praying for refugees
A refugee we know in Innsbruck, sells a charity newspaper on the street corner nearby. He gets to keep half the proceeds which is not a great deal. Anyway I try to buy a copy from him when each new edition comes out.
I bought one this month and one of the articles was about a group of North African refugees in Innsbruck who are involved in the drug scene. The city of Innsbruck wants to start to work with them on a human level -rather than as criminals. Click here to read the article in German. This situation has continually been in the news here in Innsbruck, and I remember writing a post once about the need for a Christian response to the situation -that christians would begin to reach out.
The kind of Christian response that we have prayed for is on the cutting edge of what society needs. The response would be to extend “true justice” as Zechariah 7:8-10 describes. This kind of response comes from who we are as God’s people. It is right and good. It is in our DNA and we should not think twice about it.
Sure enough, the city of Innsbruck has also come onto this Christian idea. Their plan is exactly how we like to work with refugees. They want to send a street-worker to approach them on a human level, to help get the refugees off the street! Pretty revolutionary idea eh?! -that Christians have long since been planning and praying for. The only difference is that the city just went out and hired somebody, while we have been anxiously waiting for a Christian to step up.
I bought one this month and one of the articles was about a group of North African refugees in Innsbruck who are involved in the drug scene. The city of Innsbruck wants to start to work with them on a human level -rather than as criminals. Click here to read the article in German. This situation has continually been in the news here in Innsbruck, and I remember writing a post once about the need for a Christian response to the situation -that christians would begin to reach out.
The kind of Christian response that we have prayed for is on the cutting edge of what society needs. The response would be to extend “true justice” as Zechariah 7:8-10 describes. This kind of response comes from who we are as God’s people. It is right and good. It is in our DNA and we should not think twice about it.
Sure enough, the city of Innsbruck has also come onto this Christian idea. Their plan is exactly how we like to work with refugees. They want to send a street-worker to approach them on a human level, to help get the refugees off the street! Pretty revolutionary idea eh?! -that Christians have long since been planning and praying for. The only difference is that the city just went out and hired somebody, while we have been anxiously waiting for a Christian to step up.
posted by Paul at
1:07 AM
|
0 comments
