outreach | church planting | compassion

Compassion and Justice Ministries

The parable of the Good Samaritan is one of the six parables that the Lord has used to shape our vision and set the direction for the kind of church family we hope to become together.

Church of the Redeemer
To begin our compassion ministry, two years ago New Life committed to significantly contribute to the ministry of Danny Martinez, and his congregation, the Church of the Redeemer in South Central Los Angeles. 

Beautiful Day
As New Life further explored its role in serving the community of San Jose, we joined together with other local churches to serve local schools and families through Beautiful Day. These projects included redecorating the teacher's lounge of Willow Glen Middle School, painting the home of a neighbor in the Gardner Neighborhood, shipping needed supplies to a U.S. Army unit in Afghanistan, serving meals to clients of Love, INC. participating in the annual Walk for AIDS Silicon Valley and hosting an annual Easter Egg Hunt at Doerr Park in San Jose.

Refugee Relocation Ministry
In May of 2008, New Life’s board and congregation approved an ambitious project for the church to partner with Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County to help house and serve the needs of some of the 200 “free case” refugees who arrive in San Jose each year. Free case refugees arrive with no family or friends to sponsor them, so Catholic Charities serves that role. As we began this partnership, we were delighted to have the support and additional partnering of Sunnyvale Presbyterian Church and Silas Khadka, a local pastor serving the Nepali speaking community of Santa Clara County. The two churches, working together, are also developing Refugee Outreach Partnership, an affiliation of faith communities who have a heart for refugees and wish to contribute their time, talents and resources to serving this vulnerable but highly motivated population.

Current Situation:

• Refugees entering the U.S. through this program have been approved for resettlement by both the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

• Catholic Charities is authorized by the federal government to receive and transition the refugees to become full citizens of the U.S. Their work includes housing, education and ESL courses, job training, medical care, and a range of social services coordinated for the refugee by their Case Manager.

• Refugees arrive in Santa Clara from many countries, and many are survivors of torture, slavery, and other trafficking circumstances.

• The Transition house provides the refugee with a safe, welcoming home from which to begin their life in the United States.

Response:

• New Life can serve these refugees by providing Catholic Charities with the badly-needed funds to rent a second Transition House.

• In addition to funding, there are many opportunities for the congregation to volunteer, to work with other churches who want to assist the refugees and to provide additional resources and friendship to the refugees.

• The initial goal is to fund a house for 3 years, with a long-term goal of enlisting the financial support and volunteer efforts of other local churches to serve the refugees and provide a perpetual source of funding for the Transition House.

• Maintain open and regular communication with Catholic Charities and establish an ongoing review process for the project.

Volunteer:

Volunteers are highly regarded and necessary to the Resettlement Program, offering help and friendship to the refugee and a returned friendship and expanded world view for the volunteer. Volunteers are needed to:

• Maintain and help keep the Transition House in good order
• Provide rides to doctor appointments, grocery trips, etc. for the refugees
• Stock the transition house kitchen with staples for the new families
• Provide outings to local events, parks, beaches, for the refugee families
• Assist mothers to communicate with their children’s school
• Serve as an ESL instructor and receive training and support from Refugee Transitions, another partner organization
• Learn more about the world refugee situatton from the UNHCR Web Site and help raise awareness about refugees
• Anything that you would like to offer can be accommodated, just let us know what you’d like to do!

Watch a Video:

New Life, in partnership with Sunnyvale Pesbyterian, the San Jose Presbytery and Catholic Charities, produced a video to help churches and faith organizations better understand how to help refugees in their community. Feel free to share this with a friend!

Refugee Outreach Partnership Video (Windows Format)

Learn More:

To learn more about the Transition House and New Life’s partnership with Catholic Charities, contact Andrea Lee (andrealee@newlifesanjose.org) or just call the church office. We’d love to hear from you!