Posts Tagged ‘Susan Sperry’
Prayer for Syria and Turkey After Devastating Earthquakes
Join World Relief Chicagoland in lifting up a prayer for Syria and Turkey. On February 6, 2023, two earthquakes caused enormous destruction. Currently, thousands of people have died and many thousands more are injured or missing. The process of rebuilding homes, businesses, and lives will take many years.
Within our community at World Relief Chicagoland, this tragedy feels very close to home. Our staff have family members living in both Syria and Turkey who are grieving the loss of their own loved ones, homes, and the lives they once knew. We also serve refugees and immigrants who came to the U.S. from Syria and Turkey, leaving loved ones behind.
We know that many of those impacted are among the most vulnerable – some are refugees who fled Syria for Turkey while others are persecuted minority groups or those in poverty.
Recovering from this devastation will be very difficult.
As our community grieves, we invite you to join us in prayer for Syria and Turkey. Thank you for joining World Relief Chicagoland in asking God to bring an end to suffering and a reign of justice on the earth.
PRAYER FOR SYRIA AND TURKEY
God,
In the face of unspeakable tragedy, the suffering of those in our community, and the destruction and loss of life in Syria and Turkey, we pray what the Psalmist wrote in Psalm 10:
Lord, you know the hopes of the helpless. Surely, you will hear their cries and comfort them. You will bring justice to the orphans and the oppressed.
Comfort the people whose family members and friends have died as a result of these earthquakes. Draw close to them.
Equip believers in Syria and Turkey to show the love of Jesus to their neighbors by helping in tangible ways and sharing the hope of the Gospel.
Inspire generosity in the hearts of people in the United States and across the world, prompting individuals to give the resources and money needed to help communities rebuild.
Empower the Church in America to show radical love for our immediate neighbors who are grieving the loss of life, beauty, and peace in Syria and Turkey.
Let us not turn away, but help us be your hands and feet to love those who are suffering and bear witness to your presence with them.
God, hear our prayer.
Amen.
You Can Help
World Relief is responding to provide immediate assistance through our network of long-standing partners and churches in the region. You can help reach more people in need by responding with us today. Give now to rush help to Turkey and Syria.
Read a press release from World Relief regarding the earthquakes on February 6, 2023.
How You Can Lead from Where You Are
Leadership reflection from World Relief Chicagoland Executive Director Susan Sperry.
At World Relief, we regularly say that we want to create communities of love and welcome. I believe that this is an important vision. In fact, it’s a guiding idea that has motivated much of my own decision-making and sense of calling in my life and career spent serving at World Relief. And I think this vision reflects beautiful biblical values that remind us of God’s heart for how Christians can engage with immigrants and refugees.
“For I was a stranger, and you welcomed me,” Jesus tells us in Matthew 25:35.
Yet as I ponder this vision and what it looks like practically for each of us, there is a quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer that challenges the way I apply this vision to my life and thinking.
“The person who loves their dream of community will destroy community, but the person who loves those around them will create community.”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community
When we put these wise words in conversation with our vision to create communities of love and welcome, I believe we are left with an invitation: an invitation to lead and to steward.
Leadership & Stewardship
Bonhoeffer gives us a “reality check” opportunity by reminding us that our big, inspirational ideas about what community should look like matter far, far less than how we actually treat those around us. Building community is not about the headline moments, but more about small, faithful actions to serve those around us. Instead, what if we complete many small actions to serve those around us?
World Relief’s mission is to equip the Church, as well as like-minded community members, to serve those in vulnerable situations. And this is a strength, I believe, because it means we open doors for you to lead from where you are. And that is an invitation to stewardship. Stewardship of relationships, time, finances, and even opportunities. That is why, when World Relief asks you to consider what you can do to help create welcoming communities, we believe that response varies person by person. And we each have a role to play!
People Leading in their Sphere
Every day, I’m amazed at the creative ways that members of my community step up in leadership. For some, this can be a bold step of faith to do something new. For others, it’s using the platform or position they have been given. I’m inspired by leaders young and old from all walks of life who choose to be part of a change.
We’ve seen…
- Sunday school teachers leading from Scripture with lessons about God’s heart for immigrants and refugees
- College students organizing their friends on campus to write letters to political representatives to advocate for DACA recipients
- Children running lemonade stands to raise funds for their new neighbors from Afghanistan.
- Refugees welcomed by World Relief returning as volunteers to help others
- Individuals researching the needs of immigrants in Chicago so that they can give strategically
- Groups from local churches coming together to form a team to walk alongside a recently-arrived refugee family
- And so many others!
Each of these examples became part of creating a community of love and welcome. And they did it by asking a question.
“What does it look like to faithfully serve those around me? How can I lead by serving the people who are my neighbors?”
Our Call
I want to challenge each of us to think about leadership not only as a position. Instead, as an invitation that anyone can accept.
With that mindset in place, what if we asked ourselves, “What does it mean for me to lead in creating lasting change where God has me right now?”
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Reflections on 2021 from Executive Director Susan Sperry
The following letter is from Susan Sperry, World Relief Chicagoland’s Executive Director, who oversees World Relief’s work across three offices in Aurora, Chicago (Albany Park), and DuPage County (Carol Stream) and shared her leadership reflections at the close of 2021. Read more of Susan’s thoughts by following her on Twitter!
To all of World Relief Chicagoland’s generous supporters, partners, volunteers, and advocates,
As I reflect on 2021, I want to share my heartfelt thanks for each of you. I am continuously inspired and amazed by how you, a community of faithful volunteers, partners, supporters, and advocates, show up to love our immigrant and refugee neighbors well. You give your time, talent, material resources, and of yourselves.
Our Shared Calling
In Matthew 25, Jesus directly links himself with people in vulnerable situations. He tells the disciples that when they welcome the stranger, they welcome Him. For those of us who follow Jesus, this call is for us to recognize the image of God in all people. It asks us to see that when we welcome refugees and other immigrants in tangible ways, we welcome Jesus.
For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me.
Matthew 25:35 (ESV)
You Answered the Call in 2021
In 2021, we saw you answer this call again and again.
- You helped World Relief Chicagoland welcome more new arrivals than in the previous two years combined. Together, we began new relationships that will continue as we walk with families for years to come.
- You mobilized family members, churches, and workplaces to generously share the essentials that newly-arrived refugee families need when they start to rebuild their lives.
- You volunteered – showing up on Zoom calls, in church gymnasiums, at apartment complexes, and to airport pickups. And by showing up, you offered friendship to our new neighbors and contributed to creating a community of welcome.
This year, the Abadi* family arrived in the U.S. unsure of how they would be received. They knew that in many ways, their home country, religion, and ethnicity would set them apart from their new neighbors. And yet you showed up to welcome them. You provided furniture, household essentials, and helped set up their new apartment. When the Abadis went to take a tour of the school their children would attend, students walked up to greet their new classmates. The teachers welcomed them warmly.
These small actions of students and teachers walking alongside the Abadi family reflected the power of community and of coming together to welcome and help one another.
Though rebuilding a life in a new country is never easy, the Abadis marveled, “We never expected a welcome like this.”
Thank You
In these and so many other ways, we saw you give generously. You brought your creative ideas to the table. You committed to welcoming immigrants and refugees in Chicagoland and beyond.
I am humbled by the ways that you have joined World Relief Chicagoland to serve families in vulnerable situations. And I am abundantly grateful to partner together with you in this work. Thank you. As we move forward together into 2022, I pray that we continue stepping into many opportunities to love and serve our neighbors. And that we can receive and reflect God’s love in vitally important ways.
Along with the entire staff of World Relief Chicagoland, I wish you and your loved ones a peace-filled season and new year.
Susan Sperry, Executive Director of World Relief Chicagoland
*The name of the family in this story was changed to protect their privacy.
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