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"The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt." —Leviticus 19:34 (NIV)
Riverton Park United Methodist Church in Tukwila has become home and center for services to a constantly growing number of asylum seekers arriving mostly from Angola, Congo, and Venezuela. According to Jan Bolerjack, Riverton’s pastor, the church is currently housing about 350 persons both inside the sanctuary (two persons per twin mattress) and outside in tents. These are professional people—doctors, healthcare workers, pharmacists, and the like, granted entry to the US and sent here to await a hearing on their application for asylum—which could mean a wait of anywhere from three to six months. They arrive as families and singles—men and women.
Riverton Park is currently caring for about 1,000 persons. Beside the roughly 350 staying at the church, many others are lodged in places that agencies and others have made available on a temporary basis. Those who are housed elsewhere come daily to Riverton to cook and/or to get services like health care, information on navigating our government systems, and needed supplies. The church has TEN—that’s right, just TEN—members, and they are overwhelmed with this ministry and the needs. Yet they vow it’s their Christian ministry—welcoming the stranger, feeding the hungry—so they persist. AND they need help.
Let’s act:
- Riverton Park gladly accepts donations of money to help them provide needed supplies to their guests.
o Click here to purchase items from their Amazon Wish List
o Click here to make a donation
- Say a prayer of comfort for both the volunteers at Riverton Park and for their guests.
- Discuss with friends what the Bible’s charge to welcome the immigrant and the stranger means to you. What can you do to help increase understanding and compassion?
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