by Susi Albrecht and Nancy Akers
[caption id="attachment_340" align="alignright" width="193"] Teach children how they should live, and they will remember it all their lives. (Proverbs 22:6)[/caption]
The Year of the Child is GenMin's theme for 2016 with the goal of encouraging all of us to focus with intentionality on our precious children! An important way to do that is by providing Children's Church---a place at church where the children can bond, learn and grow, while discovering what God has to say to them through the Bible.
For our teaching in Children's Church to be effective, we must not teach the Bible as a collection of unrelated stories. Children need to learn that the Bible is one unified story of redemption in and... Read the article
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This article is from Janet Morrison who directs Great Commission Trips, one of GCI Generations Ministries' mission organizations.
The first time I saw them was at LAX---seven Congolese refugees from the Dzaleka Refugee Camp in Malawi coming to a new world, a new culture. Though they had heard many things about the U.S., they did not really know what they were getting into. Neither did I.
[caption id="attachment_356" align="aligncenter" width="504"] Meeting the seven refugees at the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)[/caption]
The story began for us when we visited the GCI church in Dzaleka refugee camp in Malawi back in 2011. A few years after that we heard that some of the refugees were allowed to move to Australia, and we... Read the article
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This article is from Fraser Henderson, one of the pastors in GCI's Ottawa, Canada, congregation.
[caption id="attachment_328" align="alignright" width="300"] Fraser and Julie Henderson[/caption]
It's hard to describe what it's like arriving in Canada in the dead of winter. The -13 degree Fahrenheit weather is likely to elicit a curse even from those with robust reigns on their tongues. For the refugees, despite the blistering cold and stark landscapes, there is one thing they can say about this new location they haven't been able to say for years and sometimes even decades: they are home. Many of those we have been sponsored to immigrate to Canada have chosen to make the sponsoring GCI congregation their spiritual home as well.
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In this issue of Equipper we focus on joining Jesus in responding to the global refugee crisis. We also introduce a new feature: Kid's Korner. The five articles in this issue are linked below. Enjoy! - Equipper editor, Ted Johnston
From Greg: The refugee crisis---how can we respond?
In 2014, nearly 60 million people were displaced from their homes and native countries by war. But how can GCI congregations respond to this crisis?
Nova's story
Nova Musafiri had to flee his country in April 1993 to save his life.
Welcome home to Ottawa
Fraser Henderson tells about a group of refugees GCI helped resettle in Canada.
Helping a refugee family in Los Angeles
Janet Morrison tells about a family of refugees GCI helped resettle... Read the article
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In this article, Nova Musafiri, a refugee who settled in Canada, tells his story.
I left my country in April 1993 because of security issues: students were arrested, beaten to death and tortured because of a dictatorial regime, which reigned for over 30 years. I did not have a choice, but had to escape in order to save my life.
[caption id="attachment_325" align="aligncenter" width="497"] Nova and his children[/caption]
I went to Kenya to seek protection and I was accepted as an asylum-seeker and refugee under the auspices of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). In Kenya, refugees are not allowed to stay in the capital city, move freely within the country, work, study, or do business. I was sent to live in a... Read the article
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Dear Pastors and Ministry Leaders:
[caption id="attachment_21" align="alignright" width="150"] Greg and Susan Williams[/caption]
In 2014, nearly 60 million people were displaced from their homes and native countries by war. The spotlight in 2016 is on the crisis in Syria where almost half the population have become refugees, leading to the largest migration in human history. This global refugee crisis must not be ignored. But how can GCI congregations respond?
[caption id="attachment_360" align="aligncenter" width="512"] Syrian refugees in Hungary (via Wikimedia Commons)[/caption]
In January I attended the GC2 Summit near Chicago. It addressed the global refugee crisis and the church's response. Before the conference I wondered... Read the article
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