Refugees

“Know that the Lord our God loves refugees and His Spirit is moving among them. I pray that their stories will capture your heart like they did mine because then you’ll be moved to do something, too. If you do nothing else, pray that they will find Jesus, pray they will be reunited with their families, pray that they will find purpose and meaning in their lives. We as a country, and we as the Church, have largely forgotten them.”

Can you imagine escaping a dangerous situation and finally beginning a new life in Canada...but doing so with $10,000 in debt, before you even started language classes or enrolled your children in school? For more than two decades, Canada was the only country in the world to charge refugees interest on their travel loans. For a nation claiming to welcome refugees, this sent mixed messages.

I remember the excitement I felt when our refugee friends walked into the waiting area at O’Hare. The little group from our church did not know how to speak to them, but we had attempted some signs in Arabic and brought small gifts and flowers to try to show them a warm welcome.

Houston has a large and growing Muslim population. My little suburban corner of the city is no exception. Recently I was shopping in my local grocery store and no less than five Muslim women walked past me wearing headscarves.

As we stood together studying the stunning variety of breakfast cereals I had to admit, I felt a little jealous. As a Reformed pastor and theologian I don’t get a uniform. No hat. No collar. Nothing.

I first started truly learning about the Syrian refugee crisis in November 2015, when I heard about children dying and boats capsizing and sentiments expressed in off-hand comments like "Why should we let them in? They're not refugees, they're just migrants."

If you’re a Christian in Canada, you’ve likely heard by now about the Canada Summer Jobs controversy. Many churches are concerned about new rules for federal funding for student summer jobs. Kate Kooyman chatted with Mike Hogeterp of the Christian Reformed Centre for Public Dialogue to learn more about the controversy and how CRC people can respond.

There’s a strange little Canadian tradition on budget day: the finance minister’s new shoes. No one seems to know where it comes from, but it’s become a gimmicky little tradition—a minister might wear green shoes when emphasizing care for the environment, or even, like Stockwell Day as Alberta Treasurer, a pair of inline skates.

Beyond the gimmicks and social media posturing, what’s the substance of this budget? Budgets are moral documents about the priorities of our country—what does this budget really say?

From the very beginning of God’s walk with his people, the blessings they enjoyed because of their relationship with God were meant to overflow. “All peoples on earth will be blessed through you,” God promised Abraham.

“Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. We love because he first loved us.

Welcoming refugees has galvanized the Christian Reformed Church for decades. On both sides of the border, churches have stood in the gap for people fleeing persecution, whether by sponsoring refugees, supporting community organizations that address refugee needs, welcoming refugees to their churches, or sharing a cup of chai. In some churches, the list of the countries of origin of the refugees they have sponsored reads like a history of the world’s conflicts of the last 50 years: Vietnam, Cambodia, Eastern Europe, Colombia, Congo, Central African Republic, Iraq, Syria.