Partnership Puts Love Into Action

In the fall of 2021, dozens of Afghan families moved into Owensboro, Kentucky. Like many cities across the United States, Owensboro was already facing a housing crisis; it wasn’t that the rent was too high, but the choices too few. 

Thanks to a 10-year connection with the International Center (the local office for refugee resettlement), First Christian Church of Owensboro knew they could help—and they asked Week of Compassion to come alongside with a support grant, allowing them to do even more. ​

An email update from Outreach co-chair Ginger Norris told the story of a community coming together: collecting household items and furniture, organizing donation storage, providing warehouse space, persuading property owners to make units available, coordinating business donations, and driving families to and from appointments and work. 

When the expected number of new residents doubled, housing needs became even greater, as did the need for cooking facilities (which hotels couldn’t provide). FCC made their church kitchen available “six nights a week for Afghan cooking teams to come and prepare communal meals to take back to the hotel. The local Islamic Center as well as the Islamic Center in Evansville provided some of the food for the cooking teams – particularly the halal meat. Local farmers provided some of the fresh produce. … The key word for this resettlement movement has been flexibility.”

Read more about Owensboro’s welcome of new neighbors in this NYTimes article.

Partnership putting love into action is at the heart of Week of Compassion’s ministry, around the world, around the year.

Senior Minister Chris Michael rejoices at the church’s compassionate response: “I will say this: This church and community has been wonderful to welcome Afghan Muslims into our space. As you might imagine, I have had lots of conversations about who we are helping and why it is this difficult and demanding of our faith. What does it mean to be Christian in such a small world? Do we really mean it when we say we welcome all just as Christ welcomes us? It's a really different thing to answer those questions with Afghan Muslims cooking in your church kitchen.”