Sunday, April 19, 2009

A New Perspective

Q: I'm in the middle of foreclosure. How can God let this happen to me?

A: Talk to foreigners who have witnessed their houses burned, their families murdered, and their own lives nearly wiped out as they fled across desert without food or water. They can put your foreclosure in perspective.

Q: My friends think being a Christian is boring, and I'm starting to think they're right. What do I do?

A: Listen to the stories of aliens whose faith sustained them through years in hostile countries, crowded into camps with barely enough food to keep them alive. Ask them to describe what exactly God does for his children. I doubt you'll find anything they say boring.

Q: My church feels like it hasn't been in touch with God for years. How can we find him again?
A: Look for him among the children of war. The aliens and the widows and the orphans. He repeatedly guarantees us in scripture that we will find him there.

One of the main visions of Refugee Arts is to empower a new group of missionaries. They are not the elite or well-educated members of our communities. They do not minister from a position of power or prestige. They are barely scraping by, and they are ready to introduce a new diversity and vitality to the American Church.

These missionaries are the refugees that flood into Atlanta by the thousands. Ruthie and I feel that they are God's gift to his Church in America, to turn our hearts to a story larger than our own. Our goal is to find platforms and occassions to allow them to teach us about a divine narrative that transcends the world we know.

Lord willing, the remaining years of our lives will be spent with refugees and the churches they have been gifted to reach. We are here to start ministry flowing in a new direction.

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