WELCOMING the Stranger
Short stories about embracing our immigrant and refugee neighbors.*
Beloved Community by Marc Wyatt CBF Advocate for Refugees and Immigrants and Welcome House Community Network Co-Founder
Marc and his wife, Kim, are CBF field personnel serving in the Raleigh area to partner with churches and individuals to welcome and love their international neighbors. In collaboration with CBFNC, refugee agencies and partner churches, they co-founded the Welcome House Community Network—a network of seven Welcome Houses established across North Carolina and Tennessee and two apartments that are used for ESL instruction and other ministries. To learn more, email: mkwyatt@cbfnc.org.
*Some of the names in the following stories have been changed for security and privacy reasons. 10 | The Gathering
Fall 2020
M
ujib came to live at Welcome House under a Special Immigrant Visa from the U.S. Military. He risked his life for many years interpreting and helping with military logistics in his home country of Afghanistan. Not long after arriving here, he met Gary. Gary and his wife, Roberta, are volunteers at Welcome House. They invited Mujib to their church, Tabernacle Baptist in Raleigh. Mujib had never been to church before. It was a first for him. He’d never heard Christians pray, or followed the words of a hymn with his finger while the congregation sang, or listened to a sermon, or shook hands with the preacher after church before that first Sunday. Mujib soon began calling Tabernacle Baptist his church. I was frankly surprised. I mean there are a lot of churches in our area; why that one, the only one he’d visited? I’m pretty sure it was because it was his friend’s church. It was the beloved community that welcomed him in. Well, it didn’t take long for the church to consider Mujib one of theirs, either. He soon stopped being the guy from a faraway country where folks worship God differently and speak a different language. He was Mujib, their friend and faithful visitor from Welcome House. Continued at the bottom of page 11.
