Refugee and Migration Ministries Multimedia Resources

Training for UCC Churches: Serving Afghan Refugees

Category(s): Training for UCC Churches - Serving Afghan Refugees

This hour and a half training builds on the new toolkit Welcoming and Advocating for Afghan SIVs and Other Afghan Refugees, tailored for UCC congregations that want to engage effectively in support for Afghan SIVs and other Afghan refugees being resettled to the United States.

The training includes stories and insights from refugees resettled by UCC churches, UCC churches who have built successful refugee ministries, and migration professionals concerning effective ways that churches can make an impact. Presenters will include Seo Conrad, a former refugee from Laos; Rev. Carolyn Lambert from the Maine Council of Churches; Irene W. Hassan of UCC Refugee and Migration Services; Katie Adams of the UCC Washington, D.C. Domestic Policy Advocacy Office; and Erol Kekic of Church World Service.

Ramadan in a New Country Part 4: Racism and Islam in the Refugee Resettlement System

Category(s): Cultural Competency

This workshop will close out the Lentan journey we’ve spent together navigating the religious culture of 70% of the world’s current refugees. The topic of “racism” may feel slightly left field from our conversations on culture; however, the “otherness” of refugees transitioning from Islamic countries into predominantly white/Christian countries plays a significant role in the humanitarian aid process. By your willingness to engage with the discomfort of entering the foreign context of the refugees you’re hosting, you are breaking an important cycle that exists in the international refugee resettlement structure.

Serving Afghan Refugees

Category(s): Trainings for UCC Churches - Afghan Crisis

This hour and a half training builds on the new toolkit Welcoming and Advocating for Afghan SIVs and Other Afghan Refugees, tailored for UCC congregations that want to engage effectively in support for Afghan SIVs and other Afghan refugees being resettled to the United States.

Refugee Boundary Training & NEW Match Grant Opportunity

Category(s): Trainings for UCC Churches - Refugee Engagement

Boundary training to help churches orient priority goals and challenges that may be occurring; for example, how to approach hesitancy to find a job, or asking for things that may be beyond the scope of your church’s commitment to offer.

Ramadan in a New Country – Part 3: Lent, Advent, and Ramadan

Category(s): Cultural Competency

Rev. Mark Pettis, Manager for Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations at UCC National, will be joining us for a conversation on Lent and Ramadan as fasting practices. This session will be intended to examine ways we grow our own spirituality and faith while in earnest engagement with the other.

Ramadan in a New Country – Part 2: Islam & Women, The “Stuff” of Ramadan

Category(s): Cultural Competency

This session addresses questions about possible gender dynamics in the families you’re hosting, and how to navigate cultural differences. We also touch on culturally appropriate objects to make Ramadan happy and familiar for new migrants.

Ramadan in a New Country – Part 1: Intro to Islam and Ramadan

Category(s): Cultural Competency

We will be hosting a 4-week series on Ramadan, the holy month of the Islamic Calendar that is set to begin April 2, 2022. Many churches who are hosting Afghan families and other Middle East-African refugees will need some training and awareness around Ramadan. These workshops will create space for churches to prepare for behavioral changes in their sponsored families, connections to local mosques, sensitivity to trauma incurred by the first major holiday in a foreign land that doesn’t recognize the holiday, etc., will be essential for maintaining a good relationship with sponsored families as well as increasing the sponsored families’ ability to integrate successfully into their communities.

March 2022 Trauma Informed Reflection Meeting: “Toxic Charity” with Chaplain MacArthur Flournoy

Category(s): Trauma Informed Care

March 2022 Trauma Informed Reflection Meeting: “Toxic Charity” with Chaplain MacArthur Flournoy
Chaplain MacArthur will be sharing discernment strategies around “giving stuff” — when it’s helpful or when it can make the problem worse. For example, maybe your congregation is considering getting your refugee family a car – is it helpful for getting to work, or will it further increase isolation for your family? How do we have a conversation with our churches and our sponsored families around the “stuff” that they ask for? This conversation will be based on the best-selling book by Robert Lupton, “Toxic Charity: How Churches and Charities Hurt Those They Help.

February 2022 Trauma Informed Reflection Meeting: Inviting Refugees to Speak on Trauma

Category(s): Trauma Informed Care

Rev. Noel Andersen, Director of Community Organizing for Church World Service presenting on how to safely discern if and how to ask a person who has experienced trauma to speak out their experience, both one on one and publicly.

January 2022 Trauma Informed Reflection Meeting: Cultural Humility vs. Cultural Competency

Category(s): Trauma Informed Care

Cultural Humility vs Cultural Competency with Southern New England Conference Staff, Rev. James Ross III and Rev. Elizabeth Garrigan-Byerly