Refugee Highway Partnership Europe - Roundtable 2019
by Mike STANNETT
The Refugee Highway Partnership Europe is a Christian Network which connects and mobilises leaders, churches and organisations to effectively engage with refugees. This year’s roundtable theme was "Removing Barriers, Embracing Strangers". The conference was held in Sarajevo, Bosnia Herzegovina, and also dealt with the topic of "burnout" amongst humanitarian workers.
Considerations for the Salvation Army
- This network is more about mission and ministry than about lobbying and advocacy. Therefore, it’s up to us to consider how the local congregation can be involved in a holistic ministry with refugees .
- To link up with the churches in your country that are part of the Refugee Highway Partnership
- To consider sending delegates to Malmo, Sweden in 2020
- To strengthen the links of the TSA Europe refugee mission/ministry to the WEA task force.
- To be more aware and systematic in regards to ‘member care‘ burnout prevention and recovery at all levels.
Key Note Speakers:
Dr. George Kalantzis - Humanitarian Disaster Institute
Dr. Kalantzis asked delegates to focus on the barriers we face in working with refugees. As we remove those barriers we will be able to not just hold out a hand of welcome, but rather to step forward and embrace them.
“The churches role as places of care”.
Q. Will you help me forget? Forget what? That my four children were hacked to pieces in front of me, that on the run I had to burry my wife in a shallow grave? Will you help me to forget?
A. I will instead ask this question: will you help me to remember better, the things I should remember”.
Marion Knell – Global Member Care
"The cost of caring"
Burnout amongst those helping refugees is growing. The real cost of caring for refugees is not measured in euros but in people.
Aid organisations cannot afford to have front line workers burn out. We have a blind spot in regards to our own people’s needs, the worker’s needs.
“I would prefer to stop people falling off the cliff, rather than picking up the pieces”. Prevention is better than cure.
Resources:
Publications
Book :Maslach and Leiter - Truth about Burnout / Reversing Burnout
Booklet: Jesus: I was a refugee - https://findrefuge.wordpress.com/jesus-i-was-a-refugee/
Training Courses & Workshops:
Mastering the Art of Mission - Redcliffe College – redcliffe.ac.uk/missiology
Gender and Mission – Red Cliffe College – redcliffe.ac.uk/gender
SYIS - Sharpening Your Interpersonal Skills www.relationshipskills.com
Antares - Humanitarian workers care model www.antaresfoundation.org
Network with churches & organisations in your country:
http://www.collaborate4refugees.com/destinations
Quotes from the conference:
“Refugees coming to Europe is a treasure God is giving us”.
“We need to change on the inside so that we change on the outside and others will see Gods love .”
“No point in integration if we don’t like them.“
“Refugees are hungry to know Christ“.
“God is at work, we keep seeing crisis on the TV but God is at work” (Jan, Belgium)
“Open your heart, open your minds and lay down, relearn what you think you know about refugees and refugee ministry.”
“There is a prophetic element to working with refugee integration / ministry. To lead society, to build bridges, to welcome, to change lives.”
“What was important for me was to be accepted , not to be rejected , for someone to put their arms around me , I was embraced by the church“ ( Refugee in Sarajevo)
“We damage people when we are damaged ourselves “
“You are Jesus to the world around you, you are not a pastor, a refugee worker, a social worker, you are Jesus to the people “.
“You don’t do refugee work, you image God to refugees”
Next year 2020 Malmo - Sweden in February - Watch video here
More information:
The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) has a longstanding commitment to welcoming and assisting refugees which has been significantly strengthened through the work of the Refugee Highway Partnership and the WEA Refugee Task Force.
In 2001, WEA sponsored a global consultation of Christians serving refugees that became the Refugee Highway Partnership (RHP) – an international network of churches, agencies and individuals serving forcibly displaced people. The RHP is creating and sustaining a community that helps facilitate more effective ministry, stimulate strategic initiatives, and envision and equip the church so that refugee ministries are strengthened and more refugees are served. The RHP is a Global Partner of WEA and is led by its Leadership Council.
In 2015, WEA launched their Refugee Task Force to help facilitate a coordinated response from the global to grass roots level and strengthen collaboration between various Evangelical Alliances, agencies, churches and partners that serve the needs of refugees while also addressing key concerns related to the protection of the most vulnerable communities. The task force works closely with WEA’s United Nations team in New York and Geneva, along with leaders of Regional and National Evangelical Alliances and a growing number of partner organizations.
Tags: Europe