The Warmth of Jesus’ Love in the Icy Cold
by a CCCC missionary in one of our northern states
As you are all well aware, our country has been in the grip of a deep-freeze this year. As cold-weather and snow records are being broken everywhere, we have the opportunity to show the warmth of the love of Jesus.
On December 31, our university hosted the international student orientation. Even the university was astonished at the number of students. I thought that the university knew how many new students would be arriving, but they don’t. Each semester they issue a large number of I-20s, which are official invitations to come to our school, so that students can apply for a visa to get here. But as you know, any given student may apply at two or three schools, so each university doesn’t know exactly how many will arrive until they actually show up. The university was expecting about 150 new students and more than 200 have actually arrived!
As far as I could tell about 65% of these new students were from Saudi Arabia. What a shock! Can you imagine traveling from one of the hottest climates on earth and coming to a city where the temps quickly dropped below 0º? Pray that we will welcome them warmly in the name of Jesus.
New Challenges for our city in 2014 — Refugees!
And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘ Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me. (Matthew 7:11)
As we begin the new 2014 year, there are exciting challenges ahead of us. Not only are immigrants and international students continuing to come to our city, but for the first time, in 2014, our city has been designated a refugee resettlement city. We will be receiving about 30 families, relocated here from places like Iraq and Syria.
Several of our extended team members have been meeting with people from the city as well as from an agency helping with the resettlement. They are excited about the ESL program we have developed for women and children, but they have asked for classes to be added for men.
Please pray about this new development. Refugees have a very different set of needs than immigrants or international students. Often their language skills are lower. Many times they are coming from situations where they have been traumatized, and have deep wounds that have to heal. Often they are rebuilding their lives after having lost everything, and so their financial resources are extremely limited.
Within a relatively short period of time, six months to a year, our government expects that they will be more or less self-sufficient. This gives us only a short time to help them with a wide range of needs. Our hope is to share the love of Jesus in both practical and spiritual ways, so that His serving love can take front and center position in their awareness. As social service agencies are already swamped with needs, this is a great opportunity for the church to step in.
We need help and guidance and more participation than ever on the part of all the churches in the Great Lakes area. Please pray Please pray that God would turn the hearts of those in His kingdom toward the growing refugee community. We want our city to be known as a place where the stranger was welcomed in the name of Jesus!
More Praise and Prayer Points
• Praise that the Persian “Greg” didn’t have a ministroke and he is doing better.
• Pray for God to provide all the English mentors needed for the many incoming new students.
• Pray for 7 visiting scholars who are studying the Bible with us, that God would open the door of faith.
• Pray for a Chinese friend “Bart” who just dislocated his shoulder.
