Great Lakes 2023 RHPNA Regional Gathering
The Refugee Highway Partnership is no stranger to the Midwest. The last RHP gathering was in 2019 in Aurora, IL. But three years later, the time to reconvene was inspired through a regional breakout session, at the 2022 Portland, OR, where some 20 delegates representing the Great Lakes regions felt the need. Discussions quickly followed in January 2023 between Tony Burrell (The Welcome Network), Jacob Tornga (IAFR), Lana Duoibes (Grand Rapids Calvary Church ), Jody May (Exodus World Service), Bill Wells (ASAP Ministries), and April Palmbos (IAFR) who formed the core of the planning team.
During the months of planning and prayer the Midwest / Great Lakes RHP Regional planning team worked to locate a venue, secure a date, and get the word out. What began as a tentative “let’s see what happens” turned out to be a wonderful uniting of like-minded and passionate people who have a burden for the displaced in this world.
Located at the Living Word Church in Lansing, IL, 61 people representing Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio gathered together. More than 18 organizations were represented and roughly 70% of attendees had never heard or engaged with the Refugee Highway Partnership and its network. The energetic discussions between attendees about ministry and challenges faced in our region with resettlement continued throughout the day.
On several occasions it was heard from the regional roundtable attendees, “Thank you for doing this. We didn’t know there was a network where we can connect and find support!”
Matthew Soerens, World Relief Vice President for Advocacy, started the day as the main Plenary speaker. He shared an overview of the current refugee and displaced persons crisis. This was followed up with a passionate reminder that only 20% of evangelical Christians claim to use the Bible when informing their opinions about matters related to immigration. Thankfully, this is up from 12% from nearly a decade ago. But still, it reflects an anemic response that God’s church in North America has towards fusing Biblically informed positions regarding the challenging issues of the 21st century.
Through the rest of morning there were six roundtable discussions on topics ranging from the new Community Sponsorship program to the challenges and opportunities of church planting with refugee/immigrant groups in North America. Lunch was an exciting affair where people connected over a delectable meal that was topped off by cakes made from a Ukrainian Bakery which was started by a recently arrived Ukrainian family.
In the afternoon, the participants were able to join in a Networking activity (Open Space) where they selected the topics that were of greatest interest to them. Topics included Private/Community Sponsorship, how to motivate churches to engage in refugee/immigrant ministry; ESL resources; How to deal with Trauma; and Legal assistance for new arrivals.
Next we had an interview between Tony Burrell and Lana Duoibes. They shared how the RHPNA connected them to other organizations and persons who helped them to start their own ministries and organizations in the service of asylum seekers and refugees where they live. Even attendees from the audience who had previous experience with RHP Roundtable gatherings spontaneously shared their experiences of how the RHP has helped them in their work and ministry.
The gathering concluded with a time of prayer led by Lana Duoibes and five other pastors working in refugee ministry who speak other languages. Titled, “A prayer for the nations,” we lifted our hearts in prayer to our Heavenly Father on behalf of the displaced in Arabic, French, Swahili, Kinyarwanda, Hmong, and English. Together it was, is, and continues to be our prayer that “for I was a stranger and you invited me in… for what you did to one of the least of these, you have done it unto me” (Matthew 25:40).