SPEAKER_00 0:00

Refugee ministry canon is that it's just going and saying, hi, my name's Chris. I'd like to have some people sitting down and spending time. Even if they can't understand you, you can't understand them. It's just a matter of spending time.

David Nakhla 0:17

Welcome to the Reform Deacon, a casual conversation with topics specifically designed to help local Reform Deacons. There are nearly a thousand deacons in the OPC alone. So let's take this opportunity to learn from and encourage one another. We're so glad you could join us. Let's jump into our next episode of the Reform Deacon. My name is David Knockla, coming to you today from just outside the Philadelphia area. Today we have on our show a special guest, Reverend Chris Cashin. For the past eight months or so, Chris has been serving as pastor of Trinity OPC in Lanham, Maryland. Prior to that, he served as an evangelist to refugees in Clarkston, Georgia, outside the Atlanta area. He was doing that on behalf of Redeemer OPC in Atlanta. Clarkston, you may not have heard of Clarkston. It's known as the Ellis Island of the South due to the number of immigrants that have come to that area. After working to determine what work was already being done, Chris and his wife began teaching in English as a second language program, ESL, in the apartment complex there. They also ran an after-school program helping kids with homework and presenting Bible lessons several times a week, as well as a weekly Bible study. And more recently, Chris has been serving as a member of the OPC's Committee on Diacle Ministries for the last three or four years. And he now chairs the uh recently established Refugee Ministry Subcommittee. I understand that Chris has been married to Grace Ann for 36 years. They have four children and seven grandchildren. Chris, thank you for joining us on this call. Thank you, David. It's great to be here. So, Chris, how did you get involved with refugee ministry? Clearly, it's a passion of yours. What would you say brought you, drew you into this particular ministry?

SPEAKER_00 2:00

The answer to that question would take a long time, but uh I'd have to just point to one person, and that would be Pastor Zeki Waldiesus. We met uh in seminary after he had to flee his country for his life, and uh the Lord was good and and uh established a friendship, and through that friendship uh he allowed me to begin helping my brother uh with immigration forms, with funding for himself, for his family, and just uh a wonderful friendship began. I had no idea, but really what the Lord was doing at that point in time was allowing me to learn what a refugee ministry was all about. And so through that friendship, Zachy was called to pastor the church in Atlanta, uh, and they wanted to begin a ministry to refugees. He considered that I might be a good fit for that, and indeed uh that's what happened. Called me down there to Atlanta to work with refugees and begin uh this wonderful ministry.

David Nakhla 3:04

That's great. So glad that happened and what led you to that. Well, refugee is a term that um that kind of gets thrown around in our circles. Um sometimes it's misunderstood. Maybe you could uh uh explain to us uh what makes a person a refugee.

SPEAKER_00 3:20

That's a great question because I would agree with you that uh the word is commonly misunderstood and misused. Uh refugee is a um or has a legal definition to it. We have it in our laws here in the United States. It's uh it's a basically a worldwide definition, but we won't go into the technicalities, but just generally speaking, a refugee is one who has been caused to flee from their country for fear of their lives based upon political opinions, uh, their religious beliefs, um, their belonging to a particular social group. And so the idea is that they were threatened, possibly beaten, possibly put in jail, and that they felt that their lives were in danger and they had to leave. Their country was not able to protect them, and so they went into a different country, another country. They crossed a border. And at that point, they are interviewed by uh the United Nations and others to determine whether or not their story is correct and whether or not they are indeed in fear of their lives and can't return because of that. And if they pass that test, they're given that title refugee. So it's a very specific legal test, uh, and the person or family needs to meet all that criteria in order to be placed into that particular category.

David Nakhla 4:50

Aaron Powell Are there certain privileges that once someone is defined as a refugee that they might have?

SPEAKER_00 4:55

Aaron Ross Powell, you'd say maybe yes and no, because there are many people who are identified as refugees, but they end up staying in refugee camps, sometimes for I would say many years, you can even say tens of years, waiting to receive those benefits that you're referring to. And the benefits really come when a country agrees to accept them. So let's just take, for example, uh a person goes from Congo where they're in fear for their lives, they they go to Uganda, they ask for refugee status, they receive it. They might remain in Uganda for years until another country, such as the United States, agrees to accept them as a refugee. It's at that point in time that the quote benefits begin. As they are accepted into a new country like the United States, the United States provides a limited amount of financial help so that person can get on their feet, but they also provide assistance. People come alongside them to help them get established and acclimated into the community. So those are the great benefits in a new location or a new place to live with some limited financial help.

David Nakhla 6:13

So over the years, you've uh you've been in these years of service, you were you had the opportunity to be involved in the lives of of many strangers, um, as you as we might say. What what would you say is one of the most important things, possibly that you learned that you might want others to know about this ministry too, to the stranger, to the to the refugee?

SPEAKER_00 6:36

It's a bit hard question to answer because there are so many things. What I learned that is was so important was that you go into the ministry, you you start um helping others, and you think that this is really about them. It's really about uh seeing what I can do to help this person to improve their lives, fill in the blank. And it is. But ultimately, it was really about me. It was really about how the Lord was changing me as I served in this way. I was learning about myself. Certainly I was learning about this other person, this other culture, but I was learning about what Jesus had done for me, how he loved me, how he died for me, and how now the Lord was using this ministry really to change my heart and to make me more like Christ. And so what did I learn? I learned mostly about myself and uh certainly my failings, uh, how uh how Christ has loved me so much and that has changed my heart through that ministry to love others.

David Nakhla 7:46

What would you say is maybe the some misconceptions um in your experience in in ministry to the refugee?

SPEAKER_00 7:54

Uh I think there are a lot. Uh I think just the idea of ministering to someone who speaks a different language from a different culture, that doesn't have anything in common with me, is just kind of overwhelming. And so if you as a person thinks about that, even as I thought about that, I'm wondering, well, what am I going to do? Uh how what am I going to say? How am I going to interact? Uh there's a bit of fear involved, uh, really going way outside of my personal box and I know of others. And so I guess my counsel would be this is not requiring somebody to understand rocket science. Uh there's not a training program to go there's certainly some training that can happen. In a sense, if if I can do it, anyone can do it. Uh we place roadblocks up uh in terms of uh entry into various ministries. And we can place a lot of roadblocks up for refugee ministries. And I guess I want people to know that this is uh as simple as going to your neighbor's door, knocking on it, and saying, Hey, I made some cookies for you, would you like them? And refugee ministry canon is that simple. It's just going and saying, Hi, my name's Chris. I'd like to have some tea with you. And sitting down and spending time with someone. Even if they can't understand you, you can't understand them. It's just a matter of spending time. And so uh it doesn't require training, it doesn't require language courses. Um, it just requires the desire to love someone who is not being loved by the rest of the community, usually.

David Nakhla 9:39

Can you talk to us a little bit about hospitality and how that plays into even culturally? You know, a lot of refugees come from what they call warm culture. We're kind of more of a cold culture. Can you talk a little bit about you know hospitality and how how that plays into how we welcome one another in in their eyes and in our eyes?

SPEAKER_00 9:59

Uh that's a a great point. Um hospitality is so important, not really in the American culture. And so it's a bit of a shock to us. As we try to minister to those from the Middle East, from Afghanistan, from Syria, Africa. Their hospitality is uh at 10, whereas in our culture we're about at two, maybe. And so uh first we can learn a lot from their desire to have that friendship, to have people within their homes and to serve them. Uh and and as we learn, uh it's really works on our aspect of time. We're a culture that watches our watches. Uh we want to make sure that we're making good use of our time, which is a biblical concept, biblical precept. But uh we can overwatch our time, and we do. And so uh refugee ministry gets us into the the practice of slowing down and spending time, and that's part of uh uh the welcoming, uh understanding their culture and uh really entering into their culture and allowing them to serve us uh and then reciprocating. Many refugees will tell you they've never been in an American home. And so just inviting one a refugee over for Thanksgiving, for Christmas, for just Friday night is going to have a significant impact upon them. It's going to be able to uh show them that you care for them as a person, not that you're not just there to convert them to Christianity. While we desire to see folks come to know the Lord Jesus Christ, and and that should be on our minds, uh many refugees are are wary that this is the only reason you want to talk with me. So we have to be careful. We want to be loving, and part of that love is spending time with Christ on our minds and showing them that this is how Christ loved even his disciples.

David Nakhla 12:13

So I take it you've been into the home of a refugee, one or one or two refugees here or there. Yeah, and that's been a great blessing.

SPEAKER_00 12:21

Yes. Um they are so welcoming, and they want you to be in their home and they want to serve you.

David Nakhla 12:26

Yeah. So you could you describe what that looks like?

SPEAKER_00 12:28

It depends on the culture. I found that the Syrians would set up their apartments very much like an American apartment with couches and tables, and so you'd enter, you would take off your shoes, uh, they would invite you to come, sit down, and then begin serving you. Tea first, usually, maybe some nuts, something to eat, and then maybe coffee. Uh, but lots of time, lots of sitting, conversation uh would happen as it could. In the Afghan homes, it was a bit different. Many Afghans didn't furnish their homes. And so you were not sitting in a chair, you're sitting on the floor. More typically in the Afghan houses, they would have separate spaces. So while they'd have a general room for entertainment, the men, the men would usually go into a back room, be sitting on the floor, they'd be served by either the children or the women, uh, and they'd just be spending time together, uh, which was interesting, wonderful. Um, but that's just different hospitality. These these cultures, even so close together geographically, were very different in terms of the way they welcomed and the way they served.

David Nakhla 13:32

But but you received hospitality from from predominantly all of them.

SPEAKER_00 13:36

Uh everyone. It would be it would have been from their perspective wrong not to invite you in. Even those who I found out later on really didn't want me around were still uh obligated from their perspective to welcome me in, have a meal with me before before I left. And that was it. But they yes, they they are hospitable, welcoming people constantly.

David Nakhla 14:04

I had the opportunity to uh to visit you in Clarkston once or twice, and and I still reflect back on those visits. When being shown around Clarkston by you and Grace Ann, I could have been in a different country being, you know, walking with one of our foreign missionaries, being introduced to the cultures and the places, the different peoples and the different languages. It definitely is a hugely cross-cultural experience and a lot that can be learned cross-culturally uh in a place like Clarkston. I have been receiving uh inquiries from folks in our churches who are interested in being involved in refugee ministry, um, particularly with um what's been going on in Afghanistan in recent weeks and months. What would you say to someone who expressed uh the desire to get involved? How do they begin? Or a church or a presbytery, how do how do they get started?

SPEAKER_00 15:01

Well, praise God that there's a desire. I would suggest that the first step would be seeking to contact uh a resettlement agency. Uh, just a brief explanation. Uh there are nine resettlement agencies in the United States, and what the federal government does is when they bring a refugee into the country, they assign that refugee to one of those nine resettlement agencies. And then the resettlement agency is responsible for finding an apartment, uh, ensuring that uh you know the lease is signed, helping them get a job, uh, providing or finding English classes for them. They help them to acclimate. And so that's their responsibility. So if somebody is interested, that would be the great place to go. Uh you can just look on the internet, World Relief, IRC, Lutheran Family Services, Catholic charities, those are some. Just look up Resellment Agency in my town, and and you'll come up with something. Contact them, tell them you'd like to get involved, volunteer. They're most likely going to have a class for you to attend, orientation. They'll do a background check, most likely, but they need volunteers. They want volunteers. And this is the way to get engaged, to meet refugees, uh, to serve. And that's the foot in the door, so to speak. That's the first place to go.

David Nakhla 16:27

In your experience, what are some different ways that a resettlement agency might put you to work as a volunteer?

SPEAKER_00 16:34

Well, uh, it goes from A to Z. Uh when we were in Clarkston, uh there was a young lady that kind of fell outside the bounds of a resettlement agency's work, and they contacted us and said, Hey, we really don't know what to do with her. Can you guys meet her? And so that the door was just wide open. And uh so Grace Sann established a friendship with this young lady. Uh, we sought to have coffee with her, tea with her, meet with her, talk with her about Christ, see how we can serve her, find a place for her to live. Um, that's just that's unusual. But the primary way is they're going to use a volunteer to welcome somebody at the airport, meet them. They can use volunteers to set up apartments. They can use volunteers to provide transportation because as a refugee comes, they certainly don't have a car. They need to get to the doctor. Can you take Mr. and Mrs. So-and-so to Dr. Joe? Can you help them get their children registered for school? Anything you can think of in terms of a normal everyday life for an American is not normal, uh, but they still need to accomplish it, and they're going to need some legs to do that. They're going to need somebody to explain how to do that. And so volunteers are used in all those capacities.

David Nakhla 17:51

I distinctly remember a morning sitting in your home where I think you spent several hours on the phone with a pharmacy because there was a particular uh refugee that you had been working with who needed a certain prescription, and yet the complications of language and that he was facing, and so you acting as his advocate, serving as an advocate, and just trying to even help him maybe with the transportation, uh, but also getting the pharmacy to fill the prescription, which was an urgent need for him, is just one way that I saw, you know, saw you uh have the opportunity to serve. It seems that refugee ministry can be very relational in in insofar as opportunities to build a relationship, which might lead to sharing the gospel. What has been your experience in in developing a relationship with a refugee?

SPEAKER_00 18:44

Well, that's really the goal. Yes, we want to serve. Yes, people need clothing, people need food, we want to seek to meet those needs. But ultimately, in refugee ministry, the goal, from my perspective, is to establish that relationship so that over time you can share the gospel. And so with refugees, that's that longer-term relationship, the many different touches and contacts, and that establishes that relationship and leads to the ability, then I think, to tell them why you're doing what you're doing. And that leads to Christ. Uh and so uh experiences are different. We had a family that we were welcoming. With this particular family, we were able to establish a very close relationship. It comes over time, it comes over spending lots of time with them, and that relationship exists today. And I praise God for it. Again, as that relationship developed, they were ministering to me probably more than I was ministering to them. But that's the focal point, that's the that's the goal as we reach out, is to establish those close, loving relationships which not only point to Christ, but draw others to Christ.

David Nakhla 20:04

I'm gonna give you an opportunity here to preach a little. When we think about welcoming the stranger, and you've actually written a series of articles, helpful articles about welcoming the stranger. But what what would what would be some things that you would point to as as reasons why welcoming the stranger would be would be something for a Christian to consider as important, maybe to God even, and also, you know, maybe addressing you know some fears that might be associated with uh welcoming the refugee and the stranger.

SPEAKER_00 20:35

You know, um throughout the old testament, the Lord continued to remind his people uh that he had delivered them out of Egypt, and that there, while they were there, they were strangers, they were aliens. And so, in part, the Lord was reminding them of that which they knew much about being in a strange land, suffering in that place, and that he had called them out and delivered them from that so that they could be with him, so that they could have that relationship with him, so that they could come and worship him. And I think that's one reason why scripture is so full of that reminder. Indeed, we we today, Christians today, are are not, generally speaking, in the same situation, literally, but we are spiritually. As we live in this world, we're strangers here. Our home is in glory, it's in heaven. And uh the Lord, as he points us to that reality, I believe wants us to not only be aware of that, but then as we see others who truly are strangers in this land, is to have that kind of compassion, that passion to serve and to show them that there's another place. That this world, while it's full of strife and suffering, points us to that place where there are no mortals. And so while the Israelites really and truly were oppressed and in slavery, and God delivered them out of that, yet he calls us to remember that we're strangers here and that he welcomed us. And he's calling us to do the same, to welcome those who are really aliens next door to us and to show them the love that he's shown us. I hope that's helpful. There's so much more in scripture we could talk about.

David Nakhla 22:37

There is a rich theology of the refugee in scripture, isn't there? And I oftentimes even think about our Savior Christ who left his home to enter, you know, this strange place that was not his home, where he was rejected even to the even to the point of giving his life for for those he loved. But yeah, it's it's it's a it's a wonderful picture of of the gospel. So thank you for that. Chris, for those who have naturally have fear of just not being competent or not having having the right skills or the right gifts or even the time, what's the encouragement you'd give them to to consider this involvement in this important ministry?

SPEAKER_00 23:23

Yeah, I know people are busy. I know there is hesitation to do that which we're not c familiar with or comfortable with. But I'd suppose I would say this ministry is such a blessing. And with many things, we have hesitations and we uh are leery of doing something and getting involved and sometimes we don't. But for those times that we do, uh I just ask people to think upon the great blessing that they experienced and they've realized at the end. And that's refugee ministry. It can be hard, it can be difficult, it can take a lot of your time, and in the midst of it, you may be scratching your head and wondering why am I doing this, and then you get to the end and you say, Oh, yeah, the Lord just blessed me in this. So that would be my encouragement that this is a wonderful opportunity for us to love our neighbors, and God uses it every single time to bless us and to bless his church.

David Nakhla 24:27

Chris, I'm sure there's many questions that others might have, or those who are contemplating uh getting involved. Uh is would you be available to to respond to individuals who might have further questions?

SPEAKER_00 24:41

I I would enjoy that very much. Yes, of course. Um I enjoy talking about refugees, refugee ministry. Uh so please, yes, I would I would welcome calls, I would welcome emails. Um I'm excited about this, and I'm I'm hoping that this was going to catch a little bit of fire and and uh and we'll see great blessings in the church as a result of this outreach.

David Nakhla 25:04

Super. Well, we'll include your contact info in the in the program notes and uh we'll point people to you. Um again, we there are some a series of articles that Chris has written for the Committee on Diacle Ministries, and uh those we're just sharing about what the Bible says about ministering to the stranger, and they're located on the CDM website, opcccdm.org. And uh so you can find those links in the program notes as well. For now, Chris, thank you for joining us. May the Lord truly bless your efforts and your new home church, and we'll look forward to seeing you soon. Thank you, David. We have some exciting news for you. Registration for the OPC National Diaconal Summit is now open as of today. The National Diaconal Summit is held only once every four to five years, so they prove to be a unique time for OP deacons across the country to gather together as brothers in Christ and enjoy encouragement, instruction, and fellowship. We have an incredible lineup of speakers for you this year, including some seasoned OP ministers, elders, and deacons such as Bill Shishko, Craig Troxel, and L. Tricarko, just to name a few. They will be covering a whole array of topics relevant to the Ministry of Mercy. We anticipate the summit filling up fast, particularly since there is no registration fee for OPC Deacons and Deacons in Training who register before April 1. So don't delay, head over to our website, opcccdm.org, and register today. Thanks for joining us. Go to our website, thereformdeacon.org. There you will find all our episodes, program notes, and other helpful resources. And please make plans to join us again next month for another episode of the Reform Deacon Podcast.