Refugee Ministry
We are reminded of how important this is as a part of our faith in the book of Leviticus 19:33-34 where it says, “When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.” As these newcomers make their way from extreme danger, fleeing their homes, and many having to leave their family, we want to make this place as welcoming and comfortable as possible for them. As a church we have chosen to join this effort in the following 4 ways. Please read below carefully and respond as you feel God leading you.
Clothing Needs- We are in constant need of men’s pants, collared shirts, shoes and jackets for these men. Please only bring gently used and new clothing for this part of the effort. We have learned the Afghan men primarily wear collared shirts so no t-shirts please. You can bring these items to the church during regular business hours or on Sunday during worship. There is a collection bin by the front door of the church where you can place your items.
Monetary Needs- You can contribute monetarily to the needs of the refugees at this time as well. The money you provide will aid in up to three ways, a. Providing funds through our partner organization Inspiritus with matching federal dollars to help provide rent, groceries etc for individual families, b. Help with Grace’s adopted family specifically, c. Provide money to help buy needed resources as the needs are presented for these families. All donations can be made through our Venmo account @gracebhm or by writing a check to the church with Refugee Donation in the Memo line.
Furnishing Supplies for Adopted Family’s Home- **We are so thankful that, through the amazing support of our Grace Family we have COMPLETED this portion of our ministry with our sponsored Afghan family! We have taken on the effort to provide all of the furnishings for our adopted family’s home here in Birmingham. It is important to remember that when they fled Afghanistan they left with only the clothes on their back. We have created a Sign Up Genius with all of the needs for our adopted family. We encourage you to CLICK HERE and sign up for whatever you can help provide our family. There are Amazon links for each product and a shipping address that they should be sent to at the top of the form. We are hoping to complete this list by January 5.
Care Team- This is a very relational and deeper commitment to our adopted family. We are forming a care team of 8-10 individuals to provide relational and cultural care for our family. This commitment requires training and each person on the team will commit to visiting with the family once a month in person for around an hour. These visits are to help them with everything from bills, to shopping lists, to navigating through a culture that is very different from their own. If you are interested in participating in this part of our effort, please email Stephen Ingram at Stephen@gracebhm.org for more information.