Tag: world relief

While Gonzaga hosts a screening of a climate change documentary and 350 Spokane Interfaith Committee wants to help churches and faith communities really understand the climate crisis, the Carl Maxey Center announces their acting executive director, the Spokane Police Department gains a refugee volunteer officer, Sravasti Abbey hosts a Sharing the Dharma Day, and so much more in this week’s Religion News Roundup.

Spokane is a sizable city, but we’re insular. We’re often referred to as the largest city between Minneapolis and Seattle, but dominated as we are by majority culture, it can be difficult for us to see our connection to the multi-ethnic world.

Refugees cross imposing physical barriers, like the Rio Grande River; I crossed a mountain range. I don’t know what it’s like to live as a persecuted minority, but now I have some appreciation for what someone must endure to take on such a challenging journey.

This week, I will raise funds for refugee resettlement and call attention to refugees’ stories by participating in World Relief’s Sea-Tri-Kan bike ride.

World Relief Seattle is fundraising and recruiting cyclists to participate in its annual bike ride across the state to collect money for refugees settling in Washington. The bike ride, called SEA TRI KAN (STK), begins on June 20 and continues through the 24th.

Rich Stearns, head of World Vision, the evangelical relief and development group, says Christians should follow a model pioneered by Chaldean churches in Iraq’s Kurdistan region in which displaced people are treated as “guests” not refugees.

My heart hurts as we watch thousands of Syrian refugees run for their lives.