. A mission relationship must be truly based in mutuality to endure.
I offer four guiding principles to help congregations as they consider such relationships and their development over time. These principles are drawn from my experience as an appointed missionary of the Episcopal Church working with the New Sudan Council of Churches, as well as the Episcopal Church’s vision document “Companions in Transformation.”
1. Enter mission companionships intentionally. When looking to engage in mission, take time to discern and explore possible relationships. Make exchange visits with church leaders overseas to see if this mission is a good fit with each organization’s culture and priorities. Both sides should communicate clearly that they are in an exploratory stage, resisting any pressure to make promises for a long-term commitment until a mutual agreement is reached.
2. Consider the relationship a long-term commitment. As a companionship is established, agree together on the parameters of the relationship, whether verbally or in writing. For the relationship to endure, it must involve commitment from laypeople as well as clergy. Cultivate buy-in and structure for the long-term relationship through lay involvement: take laity on exchange visits and give laity leadership responsibilities early on.
3. Follow friendships first, then consider funding. Most mission relationships of this kind involve transfer of funds from American churches to churches overseas. Such support is important, but the relationship is central. The best way to keep relationships alive is through mutual visits sharing life together, even if such visits are expensive. A church leader in Central America once advised American church leaders, “If it costs $1,000 to come see us and you have $2,000, come see us and give $1,000 for local projects. If you only have $1,000, just come see us.”
4. Use denominational resources. Church institutions still play a vital role. Institutions often have staff to assist local parishes in managing mission companionships; they can help make initial connections and identify those who struggle to find overseas partners. Finally, institutions often support networks of parishes and organizations involved in the same region. For example, the American Friends of the Episcopal Church of Sudan (AFRECS) is a network of parishes involved in Sudan who meet regularly to share lessons learned and coordinate work.
The changing mission paradigm carries extensive possibilities for deepening friendships with fellow Christians overseas. The enduring challenge is to sustain these relationships so that all can benefit from new opportunities of Christian fellowship.
Read more »
Faith & Leadership
MISSIONS & EVANGELISM
Olu Menjay: Are short-term missions a waste?
Before I left on a recent trip to Sudan with my parish, a number of people asked, “What are you going to do there?” “We’re going to visit,” I responded. While our parish has helped build schools, a cathedral and a theological college in the Diocese of Renk, our primary connection for more than 15 years has been a relationship with their bishop. We did not go to Sudan to do anything in particular; we went to be with people and deepen our connections.
My parish’s link with this diocese is a typical example of how mission relationships between American churches and churches in the developing world have changed. Many churches are shifting from institutional connections to local, grass-roots connections. National church ministries continue to offer support for work overseas, of course, but the grass-roots connection such as the one in my parish is becoming the new paradigm.
One of the main advantages of this new model is the emphasis upon partnership based in friendship. When a national church supports missionaries or funds projects, knowledge of this work rarely trickles down to local parishioners. When a parish connects with a church overseas, however, individual parishioners hear of these connections week after week; those previously oblivious of mission projects engage new relationships overseas.
Suddenly the theology of what it means to be “one holy, catholic and apostolic church” has a profound meaning for those in the pew. While denominations generally fund broad initiatives, this paradigm allows funding for smaller projects because of the people-to-people connection. Traveling through Sudan, I saw agricultural projects, brick-making initiatives and small cafes generating income for small dioceses and churches -- projects often initiated with American partners.
There are also disadvantages to this model, however. Since these mission connections are based upon personal relationships, a leadership change in one organization can profoundly affect the mission. One Sudanese church leader told me that he worries when his American partner organizations change leaders, because he doesn’t know if the new leader will share the same connection with -- the same passion for -- his diocese.
Another disadvantage of this model is that it tends to favor church leaders overseas who are more charismatic and have a stronger command of English. These leaders tend to form relationships easily, while others struggle to make connections.
The question becomes, how do we sustain these new mission relationships? Our Christian commitment pushes us to care for churches overseas and support people living in poverty. This commitment entails more than short-term projects; it is inherently a long-term affair. A mission relationship must be truly based in mutuality to endure.
I offer four guiding principles to help congregations as they consider such relationships and their development over time. These principles are drawn from my experience as an appointed missionary of the Episcopal Church working with the New Sudan Council of Churches, as well as the Episcopal Church’s vision document “Companions in Transformation.”
1. Enter mission companionships intentionally. When looking to engage in mission, take time to discern and explore possible relationships. Make exchange visits with church leaders overseas to see if this mission is a good fit with each organization’s culture and priorities. Both sides should communicate clearly that they are in an exploratory stage, resisting any pressure to make promises for a long-term commitment until a mutual agreement is reached.
2. Consider the relationship a long-term commitment. As a companionship is established, agree together on the parameters of the relationship, whether verbally or in writing. For the relationship to endure, it must involve commitment from laypeople as well as clergy. Cultivate buy-in and structure for the long-term relationship through lay involvement: take laity on exchange visits and give laity leadership responsibilities early on.
3. Follow friendships first, then consider funding. Most mission relationships of this kind involve transfer of funds from American churches to churches overseas. Such support is important, but the relationship is central. The best way to keep relationships alive is through mutual visits sharing life together, even if such visits are expensive. A church leader in Central America once advised American church leaders, “If it costs $1,000 to come see us and you have $2,000, come see us and give $1,000 for local projects. If you only have $1,000, just come see us.”
4. Use denominational resources. Church institutions still play a vital role. Institutions often have staff to assist local parishes in managing mission companionships; they can help make initial connections and identify those who struggle to find overseas partners. Finally, institutions often support networks of parishes and organizations involved in the same region. For example, the American Friends of the Episcopal Church of Sudan (AFRECS) is a network of parishes involved in Sudan who meet regularly to share lessons learned and coordinate work.
The changing mission paradigm carries extensive possibilities for deepening friendships with fellow Christians overseas. The enduring challenge is to sustain these relationships so that all can benefit from new opportunities of Christian fellowship.
Read more »
Faith & Leadership
MISSIONS & EVANGELISM
Olu Menjay: Are short-term missions a waste?
Are short-term missions a waste?
Many have charged that short-term missions are, if not a waste, at least a poor use of time, money and power. For the host of one such mission to Liberia, they are nothing of the sort.
Much has been written charging that short-term missions are, if not a waste, at least a poor use of time and money. For the host of one such mission to Liberia, they are nothing of the sort.
An argument can be made that short-term mission trips are a waste of time and resources. Some say these represent new instance of colonialism and paternalism. Christianity Today hosted an interesting dialogue(link is external) some years back that included some of these critical perspectives. On the other hand, Faith & Leadership’s recent pieces are more appreciative of such endeavors.
From where I sit, directing a boarding school in Liberia, such trips are neither a waste nor a new example of colonialism or paternalism. They are a matter of genuine partnership in the gospel.
I invited a former teacher of mine from Mercer University to visit our school and to discuss ways we could collaborate in service to God and humanity. Richard Wilson accepted my invitation and visited Liberia for the first time in 2007 to learn about our school and lead daily devotionals.
He returned to Ricks Institute in 2008. At our dining table a casual conversation arose about his church coming to re-tile our school auditorium. Our vinyl tiles had suffered the toil of many years of use as well as 15 years of civil war. Random shooting of guns on the roof and the smashing of windows had allowed rain water to enter the auditorium, destroying the tiles. The tiles needed to be replaced.
Some may argue that precious resources should not be used for short-term mission projects to replace mere tiles. If funds were again available, they should be given directly to the school for educational purposes. In normal human reasoning, it may seem nonsense to purchase tiles for an area of more than 5500 square feet and ship them all from the US to Liberia, not to mention all of the necessary tools and adhesives for installation. In normal economic terms, it made no sense to have five persons travel from that congregation in Georgia to Ricks Institute to lay vinyl tiles. Surely the nearly $25,000 could have been spent more efficiently, right?
It is within the “nonsense” of such service that God’s transforming grace is often manifested (1 Cor 1:24-25). Most practically, the auditorium is most useful space on our campus. More intangibly, the project connected peoples from two economic extremes and involved them in embodying the scriptures by becoming partners on the way to a mutually transformative experience.
There were at least two outcomes to our particular short-term mission project. One, the project was a collaboration that was free from any form of domination. Everyone had input in the conversation. All worked together to re-tile the floor. There was a genuine spirit of sharing ideas and serving together, born of us not being expert tile layers, but all equally novices. Serving together is not necessarily about how much one knows, how much education one has, or the credentials one brings to the service. It is about willingness to work together with love on whatever is required.
Two, amidst the respectful collaboration on this project, more that 600 persons of our community and the small group from the United States experienced the process of transformation. Lessons from this exchange can be made applicable to the lives of each of our community members, many of whom have experienced the ugly face of a civil war that has left many hopeless.
With America’s new economic reality, a reality of scarcity the rest of the world knows intimately, trips like these will likely be casualties of budget cuts. I hope they do not vanish totally. For without them we lose the benefits of genuine collaboration and promising transformation among world citizens situated in the extremes of human affluence and poverty.
Read more »
FROM THE ALBAN LIBRARY
Many have charged that short-term missions are, if not a waste, at least a poor use of time, money and power. For the host of one such mission to Liberia, they are nothing of the sort.
Much has been written charging that short-term missions are, if not a waste, at least a poor use of time and money. For the host of one such mission to Liberia, they are nothing of the sort.
An argument can be made that short-term mission trips are a waste of time and resources. Some say these represent new instance of colonialism and paternalism. Christianity Today hosted an interesting dialogue(link is external) some years back that included some of these critical perspectives. On the other hand, Faith & Leadership’s recent pieces are more appreciative of such endeavors.
From where I sit, directing a boarding school in Liberia, such trips are neither a waste nor a new example of colonialism or paternalism. They are a matter of genuine partnership in the gospel.
I invited a former teacher of mine from Mercer University to visit our school and to discuss ways we could collaborate in service to God and humanity. Richard Wilson accepted my invitation and visited Liberia for the first time in 2007 to learn about our school and lead daily devotionals.
He returned to Ricks Institute in 2008. At our dining table a casual conversation arose about his church coming to re-tile our school auditorium. Our vinyl tiles had suffered the toil of many years of use as well as 15 years of civil war. Random shooting of guns on the roof and the smashing of windows had allowed rain water to enter the auditorium, destroying the tiles. The tiles needed to be replaced.
Some may argue that precious resources should not be used for short-term mission projects to replace mere tiles. If funds were again available, they should be given directly to the school for educational purposes. In normal human reasoning, it may seem nonsense to purchase tiles for an area of more than 5500 square feet and ship them all from the US to Liberia, not to mention all of the necessary tools and adhesives for installation. In normal economic terms, it made no sense to have five persons travel from that congregation in Georgia to Ricks Institute to lay vinyl tiles. Surely the nearly $25,000 could have been spent more efficiently, right?
It is within the “nonsense” of such service that God’s transforming grace is often manifested (1 Cor 1:24-25). Most practically, the auditorium is most useful space on our campus. More intangibly, the project connected peoples from two economic extremes and involved them in embodying the scriptures by becoming partners on the way to a mutually transformative experience.
There were at least two outcomes to our particular short-term mission project. One, the project was a collaboration that was free from any form of domination. Everyone had input in the conversation. All worked together to re-tile the floor. There was a genuine spirit of sharing ideas and serving together, born of us not being expert tile layers, but all equally novices. Serving together is not necessarily about how much one knows, how much education one has, or the credentials one brings to the service. It is about willingness to work together with love on whatever is required.
Two, amidst the respectful collaboration on this project, more that 600 persons of our community and the small group from the United States experienced the process of transformation. Lessons from this exchange can be made applicable to the lives of each of our community members, many of whom have experienced the ugly face of a civil war that has left many hopeless.
With America’s new economic reality, a reality of scarcity the rest of the world knows intimately, trips like these will likely be casualties of budget cuts. I hope they do not vanish totally. For without them we lose the benefits of genuine collaboration and promising transformation among world citizens situated in the extremes of human affluence and poverty.
Read more »
FROM THE ALBAN LIBRARY
Doing the Math of Mission: Fruits, Faithfulness, and Metrics by Gil RendleOver the past ten years, the North American mission field has experienced dramatic changes, which in turn have required congregations, middle judicatories, and denominations to adapt. Among these adaptations is an expectation for clear goals and quantified progress towards those goals. Church leaders who have never needed to measure their goals and progress with metrics may find this change daunting. The use of metrics -- denominational and middle judicatory dashboards, and the tracking of congregational trends -- has become an uncomfortable and misunderstood practice in this search for accountability. Doing the Math of Mission offers theory, models, and new tools for using metrics in ministry. This book also shows where metrics and accountability fit into the discernment, goal setting, and strategies of ministry.
While there are resources for research on congregations, tools on congregational studies, and books on program evaluation, there is a gap when it comes to actual tools and resources for church leaders. This book is intended to help fill that gap, giving leaders a toolbox they can use in their own setting to clarify their purpose and guide their steps.
Learn more and order the book »
Follow us on social media:
Copyright © 2016. All Rights Reserved.
Alban at Duke Divinity School
No comments:
Post a Comment