Now imagine sending your child to school for the first time in a brand-new country — in the middle of a war.

Beit Hallel Congregation’s Back to School Project (Screenshot courtesy of Beit Hallel Congregation)

That’s the reality for thousands of Jewish immigrant families in Israel this fall.

Beit Hallel Congregation in Ashdod recently ran its annual Back to School Project, which helps immigrants and low-income families who are struggling to afford the basics.

Pastor Israel Pochtar with Beit Hallel Congregation says, “For those who are new in Israel and not well established…they struggle financially to send their kids to school. The needs are bigger than in a normal year when there’s peace.”

The church distributed backpacks and school supplies, turning the project into a celebration. Pochtar says, “We had an opportunity to tell every family and every kid that the help comes from Christians. You’re not alone in this world, but you have Christian friends. You have people who pray for you, stand with you, [and] give.

“This practical help, it’s such an expression of the love of God, and love of Christians who help you in the name of God and the name of Jesus.”

Beit Hallel Congregation’s Back to School Project (Screenshot courtesy of Beit Hallel Congregation)

Nearly all the families who benefit are Jewish immigrants from countries such as Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and Ethiopia.

“They are not Christians; they’re Jewish. But they hear about us, they hear about our organization and our congregation. They know we are helping people unconditionally, and they come to receive help, and they’re grateful to learn more about that.”

Beyond physical needs, Beit Hallel Congregation seeks to calm fears and encourage children.

“We see kids are nervous. Kids are under stress. So we’re talking to them, encouraging them, telling them stories of others who’ve been in the same situation. It really encourages them and makes it easier for them,” says Pochtar.

Although the main distribution is complete, the project continues in smaller ways as new immigrant families arrive daily. Neighboring cities like Ashkelon and Beersheba have even asked for help after seeing Beit Hallel Congregation’s efforts online.

Beit Hallel Congregation’s Back to School Project (Screenshot courtesy of Beit Hallel Congregation)

“If there are friends who want to help, they are welcome to join,” Pochtar says. “There’s still opportunity!”

Donate to Beit Hallel Congregation’s Back to School Project.

Above all, he asks for prayer. “Pray for us. Pray for Israel. Pray for Jewish people and our team in Israel who are working hard to be a blessing and a light.”

Header photo: Beit Hallel Congregation’s Back to School Project (Screenshot courtesy of Beit Hallel Congregation)

Last month, pictures circulated of Haitians being chased by border patrol agents on horseback. The photos produced outrage in the U.S. and beyond.

The U.S.-Mexico border has long been a source of political tension, but Claudia Adame with e3 Partners says that’s not the whole picture. God is working in amazing ways among the immigrant communities.

She tells of one community in the city of Reynosa, where e3 Partners works with refugees from countries like Columbia, Venezuela, Honduras, and Haiti. “What I saw was a peaceful camp. People were taking care of each other, even taking turns doing night watch to just keep things safe. And for the most part, the city of Reynosa has responded very generously.”

Stories from Reynosa

The Christian community there has grown to about 2,000 people in recent months. E3 Partners brings humanitarian aid, listens to their stories, and shares the story of Jesus with them. Adame says, “That first week when we were there, we saw God start a church in six or seven days. New believers were discipled about sharing God’s story, but also demonstrating His love. They heard that the Lord accepts them unconditionally.”

This new community has reached out with love to others as well. Claudia tells of one man who the church encountered. “He had been deported from the U.S. to Mexico. They didn’t know why. We didn’t know why. He had no food or shelter. So they embraced him. And they were able to share their food with him. They found him a tent. And they were able to share the Gospel and disciple him to the point of him wanting to make a public profession, including baptism.”

Ask God to continue moving in this region.

Want to visit areas along the Texas-Mexico border or other areas around the world with e3 Partners? See their upcoming mission trips here.

The header photo shows Haitian immigrants protesting U.S. border policies in 2018. (Photo courtesy of Fibonacci Blue from Minnesota, USA, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

Translation work

Now, Tippit says the app is being translated into 12 more languages. “Someone can go through it here in the United States, in English. And then in another country, they can [work with] someone going through the discipleship portion in that language in that country. Whether it’s Spanish, Portuguese, Hindi, Farsi, Arabic, Russian, Chinese, we’ll have that. All those will be out by the end of August.”

Tippit hopes the app could be useful for students, especially as more people come to live in the U.S. from other countries. “There’s a Christian school that I spoke at recently, and they have 1000 international students on their campus. Well, if these students would go through the app in English they could, in their home country, bring people through it. And if they want to share Christ with them, they’ll learn how to do that.”

Download the app for free by searching “Sammy Tippit Discipleship” in the Apple app store or Google Play. Ask God to provide for this translation work.

(Header photo courtesy of Gerd Altmann from Pixabay)

Many of these people live in the United States. Bonnie with Global Disciples says, “For years, the church has viewed missions as being out there, on the other side of the world. But as we know, the least reached are coming to the United States. And the least reached are really everywhere. We have a great opportunity to get involved and to reach out. There are many people that just are not aware of how many unreached people are in their neighborhoods.” Read more in the Global Disciples article below.

The Least-reached in Our Backyard (1)[25917]

Connecting with immigrants

Many Americans feel uncomfortable approaching immigrant families or communities. They may feel intimidated by different cultures or languages. But Bonnie says, “I really want to encourage people to not be afraid. Anyone who comes to the United States is starting their life from scratch. They really desire friendships, and they really desire relationships with people. Most people are very open. And they are just waiting for someone to reach out and offer a friendship or offer hospitality.”

Most importantly, be praying. Ask God to guide you about how to get involved. Bonnie suggests volunteering with organizations that help refugees. She got started by hosting a family from the Middle East in her home for several weeks.

Header photo courtesy of Global Disciples on Facebook. 

Driven by scant hope for their future, Moroccans often head to Spain in search of economic stability and educational opportunities. There, culture shock awaits. Christian workers in Spain try to help them transition into stable lives by providing things like food and language training.

Grace*, who has been actively involved in serving migrants for about eight years, says this is truly a moment where a cup of cold water in Jesus’ name plants a seed for a deeper relationship.

“They’re not seen as a project or as a number but they understand truly we’re investing in their lives, and we care about them,” Grace says.

“In that safe space, that really gives us the freedom and the opportunity to share with them what Christ means for us. Often…in sharing our own personal testimony, and what we have seen God do in our own lives, that opens those doors.”

As described here, Islamic law and culture pose a significant threat to believers. Unlike Morocco, Spain affords extensive religious freedom. Freedom like this is new to Moroccans, and it provides the space for a spiritual quest to blossom.

Grace says it’s a beautiful process.

(Photo courtesy of Open Doors USA)

“I have one friend that I study Arabic with and we’ve known each other for some years. She’s really beginning now to ask those questions, to seek the answers of ‘Who is Christ?’,” Grace describes.

“I know that she’s wrestling now with ‘this message is appealing. I’m drawn by His love, but what does this mean for my life? What does this mean for my family?’…it takes time to consider those questions.”

Pray for Grace and other believers ministering to Moroccan migrants who come to Spain. Ask God to plant the seeds of hope in the hearts of incoming Moroccans, and that they will encounter believers to help them grow.

*Name changed for security purposes

Side Street in Andalucia, Spain. (Header image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

PTEE’s Muna, who was previously a PTEE student, now leads courses in Sweden.

Muna’s Journey

Muna was born in Amman, Jordan and has moved to different areas of the world to work with refugees and immigrants.

“I studied sociology in Jordan, and I worked in Amman with refugees,” she says.

After receiving her Bachelor’s degree in sociology, Muna worked in three refugee camps while she was in Jordan and taught health and social education in remote areas of the nation.

In 1986, she and her sisters became PTEE students, studying the book of Hebrews. Muna says her brother later became a student, as did his children and her sister’s children.

“PTEE has had a deep impact on so many in my family,” she said in a PTEE newsletter.

In 1989, she moved to Atlanta, Georgia and then later to London, working with different ministries, and finally, in 1993, she moved to Sweden.

Following her move to Sweden, she began supporting immigrants as they integrated into the culture of Sweden, which was different from their own. She also helped to explain what it was like to be a Christian in a secular nation.

“When we talk about family values, Christian values, so we talk about living in Sweden, how we as Christians [are] raising our children in a secularized country, how we can be wise, [and] how we can do things together.”

Recently, Muna also began coaching immigrants on how to find jobs to stop living on social benefits.

Muna says when she first moved to Sweden, she began to pray that a PTEE program would begin in the country. In 2004, her prayers were answered and a PTEE course began.

PTEE in Sweden

The PTEE courses in Sweden have been teaching believers how to share the Gospel effectively for 15 years now, but there are challenges.

“We face some problems because PTEE needs dedication. It needs people who know how to somehow spend time studying, and most, I can’t say all, but many of them [are] facing difficulties in this discipleship, how to take time and try to do the exercises right and analyze.”

Muna explains students are used to attending church, but there are different interactions and involvements between going to church and studying Bible courses.

PTEE requires students to analyze what they are reading, conduct research outside of the Bible, as well as reading and writing for assignments.

(Photo courtesy of The Program for Theological Education by Extension via Facebook)

“It was very hard for them to do it,” she says. “Many of them, they didn’t go to Sunday school when they were children, and many, many of them, they didn’t study after high school.”

As a result, students have had to change their study habits and learn to adjust to the heavy schooling of PTEE.

Along with these challenges, Muna has been acting as the sole PTEE tutor in the area as she has higher education and PTEE does not have another qualified Arabic-speaking tutor. She has led courses and met with students on a regular basis.

However, with the development of PTEE’s online courses, some of the weight has been lifted off her shoulders, and technology is making it easier for students to study and meet via the internet.

Help support PTEE’s programs through prayer and giving.

Pray for PTEE’s courses in Sweden and that more tutors will be recruited. Pray also for students to study well and be planted in the truth of the Gospel.

Finally, “we need financial support for the work. The work is great and we need people to be faithful in giving to the program.”

Support PTEE’s work here.

Header photo courtesy of The Program for Theological Education by Extension.

The BBC reports that about 500 immigrants from Central American countries joined in a march in Tijuana, Mexico towards the border. The report says the march was peaceful at first and people carried banners and shouted, “We aren’t criminals! We are hard workers!”

However, the BBC reports that once the protesters passed the security barrier, they began racing for the border. Some border patrol officers were assaulted and hit by rocks.

For protection, U.S. border patrol officers shot canisters of tear gas out to push immigrants back during the chaos.

U.S. Customs and Border Patrol tweeted on November 25, “Today, several migrants threw projectiles at the agents in San Diego. Border Patrol agents deployed tear gas to dispel the group because of the risk to agents’ safety. Several agents were hit by the projectiles.”

Using the tear gas, men, women, families, and children were caught in the midst.

NDTV reports on a photo that went viral of a mother, Maria Meza, and her three daughters who ran from a tear gas canister.

Meza told NDTV that she never thought the border patrol would fire the bombs because there were so many children present.

Following the protest, the U.S. shut the border crossing for several hours, and President Trump threatened to close the border permanently.

Fleeing for Safety

A majority of families and unaccompanied minors who are at the border have fled from their countries due to gang violence.

“When you hear the interviews by media of families who are fleeing or children who are fleeing, consistently we hear the stories about extortion and gang violence, and how unsafe their communities are, and how their government and police force can no longer keep them safe,” Bethany Christian Services’ Dona Abbott says.

“Remember, they represent countries that have the highest child murder rates in the world. When you think of that, no wonder families are fleeing with their children. They want to keep their children safe like all of us want to keep our children safe.”

Often, families have traveled together in small groups from Central American countries riddled with gang violence, especially Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador.

However, children have also been sent alone by their parents on the journey to the border because parents have family members or contacts in the U.S. who can take care of them.

“Like many people worldwide, when you flee a situation, or you find yourself in trouble, you reach out to extended family members,” Abbott says.

Of the unaccompanied minors that have fled to the border, Abbott says 95 percent have contacts in the U.S. who are willing to help support them and help them adjust to the U.S.

“So, often even though they’re fleeing from something, they’re also fleeing to somebody who can offer them safety and protection.”

Abbott says this journey from their home country to the U.S. southern border is scary, unpredictable, and uncertain. Kids are unprepared and don’t know how to react to unexpected violence or a lack of food on the way, and they don’t know how to make an asylum claim at the border.

So far, CNN reports that 14,000 unaccompanied immigrant children are in U.S. custody, which is a record high.

Abbott says there are 67 million displaced people in the world fleeing from different situations.

“It’s not surprising to hear that a few hundred thousand of them would be at our border asking for the safety that millions are asking for from others around the world.”

The unaccompanied children, as well as families who have gone to the border seeking asylum, are still being put in detention centers while their cases are being processed.

Abbott says Bethany believes, “when people approach the United States, asking for asylum, they ought to be given a fair opportunity for their asylum situation heard and that while that’s happening, that they’re treated humanely with compassion, that their basic needs are met and then above all else, that families can care for and protect their children and that unaccompanied children have a family-like atmosphere to wait in while their asylum case is being processed.”

Abbott also thinks that the U.S. should set itself up as a compassionate model of how a country should respond to people fleeing for their lives. It should offer sanctuary or should assist the Central American governments in creating a plan for how they can bring safety to their communities once again so people do not feel like fleeing is their only option.

(Photo courtesy of Bethany Christian Services via Facebook)

Bethany’s Work

Bethany has helped over 5,000 families reunite with children who have either been separated at the border or who’ve been unaccompanied.

They also help about 500 unaccompanied children a year through temporary foster care.

Abbott encourages you to be educated about immigration and why people are fleeing from their countries in Central America. You can also act as a volunteer and help support kids and families. You can help by being a foster parent, a tutor, or donating.

Help support Bethany’s work as they reach hurting immigrant families and children.

Pray for wisdom for the U.S. government and the governments of Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala.

Header photo by Mitch Lensink on Unsplash.

A Safety Problem

“The situation’s not going to get better until we deal with the root cause,” Bethany Christian Services’ Chris Palusky says.

“What I mean by the root cause is that … in Central America, primarily in Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala, gangs rule the land. And until we’re able to work with those governments, so the U.S. government should work with those governments to provide a safer environment for their citizens… those kids will continue to come to our border.”

Palusky says measures taken such as police training, ensuring investments, and holding governments accountable are vital steps to seeing a safer environment in Central America that will no longer force children to flee.

Gangs have often threatened children and their families or even killed relatives to force children to join them. Girls have also been taken and trafficked by gang members.

Children, as a result, have been fleeing to the United States unaccompanied.

KFox14 reported that from October 2016 to June 2017, 2,054 unaccompanied minors crossed the border in the El Paso sector. From October 2017 to June 2018, 2,384 more unaccompanied children crossed in the same area.

Bethany’s Efforts

Bethany has been working with unaccompanied children for decades. Further, they’ve started working with kids who were taken from their parents at the border under the “zero tolerance” policy.

Palusky explains that children – unaccompanied and separated, are referred by the government. From there, Bethany’s case managers help to locate children’s parents and family members, whether they are in detention centers or in their home nation.

During the process of locating kids’ families, children stay with foster families who, Palusky says, are working out of faith to serve ‘the least of these’.

“We look at it as a salt and light really. These people are the hands and feet of Christ and they’re living out their faith. So, we’re excited that we have people of faith partnering with Bethany so that people can see this is what Christianity’s about. This is what people of faith are about. This is what followers of Jesus are about.”

Recently, Bethany helped to reunite more than 90 percent of the children in their program with their families.

However, the need for faithful foster families continues.

Get Involved

“Although people are being reunified right now with their parents and there’s no more separation of those children, we still have a huge refugee crisis coming across our border,” Palusky says.

(Photo and header photo courtesy of Bethany Christian Services via Facebook)

“So, the unaccompanied refugee minors that were coming before will continue to come and those numbers aren’t slowing down. So, we need foster homes for those kids – those unaccompanied refugee minors that are coming across the border and they need a place to stay.”

Connect with Bethany to foster unaccompanied refugee minors. Your help will show the love of a believer and give a safe home to a child as they wait to be reunited with their family.

You can also donate as Bethany uses funds to help recruit and train more foster parents.

And finally, pray for the violence in Central America to end. Pray for the safety of children, their families, and peace in their countries.

He is receiving mixed responses. Some have supported his message, while others are criticizing him.

Bethany Christian Services’ Chris Palusky shares the ministry does not agree the Bible says it’s alright to split up families and they’re reflecting that in their work.

“Bethany is advocating hard, like let those families stay together as they’re going through the process. So, we’re not advocating, we’re not trying to get into politics of open borders or anything like that. We’re just saying let families stay together as they go through this process,” Palusky says.

Fleeing Danger

Families have been fleeing their homes in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras due to desperate situations of violence and gang-related threats.

(Photo courtesy of Bethany Christian Services via Facebook)

“We’ve heard instances where if a family didn’t pay a gang protection money, then they would take their daughter and put that daughter into prostitution, or if they tried to stop a gang from trying to take one of their kids to be recruited into a gang, a family member would be killed.”

Palusky also says people who haven’t complied with gangs have been executed in front of their children.

The journey fleeing their countries and going to the U.S. border to request asylum is not much easier. On the journey, girls have been raped and men have been beaten and robbed.

Parents have tried to keep their kids safe along the journey so that they may request asylum from the U.S., but now, once they reach the border, their families are being separated as a deterrent policy.

“Asking for asylum no longer allows you to be released or that asylum request considered and then released into the community while your case proceeds through immigration court,” Bethany’s Dona Abbott says.

Families used to be allowed to stay together as their case for asylum was reviewed.

Now, children as young as 18-months-old have been separated from their parents.

A majority of the more than two thousand separated children have been sent to large detention centers.

Reports have called this separation traumatizing and torture that inflicts mental suffering.

Families for Children

“Bethany believes that family was created by God to protect, care for children, to bring them up right, to train them and thus, Bethany believes that children belong in their family and or a family environment,” Abbott says.

While children are being separated from their parents, Bethany still sees the impact and importance of children being embraced by a family unit instead of being put into overcrowded detention centers.

They’re finding foster families who will bring children in, and care and provide for them.

“We’re saying again, family is key to everything even if it’s not their blood family. A foster family is much better than being put into a detention center with hundreds if not thousands of other people,” Palusky says.

Bethany is further working with policymakers to find a solution to the border problem.

They hope to keep families together once again as their cases are reviewed and preferably not in detention centers.

Working with Policymakers

“We know the immigration system in the United States is complex, difficult, and in many times, just difficult and it’s hard for families to know how to get through that process,” Abbott says.

“We’re looking to inform policymakers on how immigration reform can happen that supports and strengthens families and cares for them during this difficult time in their families’ life.”

Abbott says Bethany hopes to advocate with policymakers to see how they can also help address organized crimes in these families’ home countries. If there is a way to combat against it, families would no longer be forced to flee.

Palusky adds, “If we could take the investment that reactively working with right now to having people come across the border and invested that in countries for better governance, better training of police, giving people security, we would not only hinder or slow down the flow of people, we’d also help to build up these countries to be good business partners for the United States.”

Living out Matthew 25

Rather than separating families, Palusky says we should live out Matthew 25 and serve the least of these.

“For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me… 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 25:35-40

(Photo courtesy of Bethany Christian Services via Facebook)

Be a mentor or foster family to children who have been separated from their families, and contact your representatives to speak up for families.

Pray for wisdom of leaders and policymakers as well as the safety of those fleeing their countries. And, pray families would be reunited soon.

Diversity and Challenges

That’s proven a constant difficulty since the uptick in Muslim extremist terror attacks around the world. As rhetoric heats up, it’s the Church that plays a key role in helping change the attitude towards immigrants– in this case, Muslims– in the name of Christ.

(Photo courtesy of Owen Blacker via Flickr: https://flic.kr/p/581wz)

“In comparison to many other western countries, the United States excels at immigrant assimilation and immigration,” Dr. Mike Ansari explains. “Yet, since [the] 9/11 attack, public attitude towards Muslim immigrants has been influenced dramatically, which has adversely affected Muslim demographic assimilation.”

It doesn’t help that the Church has been struggling to find a way to help Muslim immigrants integrate and assimilate into the United States while also pursuing the Great Commission with them. Anxiety was injected into the mix and that stymied some of the best intentions.

Sharing the Gospel

Enter: Dr. Ansari, who leads a movement called Heart 4 Iran (H4I) to reach more Iranians with the Gospel message. Under the auspices of H4I is Mohabat TV, of which he serves as the Director of Operations, God gave him a burden to bring unity to the Church and help equip the persecuted Church.

But his dreams got bigger. Aside from partnering with as many like-minded ministries as he can, he says their team has been developing a resource to help bridge the gap between ‘what people want to do’ and knowing ‘how to do it’. The new resource in development is a free digital pamphlet called ‘Reaching the Muslims Next Door’.

“Our heart at Heart 4 Iran, is to sow the seed of missional encouragement to the American Christian population in reaching the Muslims in their community. The key question to ask is what would Jesus do and what can I do in reaching the Muslims next door,” Ansari shares.

That’s where the free digital pamphlet comes in: it addresses some of the basic cultural differences and worldviews between the West and the East. It also provides some points to help create trusted relationships.

“The biggest factor in the American Church not reaching out in a mission fashion to the immigrant population in America is fear,” Ansari says, adding that sometimes we might lack the initiative to understand those cultures. “It is very important to understand that not everybody who is a Muslim and has moved to America is a terrorist. It’s important to understand that not everyone who is a Muslim hates America.”

Bridging Gaps

In fact, many of the Muslims immigrating to the US are hard-working individuals contributing to society. It’s also worth noting that Muslims tend to be easier to approach about Christ than say atheists or the post-modern person. “It’s extremely important for us to understand that the traditional mission field has changed dramatically and now the nations are coming to us,” Ansari shares.

(Photo Courtesy Olga Caprotti via Flickr: https://flic.kr/p/6ZJd5s)

“Therefore more Christians can take part in [the] Great Commission. [The] Great Commission says go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father, son, and the holy spirit. That’s in Matthew 28:19.”

He hopes that by sharing the love of Christ through tolerance, acceptance, and engagement that Christians will come together in the harvest. This is especially possible since nations without Christ are no longer across the world, but right next door. And there are opportunities to connect with the holiday seasons coming up when immigrant families are most likely to feel a little homesick.

Get Involved

Heart4Iran and Mission Network News have entered a partnership to help distribute and inform people about Heart4Iran’s free digital pamphlet.

“We encourage [people] to go ahead and get a copy of this digital resource,” Ansari says. “It is filled with facts and experiences that we have gone through and our family of Farsis have gone through. These are proven facts so I would encourage all the listeners to go to our website, to [our] podcast, to our Facebook, to other places and download this. And then make copies of it and pass it on to the Church.”

The free resource becomes available for download just before Thanksgiving. Keep an eye out for it and when you download it, share it. Also, please pray for the people who will use this resource. Pray for it to benefit them and help them be intentional in reaching out to immigrants. Pray for this resource to help aid people in sharing the Gospel and for to be lives being transformed.

Get the free resource download here!