Iglesia Bautista West Brownsville/Fellowship Southwest plan immigrant respite center
Asylum seekers will receive a much more comfortable welcome when Fellowship Southwest and Iglesia Bautista West Brownsville complete their first collaborative project.
FSW and the Brownsville congregation are teaming up to build a respite center on the church’s campus. Refugees will be able to shower, wash clothes, rest and receive Christian hospitality before taking a bus or plane to live with sponsors while they await their fate.
“Our hearts break for the refugees who journey to our border. This new facility will vastly improve our ministry to them,” noted Pastor Carlos Navarro, who has guided his church to serve the flood of asylum seekers amassed along the border. “Every day, we welcome refugees—sometimes as few as 10, but often more than 30—who come to our church as part of the asylum process.
“When we build this new center, we will do a much better job of serving them—and of sharing the love of Jesus with them.”
Service and sharing Christ are vital components of IB West Brownsville’s ministry. The church continually adapts to the government’s changing policies regulating the asylum process.
Currently, refugees apply for asylum with the United States. Then they must wait in Mexico to receive notification of a court date. That wait typically lasts a month, often longer. Most refugees wait in tent camps or makeshift shelters, typically without facilities to bathe and wash clothes adequately. When they receive notice of a hearing date, they are allowed to cross the border, where they depart to live with sponsors until they participate in the hearing.
IB West Brownsville receives the immigrants as they pass into the United States on their way to sponsors. Most have not bathed or even washed clothes in weeks. They’re hungry, tired and anxious.
In warm weather or when a mobile shower unit is available, the church allows the refugees to bathe and provides clean clothes, hygiene kits and other basic necessities. Church members feed them, and Navarro and others tell them about the love of Jesus. Almost every day, immigrants come to faith in Christ because of IB West Brownsville’s love for them.
Navarro dreams of a better respite center—including private indoor showers with hot water, laundry facilities, and places to sleep, if only for a while.
So, the pastor hopes to build a welcome facility. It will include women’s and men’s bathrooms, complete with showers, a laundry/storage room, and women’s and men’s bedrooms, each equipped with at least four bunkbeds. Thanks to ingenuity and some donated supplies, Navarro and FSW volunteer Ray Cook Furr hope to construct the facility for about $40,000.
Furr, a licensed contractor, has worked with Navarro to develop construction estimates. Navarro has secured an architect to make final blueprints. Construction will begin as soon as FSW and IB West Brownsville raise the necessary funds.
Furr, who with his spouse, Jeni Cook Furr, coordinate volunteers for FSW, has visited IB West Brownsville three times since late summer and praises the commitment of pastor and people.
“Every time I'm with Carlos, I am humbled and inspired by the ministry and enthusiasm that he has for ministry,” Furr said. “On my last trip, I experienced a Pentecost worship experience. I didn't understand much of what was said, but I sang, prayed and worshiped like I have on rare occasions.
“The ministry of Iglesia Bautista West Brownsville is nothing less than the leading of the Holy Spirit. We will be richly blessed by whatever support we can provide to this congregation and its pastor. FSW is blessed and thankful to be a part of this wonderful ministry.
“I have never been in a more mission-oriented church in my life. These people are the true definition of saints.”
No matter how long the immigration crisis lasts, the respite center will remain useful even longer, Navarro explained. If ever it is not needed to welcome refugees, it will be used to house volunteers who journey to the Rio Grande Valley for mission trips.
If you would like to contribute directly to construction of Iglesia Bautista West Brownsville’s immigrant respite center, click here.
If you would like to discuss placing this construction project in your church’s or organization’s missions offering, contact Fellowship Southwest Coordinator Marv Knox at mknox@cbf.net or (214) 335-7719.