About 18 months ago the elders of The City Community Church spent a week praying and a day fasting about how to focus our mercy ministry efforts. As we were praying through the various opportunities in the city of Austin we became increasingly convinced that we should be working with the Refugee community. A number of our members have been actively working with CARITAS and Refugee Services of Texas. Ministry ranges in scope from setting up apartments, taking refugees shopping, helping them get a library card, ride the bus or get a drivers license. One of our members a former special operations soldier who speaks the language has been serving as a translator among Iraqi refugees. A couple of months ago Brennon Bloemendaal came on staff at The City as Pastoral Intern for Missional Living - here is his report on serving with the Refugees in Austin:
"I have recently begun working with the refugee population here in Austin. These are people from countries like Bhutan, Iraq, D.R. Congo, and India who have been forced to leave their lives behind and start anew. Some have left to due to war, some to religious persecution, and others to financial instability. Upon arrival, most have no idea what life is like in the United States, and most only have the apartment provided to them by the government. A local pastor and refugee himself, John Monger, has taken it upon himself to reach out to these people and help ease into this new phase of life.
I met John for the first time this week while delivering some rice cookers that our church had raised funds to purchase for the refugees. I got to sit down with John and hear a little bit about the work that he does and some of the amazing stories of life change he has witnessed and been a part of. John also told about his story and his journey that brought him to Austin. John grew up in a small town in the country of Bhutan, which borders India and Nepal. When he was 16 years old, John decided to give his life to follow Jesus Christ. Bhutan very strictly enforces the Hindu religion on their citizens and gave John two choices: deny Christ or leave the country. He decided that he could not possibly deny the Savior that he had just come to know, so he fled. He arrived in a refugee camp in the country of Nepal. In the camp, there was a population of about 150,000 Bhutanese refugees, and John soon discovered that he was pretty much the only Christian. He began sharing the story of life change that he had recently experienced and began preaching the gospel to people all around the camp. After several months many began to accept the good news that John was sharing, and hundreds were converted to Christianity. But the government of Nepal was no more lenient on religion than Bhutan, and once they caught wind of what was going on in the camp, they found John and threw him in prison. Prison in Nepal is nothing like the American prison system, with all its allowances and luxuries. John was beaten and starved and told that if he did not stop sharing his faith he would die in prison. But he did not give in, and after two years he was released. He then fled to India and continued to preach and share what God had done in his life. Over the course of four years, John helped plant several churches and lead hundreds of people into relationship with Christ. Eventually, it was not safe for John to stay there either, so he had to come to the United State as a political refugee. But he did not let this move deter his calling to share the gospel with the world. He connected with many other of the refugees here in Austin and started the International Reconciliation Church, which now encompasses over 100 refugee families. Through his ministry, John takes in all new refugee families as they arrive in Austin, and provides for them all basic needs to begin their new lives. He helps them to find jobs and housing and even gets them training to learn English. He has volunteers come and teach them how to do basic things such as driving and shopping, and through donations he provides them with daily needs like food, appliances, and transportation. He also uses this time to share the story of God’s love for each and every one of these people, and the story of his own salvation and how it has changed his life! I got to attend John’s church this weekend and witnessed the baptism of over 30 people who had recently been converted from Hinduism, all of which are refugees from India, Nepal, and Bhutan. It is evident that God is at work in this community and there is much opportunity for His love and truth to be proclaimed!
We as a church will be working with John to help provide some of these basic needs for families as they first begin their new lives here in Austin. We have spent the last month raising funds and we were able to provide 12 rice cookers to give to these families. We will have the opportunity to continue to help as we will look to provide a large amount of rice, some microwaves and other necessary appliances, and cell phones to aid in their first few months of looking for a job. We will also send out several volunteers to help in driver training and job location. It will be exciting to see how God is going to use us as instruments of His love in the lives of these families who just want to know that someone cares! "
