As North American Baptists welcome fellow
Baptists from Burma in their congregation, these refugees bring new
life, new vitality, and a new sense of missional engagement. It is
mutual ministry. As congregations minister to the refugees, the refugees
minister to the congregations.
Mortar
shells flying overhead, Poe Clee was born in 1983 in a make-shift camp
in a jungle where his family had fled ruthless Burmese army soldiers
carrying out their leader’s orders for ethnic cleansing.
A day later, Poe Clee’s family ran for the safety of Thailand and the
refugee camps that had been established for the ethnic groups,
including the Chin and Karen, targeted by the dictatorial regime.
For the next 24 years, Poe Clee lived in squalid refugee camps, four
refugee camps in all. While each camp had some unique aspects, all were
similarly rustic—no electricity or running water, with inhabitants
living in bamboo homes built by hand and wearing clothing fashioned by
hand-woven fabric. Inhabitants could not venture beyond the boundaries
of the fenced-in camp.
Growing up in almost prison-like conditions, Poe Clee made the most
of his time, clamoring to learn English from a discarded textbook and
befriending aid workers who spoke English.
Finally in 2004 the Thai government opened the then-nine refugee
camps scattered throughout the country, allowing inhabitants to be
resettled in other countries.
In July 2007 Poe Clee’s airplane, the first airplane ride of his
life, landed first at Los Angeles International airport and then at
Chicago’s O’Hare airport, opening the door to a life beyond his wildest
imagination. Even the airport itself was a cacophony of new sounds and
sights for Poe Clee—electronic signs, elevators, public address systems,
even toilets and water fountains.
Thrust into a new life, Poe Clee and his family, he said, “were
looking for spiritual strength. We were overwhelmed with all the new
things. We believed it was relevant to seek spiritual strength.”
Already Christians, thanks to the focused outreach of Baptists in
Burma for more than two centuries, including the evangelistic efforts of
Adoniram and Ann Judson in the early 1800s, the young refugee and his
family within days befriended a fellow Christian refugee from the
war-torn country who had been in America for a few months. Their new
friend had become involved in Chicago’s North Shore Baptist Church.
Their first Sunday in their new home, Poe Clee and his family sat beside
their new friend in worship services at North Shore.
Over the coming days and weeks, the church helped Poe Clee and his
family and many other refugees with the challenging task of become
acclimated to America—finding and furnishing a place to live, applying
for a job, obtaining personal identification, navigating the streets of
Chicago, getting children settled into school.
Today Poe Clee, who speaks not only English but also Thai, Burmese
and two Karen dialects, serves as refugee coordinator at the church that
historically has reached out to non-English speaking newcomers to the
city.
“We have seen the involvement of the church play a critical role in
helping refugees in both the short-term and long-term,” said the recent
graduate of Chicago’s North Park University.
North Shore is just one of hundreds of Baptist churches throughout
North America that have opened their doors and their hearts to the surge
of refugees from Burma, now called Myanmar.
“It is gratifying to see how the work of Adoniram and Ann Judson
almost 200 years ago has come full circle as Chin and Karen people from
Burma are coming to North America and witnessing to us of their deep and
passionate faith in Jesus Christ,” said George Bullard, general
secretary of the North American Baptist Fellowship of the Baptist World
Alliance.
“This makes even more important the 50th anniversary of NABF in 2014 where we will also celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Triennial Convention that supported the missionary work of the Judsons.”
According to U.S. Census data, the Burmese population in America has
grown from approximately 14,600 in 2000 to almost 100,000 a decade
later. Just five years ago, in 2007, these refugees were the largest
refugee group to be resettled in America.
The refugees are scattered throughout the United States, according to
Rothang Chhangte, who served as the liaison for refugees from Burma for
American Baptists before her recent change to director for Baptist
World Aid for the Baptist World Alliance.
In west Texas, leaders at First Baptist Church of Midland, became
aware of a large number of Chin refugees relocating to their
medium-sized city located between El Paso and Ft. Worth. After meeting
with Chin pastor Duh Ceu, the historic church actively began meeting the
refugees’ practical needs, such as transportation, language and
citizenship preparation classes, clothing, food and so forth.
In September 2011 the church joined in a covenant with Basin Baptist
Network, Crestview Baptist Church and the Baptist General Convention of
Texas to sponsor Midland Chin Baptist Church as a new language church
start.
At the beginning of 2012, First Baptist Midland provided a place of
worship for the Chin congregation, which consistently welcomes close to
300 people on Sunday mornings, according to associate minister of
missions Hank Henry.
“God is blessing the church,” said pastor Duh Ceu, who also served as
a pastor in his native Burma, in Malaysia where he lived for a little
more than two years and in Spokane, Washington, where he first settled
in the United States. The 37-year-old pastor expressed appreciation for
all that his new Baptist friends in Texas have done to help the young
but growing congregation.
The influx of Burmese refugees into Canada has similarly surged, with
as many as 3,500 Karen refugees settling in Canada since 2006.
Six years ago, according to Sheldon Dyck, pastor of First Baptist
Church London in Ontario, “We witnessed about 100 Karen refugees
literally show up at our church.
“They came to our church because of their Christian faith and Baptist
roots and also because there were a few Karen people already in our
church who would welcome them and who would help as translators.”
Since that time the church has intentionally tried to help the
refugees with practicalities of tasks such as settling into new homes
and finding jobs. While the Karen children and youth have been
integrated into the church’s established children and youth programs,
the Karen have their own language worship service.
“We had been praying that God would guide us in our mission in
London. We see the arrival of the Karen refugees as an answer to our
prayers. But what is wonderful is that the Karen community sees our
church as an answer to their prayers. They were praying that they would
find a receptive Christian community in Canada.
“The Karen community has been a tangible reminder to our church of
how we are invited to live beyond ourselves,” explained pastor Dyck.
A little more than 100 miles south of London, Ontario, Baptists in
Windsor, Ontario, also welcomed an influx of Karen refugees into their
community. Grace Baptist Church in Windsor, led by pastor Stan Mantle,
immediately mobilized to help the newcomers.
Doing so seemed to be a natural fit for this church’s personality.
Almost 40 years ago, the church intentionally chose to join an
English-speaking congregation with a Czech congregation to create a
bi-cultural church.
Today, in addition to English, Slovak and Serbo-Croatian services,
the church hosts a Karen language service, led by a Karen deacon in the
congregation. Typically the Karen attend the church’s English worship
service at 11:00 a.m. and then also participate in their Karen language
service at 12:45 p.m.
“We have been inspired by the tenacious faith and devotion of people in upheaval and transition,” said pastor Mantle.
Working with internationals, including the Karen, has “blessed,” “challenged” and “rejuvenated” his church, he added.
“It (outreach to the Karen) has brought us some wonderful new friends
and partners with whom to labor together side-by-side for the Lord,” he
said.
Church renewal is not an uncommon benefit for churches willing to reach out to refugees, according to Chhangte.
Acknowledging that Christians are “’supposed’ to show hospitality to
those in need,” Chhangte said that such obedience to the gospel has its
rewards.
As North American Baptists welcome fellow Baptists from Burma into
their congregation, the refugees “help many times renew the life of a
church spiritually simply by their presence. Many churches have grown
and found new life,” she said.
Retired
Colgate Professor Thomas Brackett (white hat) visits refugees in the
Kutupalong Refugee Camp in Bangladesh during a recent mission trip.
Over the past 15 years, two retired Colgate University professors have
raised more than $2 million to improve the lives of Burmese refugees
living in Thailand, northeast India and Bangladesh. 
