International Christian Community and Network of Greater Dayton

Paul Hemminger
Feb 23, 2024
2 min read

Updated: Sep 30

Opportunity: About 26,000 immigrants live in Montgomery County. Learn more Here. These are souls, stories, and assets that breathe life, color, and beauty into our city.

These people are Jesus, Mary, and Joseph escaping to Egypt. How we welcome and love them is how we love Christ, "When I was a Stranger, you Welcomed Me.".

Problem: Many immigrants and refugees lack hospitable welcome, support, and connection to the Body of Christ or each other in Christian Community.

Strategy:

Map those currently and want to engage with international people, immigrants and refugees. Please Fill This Out.
Regularly connect in prayer, celebration, and support. Gather to encourage the workers and invite others to get involved.

Ideas to Support through the Church:

Wraparound Support:

Mobilize the Church to wraparound refugee families by creating Neighborhood Support Teams through WelcomeNST.

English as a Second Language (ESL):

Map ESL Classes throughout Greater Dayton. Populate them with volunteers or create them via Festa.

Work:

Help immigrants launch food businesses through Church's commercial kitchens in partnership with ChurchSpace.
Populate Ethnosh Restaurant Directory and support immigrant-run restaurants with individual and collective purchasing.
Help local businesses (mostly manufacturing) sign-up with VeroSkills to attract and be equipped to retain immigrant talent. Help local non-profits and churches steward these opportunities.
Connect with Dayton Equity Center to access other workforce development opportunities.
Connect Christian mission-minded employers to Kingdom Workforce Development Network to be in community that best recruits and retains immigrants.

Storytelling and Bridge-Building:

Create video series of local immigrants like See Their Stories or World Relief's Stories of Welcome. or Their Story is Our Story.
Host and record in-person storytelling gatherings of immigrants similar to how The Hearth does Community Development Storytelling events. See video.
Create a local video podcast of immigrants and refugees in Dayton who simply share their stories. Seeking a similar podcast/platform.