(Mobile, AL) - During late September and early October,
Dauphin Way United Methodist Church invited its congregation to make a special offering to support the United Methodist Church's ministry among the refugee crisis in Europe and the Middle East. To date, Dauphin Way has received $8,500 to care for those in need around the world. Dauphin Way’s Co-Senior Pastor
Jeff Wilson states, “The recent refugee crisis has become a controversial political topic in many areas. But the care of refugees is a theological issue. It is about living out the biblical call to love our neighbors.”
Jeff Wilson says he was challenged by the words of Jesus in Matthew 25 regarding the final judgment:
‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?' Then he (the king) will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ “We believe the refugees fleeing from Syria and other war-torn countries are among ‘the least of these’ in our generation,” explains Wilson. “We have a biblical responsibility to care for them.”
In addition to supporting refugee ministries in Mobile, the offering is being divided among the three United Methodist ministries: The United Methodist Committee on Relief and its work with refugees throughout the Middle East; The Central and Southern Europe Annual Conference as it cares for refugees in Macedonia; and Inspire United Methodist Church in Chemnitz, Germany, where Dauphin Way friend and missionary partner Rev. Barry Sloan is leading his congregation in caring for refugees arriving in their community. Co-Senior Pastor
Robin Wilson explains the decision to divide the offering among four different ministries: “We wanted to make a difference here in Mobile by supporting ongoing refugee ministries in our community. We also wanted to support the global United Methodist Church, while educating our congregation about the ways our United Methodist partners were already in ministry among the least, the last, and the lost.”
Robin Wilson concludes, “Our scriptural mandate to care for the refugees, the aliens, the strangers is as much about who we are – the people of God – as it is about who they are – children of God in need.”
