Welcoming the Nations Next Door
Scripture makes it clear that God loves immigrants and refugees, and He calls His people to reflect that same love. Yet many international neighbors feel isolated, unseen or unwelcome. As the Church, even a simple act of kindness or friendship can transform someone’s life and open the door to a relationship with Jesus. This is something I have seen firsthand, both through ministry and personal experience.
In the last ten years, my husband and I have served as missionaries in Central Europe and will soon begin serving in the United Kingdom. The major focus of our ministry is to reach immigrants and refugees with the love of Jesus Christ.
For me, this ministry is deeply personal. As an immigrant from Mexico who is married to a refugee from Iran, the two of us have experienced what it feels like to be strangers in a country that isn’t your own, and we’ve also experienced the incredible difference that believers can make through genuine love, hospitality and support. Those experiences have shaped our lives and our ministry.
The curriculum is flexible and accessible enough so that a group of any size can use it.
While in Central Europe, we had NEXT interns visit us every summer. As a part of their internship experience, I led them in a workshop on how to interact with refugees in our ministry context. Through leading this workshop, I realized that many people simply haven’t had the opportunity to meaningfully interact with people from other cultures or backgrounds. They often have a desire to help, but don’t know where to begin.
That’s what led me to create a Church Curriculum for Immigrant and Refugee Ministry. Filled with scripture, stories, activities and reflections, this is a tool I wanted every church and individual to have access to, so that as a global Church, we can become better equipped to engage immigrant and refugee neighbors with confidence, compassion and the love of Christ.
One of my biggest goals while crafting this curriculum was to help people understand the journey that immigrants and refugees experience. I wanted participants to see the challenges they face, the trauma, the loneliness, uncertainty and fear that come with leaving everything behind.
By working through the material, participants get a glimpse of what this journey looks like. They can read backgrounds and stories that are based on real accounts of immigrants and refugees that I’ve known, discuss practical ways to help and develop a ministry plan, among other things.
I intentionally created the curriculum knowing I wouldn’t always be the one facilitating it. So I made sure that it was easy for anyone to facilitate, regardless of their background or previous experience with immigrant and refugee ministry. Whether your Sunday school class wants to work through it, or the leaders in your church want to do it together, it’s flexible and accessible enough so that a group of any size can use it.
I’m most excited that this training can equip the Church in a way that is gracious, compassionate and practical. It isn’t designed to make people feel guilty for what they haven’t done or haven’t known. Instead, it’s meant to inspire and empower them to take their first step toward engaging their international neighbors.
Several churches have already gone through this resource, and the feedback I’ve received has been incredibly encouraging. Many participants shared that they had never received training like this before and that it completely changed how they viewed their international neighbors. Some admitted they hadn’t known the difference between an immigrant and a refugee, while others said they had never fully considered what it meant to build a life in a foreign country.
One of the most encouraging responses was hearing people say they wanted to become involved in ways they had never considered before. Seeing that kind of transformation gave me even more confidence that this curriculum should be made available to the wider Church.
I want believers to recognize the incredible opportunity God has placed right outside their doors and to understand the eternal impact that loving their neighbors can have for the Kingdom of God. My prayer is that participants will be inspired by what Jesus has already done among immigrant communities and become excited about what He continues to do today.
Even though I created the curriculum to be independently run without my presence, I would love to be a resource for churches and ministry leaders. I’m always happy to walk individuals or groups through the curriculum, answer questions or have conversations about ministry with immigrants and refugees. It is a privilege to help equip others to faithfully love and serve the nations God has brought to their communities.
“DO NOT FORGET TO SHOW HOSPITALITY TO STRANGERS, FOR BY SO DOING SOME PEOPLE HAVE SHOWN HOSPITALITY TO ANGELS WITHOUT KNOWING IT.” HEBREWS 13:2
To download the Leader and Student Guides for this curriculum, scan the QR code or visit: resources.wesleyan.org/church-curriculum-for-immigrant-and-refugee-ministry
To contact Liz, email info@gponline.org. 