In This Issue: Youth Groups Meet Refugees
- Youth Groups, Refugees and … Beads
- Yes … BEADS!
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Practical Mobilization by Shane Bennett is published once a month.
Youth Groups, Refugees and… Beads
The furtive glances, cast at me from beneath lowered eyebrows; the whispered questions beginning just as I passed; the gathering of children to mothers as I approached all spoke clearly that I didn’t belong here. This was not my neighborhood and these people were not my tribe. A Muslim city in the Middle East? A tribal group in a remote jungle? No, this was Hobby Lobby, a craft supply emporium, and if I can say this without being sexist: a girl store. At least that’s how it felt to me.
So what was I doing in Hobby Lobby? I was on a bead quest (This may be why I was projecting the gender weirdness: I wasn’t on a quest to slay a dragon. I wasn’t chopping down trees or transplanting a heart. I was looking for brightly colored bits of glass or plastic!) I was bead hunting to try out an idea that I’ll tell you about at the end of this article. The bead idea came to me in the midst of one of the funniest weeks of my life.
If you’ve been a Practical Mobilization follower for awhile you may remember me asking, ranting, whining, and dreaming about an introductory short-term mission project for young people that was both domestic and focused on relationship-building among unreached peoples. Thanks be to God: early in July the Bennett family teamed up with a youth group from Colorado, some local experts in the Chicago area, and some beautiful refugees from Sudan, Somalia, Iran, and Russia to spend a wonderful week chatting about Jesus and what it looks like to follow Him. I’d been hoping to do this for a long time and felt hugely blessed to see it finally come together. Looking back on the week, I’d like to share with you five things that I think really worked and five things that need tweaking before the next go-around.
Stuff that worked
1. Kids connected.
The key hope I carried for this type of project was that our youth-group kids would get their first taste of cross-cultural interaction with people from unreached nations. I wanted them to form relationships of such significance that they’d feel some pain at the end of the week. Granted, you can only go so far in five days, but kids did connect.
2. Trust was built.
A wise World Relief worker told our kids at and “end of the week” debrief, “I want you to know what you’ve done this week. It’s been significant. No one will trust Christ without first trusting a Christian. And you’ve helped these Somali kids to trust Christians.” Trusting relationships were forged as we shared life with the kids; as we played games, sang songs, put Band-aids on scrapes, and basically gave of ourselves.
3. Kids worked hard and well.
The actual activities we engaged in, back-yard Bible clubs, reading to children, leading in games and songs, were things our youth could jump into and perform well. The schedule (working in two groups each morning, lunch all together, working in the afternoon all together, and dinner as one group) helped keep us moving, but was not overwhelming. I believe our kids came away with a sense of success and accomplishment.
4. The local help rocked.
A key component of the project’s success consisted of sharp, committed people on site who gave significantly of their gifts, facilities, and connections. I’d love to list their names and organizations and even show you photos, but I need to respect their privacy. (There will be a party for them in Heaven and you’re invited!) Our local friends arranged for housing and food to be largely handled by church families. This helped both logistically and financially. We had hoped to serve ongoing efforts, not be a drag on them. I think (you can ask at the party mentioned above to confirm!) that we did serve what was desired by our local friends and, in some cases, already in motion. As such, we enjoyed the service we received, sensing we were in the midst of good partnership, together serving common desires.
5. Families survived and contributed.
When I was single I didn’t think as much about families on short-term projects (I’m quite egocentric!). For this trip, two families with kids from diapers to teens participated, along with several mom-and-dad-and-a-couple-of-older-kid combinations. While families provide added challenge, the contribution these made to the effort and the work God did in them, make me quite willing to take families again.
Things that need to be tweaked or considered before we give it another go
1. Can additional content be pumped into team kids in this context?
Here are the four main questions I wanted kids to deal with during our week among refugees and immigrants:
- What does God dream for these people?
- How are these people beautiful?
- How can we connect with them?
- Why should we care to connect?
I’m not sure to what extent the kids really wrestled with these issues. It’s possible that we should re-work the schedule, allowing some significant time in the morning for instruction. Maybe take time to creatively convey some of the key concepts from the Perspectives course.
2. Are there better ways to connect with immigrants and refugees in a one-week time frame?
Our approach was to host a back-yard Bible club and invite kids. The curriculum we used should probably be adjusted to best communicate to our audience. Maybe the over-riding question here is Are we aiming for evangelism, telling a valuable message? Or church planting, beginning long-term relationships, establishing trust, building bridges that may result in whole families finding God’s way for them to live under Christ’s lordship?
3. Where else could something like this happen?
Since the guys we worked with will likely have three youth groups clamoring for a week or two of their time next summer, I’m wondering where else this type of project might work. That is, where it would contribute to ongoing efforts and provide a significant experience for the kids who participate. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. Particularly if you’re working with immigrants and refugees and could use a group of diligent youth to help out for a week next summer, please let me know at [email protected].
4. Could the kids be better trained?
Even though I have high regard for our training, I want to revisit it with a critical eye. I wonder if we should have spent a little more time teaching the kids the basics of Islam before throwing them into an Islamic culture. We may also want to plan time for ongoing training once we’re onsite. We bumped into some interesting people groups and maybe should have spent time helping the kids understand who we were hanging out with.
5. Could the preparation have gone more effectively?
Oh my, here’s a lesson I’ll take away: Start earlier! Set early deadlines! Get and communicate pertinent information sooner. I dropped the ball on all of these. Thankfully, all sorts of sins can get covered by “It’s a pilot project. We’ll do better next time.” Now if, after reading all of this, you’re saying, “Wow, I don’t want to do that,” I don’t blame you! But, if you think you might like to give it a go and I could be of help, let me know. I’d love to chat with you about it.
Yes…BEADS!
Now for the bead idea: Remember the Wordless Book? We used an amended bead version of the Wordless Book for our backyard Bible club. As I thought about it, looking ahead to a week-long speaking event I was soon heading to, it occurred to me that five beads on a safety pin could also be used to help us remember five under-evangelized blocks of humanity – Tribals, Hindus, Unreligious, Muslim, and Buddhist peoples (THUMB).
Mid-week at the New Wilmington Mission Conference, when we reached the THUMB part of the lesson, I presented the beads. Since I rarely (maybe never?) have an original idea, I borrowed not only from the Wordless Book, but also from the Lord’s Supper. I had five volunteers each hold a handful of a single color of bead. As people filed past and picked them up, the volunteers would say, “This represents Christ’s body among Tribals. . .” or the group corresponding to whatever color they held.
While my hopes for a reverent, communion-type atmosphere were hampered by lack of preparation on my part and the occasional bead zinging across the room launched by a springing safety pin, the people in the class got the point. Hopefully the beaded pin will remind them to lift up our soon-to-be brothers and sisters before God.
Questions? Problems? Submissions? Contact publisher/managing editor Marti Smith.