Presbyterian Refugee Ministry Network

Several Presbyterian congregations in the metro area are working actively to support refugee families, and other Central Iowa churches have expressed interest in participating as well. However, the opportunities and resources of rural churches are different than those in cities and larger communities. Over the past few months, the Presbytery has become increasingly aware of the importance for collaboration between churches to maximize our ability to respond.

On August 5th representatives from several Iowa Presbyterian Churches gathered in Ames to share their experiences with refugee families and agencies. This effort is, at least for now, called Presbyterian Refugee Ministry Network. The meeting was coordinated by Amgad Beblawi from our Presbytery, and Sheryl Puderbaugh and Roger Dahl. In the past, Westminster worked with United States Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (“USCRI”), assisting with the resettlement of a refugee family in the Des Moines area. Both Candy Nardini and Jim Holcomb thought that in this instance USCRI did not perform up to our hopes/expectations. There are perhaps ten or so other federally approved resettlement agencies, including Catholic Charities and Lutheran Refugee Services.

At the Ames meeting, representatives began a discussion of ways in which a network of Iowa Presbyterian congregations, both rural and urban, could be built to collaborate and support refugee resettlement and ongoing refugee assistance. Anyone interested in participating in the ongoing development of this Presbyterian mission effort can contact Jim, Candy, or Susan Denton in the church office at 515-274-1534.