Protests Lead to Refugee Ministry in Germany

Jeff Ingram • Oct 12, 2015

After the tragic murder of Khalid, a refugee from Eritrea in Germany, two missionaries were called into action and found themselves intersecting with Khalid's story in a surprising way. Photo by Jeff Ingram


The global refugee crisis presents new opportunities for Christians to share the gospel in word and deed. As critical needs grow, TEAM missionaries continue to partner with the local church to welcome the nations arriving on their doorstep. This month we are sharing these testimonies and hope you will follow along on TEAM’s social media and blog. 


Today, Jeff Ingram, worker in Germany, gives his first-hand account of an event that made headlines earlier this year and shares how God has continued to involve his family in refugee ministry. 


One Monday evening in January 2015, my wife and I went mattress shopping in downtown Dresden. After plying the salesman with questions, we left the department store to catch the Nr. 9 tram home. As we exited the store, we found ourselves blocked in by six police vans parked bumper to bumper just outside the store’s door. We tried to squeeze between the bumpers to cross the street to the tram stop, while policemen in riot gear eyed us suspiciously.


Dresden has been making international headlines because of its burgeoning PEGIDA (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West) marches, which calls for stricter immigration laws, particularly among Muslims. We were aware that PEGIDA had been holding its marches and demonstrations on Monday evenings—we just didn’t figure they would march down the street in front of the department store we were shopping at. Bad timing on our part.


In opposition, a group of about 100 anti-PEGIDA demonstrators ran right in front of us and sat down in the middle of the street, attempting to block the 25,000 PEGIDA marchers headed our way.


They chanted, “Say it loud, say it clear, refugees are welcome here!”


Just then an extremely large firecracker exploded. A group of policemen took off after some anti-PEGIDA demonstrators. Hundreds of PEGIDA marchers were filing by and the two groups began trading insults and yelling at each other. The atmosphere was tense, like a powder keg about to explode. At that point we decided to start walking to another tram stop—away from the demonstration—so we could get home safely.


The next morning we learned that a refugee from Eritrea, who lived just a 10-minute walk from our apartment, had been stabbed to death. Anti-PEGIDA supporters assumed quickly that Khalid’s murder was racially motivated and had probably been committed by a PEGIDA supporter.

“We feel with you!” The community rallied to demonstrate their support and remembrance of Khalid. Photo by Jeff Ingram

 

Before the police could even cordon off the crime scene, Dresden residents were placing candles and notes outside his apartment building. They even held a “Remember Khalid” march; thousands of Dresden residents participated. (As it turned out, Khalid had been stabbed by one of his own roommates after fighting about the household budget, a sad reflection of the hard lives and violent homelands of these young refugees).

R.I.P. Khalid
Photo by Jeff Ingram


There is a silver lining to this cloud of suspicion, misunderstanding, prejudice and fear in Dresden: The PEGIDA marches and Khalid’s murder have thrust the heart-breaking plight of refugees into the public spotlight. As a result, many Dresden residents have become aware of the immigration issues, responded positively and have been offering to get involved helping refugees.

Apartment buildings in Dresden.
Photo by Jeff Ingram

 

In the weeks prior to Khalid’s murder, my wife, Anne, had been walking through this neighborhood with its massive, communist-era block apartment buildings and praying:


“Lord, how do we get to know the people in these buildings? Surely most belong to the 80% of Dresden residents with no religious affiliation. What could we do to reach some of these people for Christ?“


As we began to read the newspaper reports and learn about this issues, Anne and I sent inquiries to city officials asking how we and perhaps our new church could get involved in refugee ministry personally. Not long thereafter, Anne and Ilona, a woman on our church planting team, discovered the SPIKE youth center located in the neighborhood where Khalid was murdered.

SPIKE youth center
Photo by Jeff Ingram

 

Anne hadn’t seen SPIKE on her prayer walk, but the Lord had already set up an opportunity there. On her first visit at SPIKE she helped three young Eritrean men practice German who, unbeknownst to her, had been Khalid’s roommates!


Two weeks later, Anne and I were invited to an informational meeting by the Kurdish-German social worker responsible for the 200+ refugees in our area. As a result of that meeting, we were asked to “adopt” or sponsor three small groups of Eritreans—the same men Anne had helped with German that first evening at SPIKE!


As we entered their apartment building for the first time to check out the stove that wasn’t working properly, we thanked God for answering our prayer: He was opening a door in the very neighborhood where Anne had walked and prayed. Not only that: We’re also providing a service to the city’s understaffed social workers who are working with limited resources to help scared refugees integrate into a city that isn’t sure it wants them.

Bridging Dissonance: Finding Connection in Music and the Gospel

By Emily Sheddan • 18 Jul, 2024
TEAM worker Luke Standridge and his fellow musicians use music to build connections to faith in Japan. In music terms, dissonance creates movement or even suspense in a song. It invites tension. That tension is what helps grab our ear’s attention and the interchanging of these notes with pleasant melodious parts is what makes music such a delight. In a similar way, God is using music to grab people’s attention and catalyze Gospel impact in the largely unreached nation of Japan. TEAM Global Worker, Luke Standridge moved to Japan in 2019 with no clear direction on how he was going to use his passion for composing music while doing ministry. However, after Luke got involved with a local church and began developing deep friendships, the Lord opened unimaginable doors for Luke that in time, coordinating his creative skills with sharing the Word. “People Need to Come to Japan!” Growing up as one of ten kids in a family that was heavily involved in ministry and missions, Luke never considered that it would one day be a part of his own journey. In 2016, via a Japanese language learning class in Indiana, Luke and his brother had the opportunity to travel to Japan. Hearing, learning, and using the language in the context of Japanese culture was the goal. While it was Luke’s first international trip – even his first trip on a plane - it was also his first time hearing about the spiritual condition of the Japanese people. “And just through that, God did a huge 180 change on my heart,” says Luke. “More people should come here as global workers. People need to come to Japan!” The call God was laying on Luke’s heart is echoed when looking at the spiritual landscape of Japan. The nation is home to the second largest unreached people group in the world. It is one of the most difficult places for the Gospel to take hold and grow. Japan is also home to a deep and rich culture that prizes creative arts from pottery to ink to music to anime – a fact that would help Luke find his niche in life and ministry. God’s Guiding Hand In the short three-month timespan of that first trip, Luke found that opportunities came naturally to share about life, and people’s curiosity for Christianity grew. “I left Japan knowing I just had to come back,” Luke shares. “Even if I didn’t get back to the same area, I knew Japan was where God wanted me to be.” The Lord is good all the time and all the time the Lord is good. His plans do not fail. Luke returned to Japan in 2019, and less than a week after arriving, he was put in touch with a renowned composer in Japan. The composer saw some of Luke’s music and invited him to help write the music for a beloved in-country animated show. But God wasn’t finished yet! Fast forward a year, and more connections and opportunities allowed Luke to help with music for Pokémon - a franchise that has brand recognition around the world and was being developed into a TV series in Japan. Luke recalls how the Lord began using these connections in the production world to open doors for Gospel conversations. One night while having dinner in downtown Tokyo with famous artists and composers from all around the country, Luke was asked about his ministry-focused visa. This was a rare opportunity in a setting with people otherwise uninterested in Christianity. Luke shares, “The whole time I could see God’s hand in guiding the entire thing.”

Connecting in a New Kind of “Neighborhood”

By Lorena de la Rosa and Suzanne Pearson • 13 Jun, 2024
Through creative arts and other forms of innovative outreach, “The Neighborhood” is creating connections to the Gospel and the love of Jesus. CONNECTION. It’s a common word with powerful implications. Dictionary.com defines connection as a joining or linking together; a relationship between people or objects that unites or binds them together. God has created each of us with a deep need for connection with Him as well as connection with others. Hebrews 10:24-25 speaks to this, as the writer exhorts, “Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” This God-given need for connection lies at the heart of a creative and innovative ministry in Japan known as “The Neighborhood.” TEAM Japan global worker, Kelly and her family created The Neighborhood as a place where connections are formed through creative arts, educational opportunities, and simply just providing a space for people to be together. A Family Calling The journey to the creation of The Neighborhood began over 5,000 miles away from Tokyo, in California where Kelly, her husband Jeff, and their five children were living. The kids were the first to sense God’s calling to missions, and asked why their family wasn’t serving in this way. How Kelly and her family came to TEAM is a God-story in and of itself. “God placed a TEAM Japan worker at our lunch table the same week that the kids posed that question to us,” Kelly recalls. “We had never heard of TEAM and so we thought, ‘let’s check this out.’ After that, God just kept confirming that we were supposed to be here.” After a period of fundraising and with much excitement, the family of seven moved to Japan in 2014. For the first five years, Kelly and Jeff served as a part of other TEAM ministry initiatives, but they began to sense a stirring for something new. Creating The Neighborhood Kelly and her family truly have a deep gift for hospitality, and regularly opened up their home to others they met in Tokyo. They saw a great need for people to have a place to gather and connect, and they wondered what doors the Lord might be opening for them to meet that need. “About a year before we were to return the States on home assignment, we were just really thinking about our future in Japan,” Kelly says. “We saw a need for people to have a ‘third place’ – a place that’s not home and it’s not work. They didn’t have a church community or any other place where they could meet people and just connect.” Kelly goes on to explain that in Japan, the culture is such that people don’t generally invite each other into their homes, but as her family did so, people embraced that opportunity. “This idea formed in all of our hearts of a student ministry center – a place where we can create community and learning,” says Kelly. “It was born out of what we were already doing in our home, but seeing how we could expand it and have better space.” God’s Provision What happened next is a true testament to God’s provision. Kelly, Jeff, and the kids returned to the States and began sharing their vision for The Neighborhood with their supporters and churches who responded generously. Upon returning to Japan, the search was on for the right space. “We had a Christian realtor that we told our dream to, and he just went looking for it,” Kelly recalls. When the realtor found a 5-story apartment building, he said, “It’s kind of out of your budget but it has what you need and want.” The Lord provided the funds and the family moved into the space in November 2019. They now occupy all but the ground floor, with living space for their family as well as classrooms, areas to study or hang out, and guest rooms for exchange students or others who need a place to stay overnight. The first floor is occupied by a pizza shop – a welcome amenity for the many groups and students who visit The Neighborhood. “It’s very convenient!” Kelly says with a laugh. The Neighborhood began to see lots of activity right away until the pandemic hit in early 2020. During the height of the quarantine, Kelly and Jeff used the time to redecorate the space and plant gardens outside the building. Then as the restrictions eased, they invited individual students or families over for meals and fellowship. It wasn’t until March 2023 that The Neighborhood was able to fully open again as intended. Kelly shares that despite the setbacks of COVID, the Lord continued to provide the funds to pay the rent.
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