There are countless needs in every community. None of us can step into all of them. But sometimes, through a conversation, a relationship, or a quiet stirring we can’t shake, God places one particular invitation right in front of us.
For Valerie Weyand, a member at Centennial Covenant Church in Colorado, that invitation began with a refugee family.
Back in 2019, Valerie found herself asking how she might contribute to more thoughtful and compassionate conversations around refugees and immigrants in her community. Then one Sunday at church, she heard an announcement about a team forming to mentor a refugee family.
“I could do that,” she remembered thinking.
Her team was matched with a family from Afghanistan. What began as a simple act of service slowly became something much deeper through shared meals, conversations, challenges, and years of relationship.
“I began to understand some of the hardships and challenges that refugee and immigrant families experience,” she shared, “not just in the beginning, but long after they first arrive.”
That experience eventually led Valerie to participate in the Evangelical Covenant Church’s Welcoming the Stranger Liturgical Common Read through Love Mercy Do Justice. Alongside others at Centennial, she helped create space for conversation, reflection, and discernment. Then, through what she describes as one of those unmistakable God-connections, a friend offered to introduce her to Matt Soerens, the author of the book and Vice President of Advocacy and Policy at World Relief.
“God put the opportunity right in front of me,” Valerie said. “What are the chances that I mention the discussion group as a by-the-way comment to a friend who happens to have known Matt for decades and offers an introduction?”
That introduction helped spark two March gatherings in Colorado offered in partnership with Matt and World Relief and focused on listening, learning, and exploring how churches can engage complex issues with both compassion and conviction. One gathering was hosted at Centennial Covenant for pastors and ministry leaders. Another community gathering took place at Arvada Covenant Church.
Valerie hoped people would leave not only more informed, but more prepared to have “loving and respectful conversations” with others.
Perhaps that’s the deeper invitation in Valerie’s story.
Not that every person must engage the same issue in the same way. But that followers of Jesus can remain curious. We can move toward people instead of away from them. And we can trust that the Spirit still nudges ordinary people toward unexpected acts of faithfulness.
“Take that next step and let the Spirit lead you forward, re-direct you, or stop you,” Valerie said. “This is where God forms us and blesses us, and even when it’s hard, it’s very, very good.”
Our Postcards from the Midwest Conference are short and encouraging looks at what God is doing in churches across the Midwest Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church – Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, western Missouri, Nebraska and Wyoming. We’re celebrating faithfulness, fresh vision, and the beauty of ministry in all shapes and sizes.
