Calvary Church Annual Report CalvaryChurchAnnualReport20152016-REV | Page 18

The story of this year isn’t as much
about how we helped X refugee
families with X number of volunteers,
or what agency we partnered with,
but how God is changing the lives of
those from Calvary Church who are
helping the refugee families that He
has chosen for us to befriend.
I have come across many different
responses within the church regard-
ing what our response to the refugee
crisis should look like. I must admit, I
wasn’t sure how I felt about being so
closely involved in a ministry caring
for mostly Muslims. What?! Didn’t
Jesus say to love our neighbors as
ourselves? Wasn’t that the second
greatest command in the Bible? Yes,
but... He didn’t really mean Muslims,
did He? What if we are helping a
terrorist without knowing it? Aren’t
there many people right in our com-
munity that we could be helping?
And yet, once I began looking in the
Bible, I found that the Good Samari-
tan is just one of many calls to wel-
come and care for the alien within
our gates — to give them food, shel-
ter, clothing, friendship, so that all
the peoples of the earth may know
God’s name and fear Him... (I Kings
8:41-44). Who needs to know the
name of Jesus more desperately than
those who misguidedly call upon the
name of Mohammad and Allah? I
have never felt particularly called to
missions, so my transformation has
evolved from reluctant obedience to
enthusiastically embracing our ref-
ugee neighbors. This year, Lee Con-
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tent led a couple of trips to the island
of Lesvos where the Syrian refugees
were coming across from Turkey.
She has really developed a heart
for the Syrian people, and was way
ahead of me in my transformation.
And guess what —we are not alone!
Our ministry team first co-sponsored
a Muslim family of seven from
Sudan and we have grown to love
them as good friends and neighbors.
The language was a barrier at first,
but God led us to a Calvary attendee
who had been praying about how she
could use her Arabic speaking ability
for His glory. He also put in our path a
young school teacher who joined our
team in teaching English to Kaltoum,
the mom. Once we had this family off
to a good start, another family came
to us through Samaritas.
Our first Friday informational
luncheon was held in July to see who
might have an interest in helping to
support our incoming families. We
were excited when the first 15 people
signed up . . . and then more and
more signed up and we had more
than 40 people interested in helping
our refugees! We had also decided
to partner with Bethany Refugee
Services. They help resettle over
500 families to Grand Rapids per
year, and had a family from Syria
who was coming already the next
week. We thought we might have
trouble finding someone who was
willing to organize this new team of
40 volunteers, but God already had
prepared the hearts of two Calvary
attendees to be the point people for a
team of dedicated volunteers. Since
we formed the teams only a few short
weeks ago, we have had “random”
calls from people who have said the
same thing—they felt led by God to
help refugees and would like to join
our team to be used wherever they
are needed. What an affirmation that
God is leading individuals at Calvary
Church to embrace our Muslim
neighbors and to share the love of
Christ by being a good neighbor.
Brenda Neher
Mercy & Hospitality