refugees & churches needing help

I met David (name changed) while visiting recently with some refugees. David is from Africa, and he has been in Austria for nearly 2 years. The asylum rules for refugees here are that after someone has lived in government provided housing for one year, and has not caused any problems then he is free to find a private place to live -and still receive a government stipend. For many this is really helpful, because it relieves the stress and conflict found in some refugee houses.

David carefully fulfilled all the requirements and kept all the rules so that after a year he could move out. As a Christian, he went to a local church to ask for help in relocating. A fellow believer promised to rent him an apartment.

The local Christian then called the house manager where David had been living -to "check out" his background. The manager gave a bad report and said that it would be "illegal" for David to move out. Not wanting to cause any trouble, the Christian then refused to help David.

David found himself again at the mercy of a system which denies him his rights and allows others to take advantage of him. This was exactly the conflict he was trying to get out from under. Worse than this he felt he had been treated unfairly and held in suspect by this fellow Christian.

He had seen how the manager cashed in on the refugees registered at the house by receiving the stipend for them, but then only giving the very minimum food like soup and bread.

Yet there was no chance to speak against this. For no reason, a manager could accuse a refugee of misconduct and then they would be out of the system. This means he would receive no medical care or stipend for living. David like many before him, felt mistreated, helpless and even enslaved.

In the end, David went to the local Catholic charity who gave him a small room in one of their houses.

In coming to Austria, I believe David is on a highway used by God. David hasn't chosen to come to Austria like we choose a career or vacation. He is simply here through God's providence, and I thank God that he desires to walk this highway in relationship to his creator.

I believe David could be here by God's design exactly for these Christians and churches like the one who refused to help him. Wow, where does this then leave us? Unfortunately, like many before, this relationship between the church and the refugee is now marked with distrust and suspicion.

Below is a typical refugee house like the one where David lived for over a year.

I help my dad

When we were at the Kik church two weeks ago (see my previous post), all of the workers with IT came forward to stand in the front for introductions. We were 14 people in all -including kids and practicants! As we each said our names, it went along as follows... "My name is Tessa." My name is Noah." ... "Hello! My name is Luke and I help my dad in his work!!"

--to which everyone applauded.

Afterwards we all got together for lunch at our aparment.

helping the poor

Two weeks ago the Innsbruck team visited one of the local churches to share about its refugee ministry. (The church is called Kik -Kirche im Kino "church in the cinema"- because it meets in a cinema for sunday worship.) I preached from Proverbs 14:21,31 about helping the poor. One of our basic assumptions for refugee ministry is that refugees are the poorest of the poor.

The proverbs have a lot to say about this subect -just like it does about other subjects such as the things we say or the fear of God. Yet, our default response often to the idea of helping the poor is that -for whatever reason- we are not qualified! For example we might say, "it's not my gifting. I am not called." Through our fine reasoning we somehow maneuver ourselves outside of God's commands. This whole subject quickly becomes an area to examine in our own lives.

Of all people we are the ones most able to help. Imagine that! Our help for the poor is part of God's strategy to reach the nations. It is not an option. God blesses us for this help. Likewise, it is not some effort on our part to prove our status with God. Rather, our help flows out of our own relationship with God. This preaches.