"The whole reason why I did this is because I felt like the church should be the first people who step forward and welcome immigrants and refugees. We should be the first ones stepping up and doing this," said Rev. Cory Thrall, leader of Mission Bismarck, who has connected to Ukrainians settling in Bismarck, North Dakota.
Mission Bismarck is a community-based church plant that allows people to interact and impact the community positively.
Mission Bismarck New Church Start is located in Dakotas Annual Conference.
One group of people that Mission Bismarck is reaching are Ukrainians living in the community. The job market has brought people from Ukraine to North Dakota. This year, the Bismarck area has seen 200 refugees from Ukraine under the Uniting for Ukraine program.
"North Dakota brings in workers because we have a worker shortage. Recently, because of the war with Russia, Ukraine is a very unsafe place, especially on the border. North Dakota has opened the door because of the oil fields and shortage of workers," said Thrall.
Bismarck Global Neighbors, a non-profit group, helps immigrants when they arrive. They assist with paperwork, finding housing, and jobs. The organization serves as a resource for all immigrants.
"Bismarck Global Neighbors is my main point of contact. The original idea was for Mission Bismarck to work with lots of different immigration groups, offer a meal from different countries, and invite all its global neighbors. One night, we would have a meal from the Philippines, and our Filipino immigrants would share their culture and food. The only group that responded to me were the Ukrainians," said Pastor Cory.
Building trust with the Ukrainian community in Bismarck was the first step for Pastor Cory. He met with Natalia, a coordinator for the Ukrainians with Bismarck Global Neighbors.
"I met with Natalia at a coffee shop. She asks, 'Who are you? What do you want from me?' I told her I was a pastor trying to connect with people. I asked her about the needs of the Ukrainian people in Bismarck. She said, 'We need to learn to drive. We need cars. We need boots, beds, and bikes. We need a place to sell things. Every Ukrainian woman loves to bake and make things, and we need a place to sell these goods.' I told her we can do all those things," said Pastor Cory. "We started with driving lessons. I've got a group of eight Ukrainians, and we meet at various times for driving lessons."
Mission Bismarck has partnered with Legacy United Methodist Church in Bismarck to collect diapers, snow boots, and winter coats. When beds were needed, a call went out, and the beds showed up. People are looking online in the community forums for reasonably priced bikes. Pastor Cory and volunteers repair the bikes and get them ready to use.
A date to hold a farmer's market at Legacy UMC, where items from the Ukrainian community will be sold, is in the works.
The Ukrainian refugees in Bismarck came with faith but no place to live and grow in their faith.
"One of the things that Natalia requested was a place for people to go, a faith home. We invited them to Legacy UMC and searched for a translator. Now we have translation services.
The hope is to build the connection and tell Jesus stories in all languages to all people. What that looks like differs for each partnership community and will change over time.
"The larger hope in that is through the partnership, we connect and meet people where they are," said Pastor Cory.
excerpt from a story by Doreen Gosmire, director of communications, Dakotas UMC
This story represents how United Methodist local churches through their Annual Conferences are living as Vital Congregations. A vital congregation is the body of Christ making and engaging disciples for the transformation of the world. Vital congregations are shaped by and witnessed through four focus areas: calling and shaping principled Christian leaders; creating and sustaining new places for new people; ministries with poor people and communities; and abundant health for all.
