Karen refugees bring blessings of new life to ABCUSA congregations
Interim pastor, Rev. Kenneth Hunt, First Baptist Church in Huron, S.D.
First Baptist Church in Huron, S. D., was in need of a miracle.
When so many of the church's younger members moved to other parts of the country for better jobs, First Baptist was left with a dwindling, aging congregation. According to interim pastor, Rev. Kenneth Hunt, First Baptist faced an uncertain future. And so, in November 2007, Pastor Hunt and about 40 remaining members began praying:
"Lord, help us to bring in new members to revitalize our church congregation. Help us to replace those missing generations in our church body. We want to honor you for years to come."
As Hunt and his congregation lifted up that prayer, they could not have imagined how God would answer. Some 257 miles away, God was already speaking to the heart of Bill Englund, pastor of First Baptist Church in Saint Paul, Minn. At the time, neither Hunt nor Englund knew each other. But in the Kingdom of God, there are no chance meetings, only divine appointments. Englund picked up the phone and called Hunt.
Englund recalls, "I had heard that a group of Karen people, who had been very faithful in our church, were headed to South Dakota to work at a processing plant in Huron and they were looking for a church. So I called First Baptist. I didn't know anyone at the church…it was a blind call."
First Baptist in Saint Paul has been actively helping to resettle Karen refugees from Burma for about eight years. The congregation started with a single family; now Karen families makeup more than half of the 200-some worshippers at church on Sundays. Church membership totals about 400.
Baptism service and reception at the First Baptist Church of Huron.
Once a "dying church" itself, First Baptist of Saint Paul now bustles with the activity of more than 100 Karen children attending Sunday school; three Karen congregations are hosted by the church--First Karen Baptist Church, which has its own building, and First Burma Christ Church and Karen Baptist Fellowship which meet and worship at First Baptist.
In the Mid-American ABCUSA region, First Baptist of Saint Paul (FBSP) plays a huge role in helping Karen families re-settle in the United States. FBSP assists Karen families with housing, transportation and car loans, and provides each family with a welcome basket (valued at $200) that contains a rice cooker, a 50-pound bag of rice and other basic household goods.
FBSP has also started a music academy, with the help of a community partner, to train 40 Karen and American youth in guitar, music history, voice and choir. Over several years, National Ministries, International Ministries and the ABCUSA Office of the General Secretary have provided some $20,000 in resettlement grants and other assistance to support the work of FBSP.
Englund's enthusiasm for the work that lies ahead is greater than the challenge: "We desire to continue to serve and partner with this Karen population that has been such a blessing to us. The overwhelming numbers [of Karen] that have arrived have been and continue to be a challenge. We hope to continue this transforming partnership of American and Karen folk working together to create a truly multicultural, multiethnic First Baptist church."
Meanwhile, back at First Baptist of Huron (FBOH), the call from Pastor Englund came exactly one month after Hunt's prayer.
The music academy choir in rehearsal and worship at the First Baptist Church in St. Paul
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"I was blown away. I prayed and God answered so quickly. I didn't know exactly what it meant but I was excited. Real ministry dropped right in our laps in the middle of South Dakota helping people that really need help," Hunt explains.
Hunt contacted the Karen spokesperson as Englund suggested and soon 15-20 Karen people came to South Dakota to meet with him. "They said, 'Here's who we are. We'd like ESL classes and to worship.' They asked all the right questions to find out if our church was right for them," Hunt recalls.
By December 2007, they started coming. First 20, then 45, and now FBOH has about 55 Karen attending church each Sunday. FBOH is expecting five to 12 new Karen families to arrive in the coming year. Overall, church attendance has grown to about 85, and they now have a nursery.
With Hunt's gentle nudging, some of the older members of the church have "adopted" younger Karen families whose parents and elders are still in Burma. In addition, FBOH has also been able to send 10 Karen youth to Camp Judson in the Black Hills, with the help of a $1,000 grant from National Ministries and the region.
"I know that God is blessing this place—the people are coming, the generations are here. Not only did he bring fresh people, he brought a fresh Christian people. These Christians are teaching our older Christians how to be Christians again. They are breathing [new] life into each other. I see the coming together of a multi-cultural church; this is something that God did. It's pretty amazing and a total answer to prayer," Hunt observed.
And what does Hunt's "older" congregation make of all this fuss over the newcomers?
As one member, Alene Johnson, put it, "We are thrilled that God had answered our prayers in such a dynamic way. Our Karen brothers and sisters are beautiful people, shy and unassuming, genuine in their faith. There is new life, young and vital life and a greater love of Christ in this once "dying" church. We thank God for bringing us more of his children and allowing us to celebrate his love for us in such a real way."
"God's sovereign work plus man's obedience brings the touch of God to needy human lives" an excerpt from ACTS: The Church Afire by R. Kent Hughes
