Cedars, April 2018

April 2018 10 THE GLOBAL REFUGEE CRISIS: RESPONSE by Rebekah Erway W ith over 125 refugees arriving in Dayton, Ohio, in 2018 alone (according to Catholic Social Services), Cedarville students have a unique opportunity to minister to a disadvantaged group of people who live only 30miles away. Many students seem to be aware of this opportunity. Of those surveyed by Cedars, only two percent said they were unfamiliar with the global refugee crisis, and over 21 percent said they have been involved in refu- gee ministry during their time at Cedarville. For the remainder, there seems, at ini- tial glance, to be few opportunities for them to get involved with refugee ministries. Sev- enty-eight percent of students said their churches did not offer any kind of refugee ministry, and there are few ministries of- fered through Cedarville University. The Global Outreach office lists two available refugee ministries: King’s Kids and the At- lanta spring break mission trip. And yet, not everyone can go on a spring break trip and some people aren’t comfortable working with children, so the two ministries may not be the right fit. For- tunately for such students, there are many refugee ministries available outside the Global Outreach office, with service oppor- tunities beyond evangelism. Students can find a refugee ministry to be involved in that fits a variety of different skill sets and still meets the needs of these disadvantaged people. “The most effective way to minister to refugees is simply being available to help,” said Timothy Mattackal, in an email. Mattackal, a senior finance and ac- counting major, volunteered with refugees in Atlanta on two spring break mission trips and over the summer. He said his time work- ing in Atlanta has taught him that ministry to refugees is primarily relationship-based. “Having good relationships with people and having them know that they can go to you for help in this difficult situation is one way that we can share God’s love with oth- ers,” he said. One of the biggest mistakes Christians can make going into refugee ministry, Mat- tackal said, is viewing the group of refugees as a “monolith.” “It can be easy to lose the humanity of individual people when using the term ‘ref- ugee,’ so it is important to remember that everyone is an individual person with their own unique story,” he said. Matthew Bennett, professor of theology and missions, agreed that refugee ministry is connected to relationships. Bennett worked with displaced peoples in Jordan and Syria for several years before coming to Cedarville. His program focused on teaching English so refugees had an add- ed skill to help them get a job and settle into society. Bennett said part of sharing love with refugees includes giving them back a sense of dignity. When refugees come into the country, Bennett said, they leave behind their previous life, with its routines and rec- ognized status. A Syrian who was a doctor in his country, once he is forced to flee, finds himself lumped together with the group of people known as “refugees.” Regardless of skill set, any refugee, once chased from home, no longer seems to have an identity beyond the refugee status. Mattackal pointed out how the immigra- tion process for refugees, especially in Ameri- ca, emphasizes the newcomers’ refugee status. Not only is the process of bringing a refugee to the U.S. intricate, Mattackal said, but so is the process of allowing the refugee to stay. “Many of the people who have been resettled have had to live in refugee camps for years,” he said, “waiting for their appli- cations to be processed and background checks and interviews to be completed.” Bennett described how refugees can, at times, feel as though they are “just sub- sisting,” waiting in camps until they are dis- placed to another location where, like in the current one, they are simply “stored until people know what to do with [them].” “There’s an objectifying that’s hard to escape,” Bennett said. Refugees confront their own realities, often through intense questioning. Some- times they question their previous country and religious systems, and other times, they question their very dignity. “There’s a sense of a lot of loss,” Ben- nett said, “not merely on the physical, finan- cial side of things, but even just that psycho- logical ‘Who am I now?’” Ministering to the Sojourner in Our Land How Cedarville students can respond to the global refugee crisis Infographic by Tasha Peterson