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By Linda Bloom*

2:30 P.M. EST November 23, 2010 | NEW YORK (UMNS)

Rev. Paul Verryn blesses refugees during evening worship at the Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg, South Africa. A UMNS 2009 file photo by Paul Jeffrey, Response.
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For several years, a thousand-plus Zimbabwean refugees have found shelter at Central Methodist Mission in Johannesburg, South Africa.

During the day, they leave the building to earn money, look for work and pursue asylum claims or stay to participate in school, learn how to embroider, gain skills as a restaurant employee or use the computer center. At night, they pile into the nooks and crannies of the church, trying to sleep.

For the Rev. Paul Verryn, what happens each day at Central Methodist Mission is integral to its mission of hope and justice.

It is a mission born not out of “a warm, fuzzy” religious feeling, he told members of Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew United Methodist on Nov. 21, but the desire to act as “a launching pad into all the strife that is unequal, unfair and wrong into society.”

The underlying cause of such strife is poverty, Verryn declared, and part of becoming “the nurturing place for God’s new plan” is making sure the world’s economic systems care for even the most vulnerable people.

Refugee children from Zimbabwe and other African countries study at the Albert Street School in Johannesburg, South Africa. A UMNS 2009 file photo by Paul Jeffrey, Response.
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A minister in the Methodist Church of South Africa since 1973, Verryn is teaching a course on “Interfaith Perspectives on Poverty” at Hartford Seminary in Connecticut this fall. But his heart remains in South Africa. Working with the steady stream of refugees who have left Zimbabwe in recent years because of political and economic instability, he said, has been “an incredible privilege.”

‘Ray of Hope’ project

The church has a number of partners involved with its “Ray of Hope” project, which provides temporary and safe accommodations for homeless asylum seekers, refugees and displaced people, as well as educational opportunities, counseling and other support.

Central Methodist established the Albert Street School, serving 500 children who are part of the mission, which offers a basic education, encourages them to be computer literate and provides activities such as chess and karate. Displaced Zimbabweans are certified to teach in the school.

A medical clinic housed in the church’s old bookshop is run by Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders). In addition, a home-based care service provides assistance for sensitive cases, such as patients with HIV or tuberculosis.

The United Methodist Committee on Relief has made grants to programs at Central Methodist in the past and the agency still has an interest in assisting ministries to Zimbabwean refugees in South Africa, said David Sadoo, an UMCOR executive.

Children, including refugees from Zimbabwe, gather at Central Methodist Mission in South Africa.
A UMNS 2008 file photo by Faye Richardson.
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On Sundays, Central Methodist Mission becomes a place for worship and offers six services, including services in French and Portuguese.

Verryn’s sometimes confrontational style and Central Methodist’s support of the refugees — who, at times, can flood the streets around the church — continue to be controversial. The pastor, his staff and the people they are assisting have endured the ire of nearby business owners and South African politicians and dealt with occasional police raids and even death threats.

The ministry also has provoked concerns from Methodist church officials, who temporarily suspended Verryn this year over legal proceedings he had instituted on behalf of unaccompanied minors living at the church.

“People say I don’t cooperate,” Verryn said in an interview after the service at St. Paul and St. Andrew. “I don’t know what else I can do to cooperate.”

Ressie Mae Bass, a member of the Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew, United Methodist, in New York, greets the Rev. Paul Verryn of South Africa following the Nov. 21 worship service.
A UMNS Photo by Linda Bloom.
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Challenges remain

While he senses anxiety over a possible election in Zimbabwe next year, Verryn said the number of refugees seems to have slowed a bit. “We still have people coming every day to the church … but it feels a little more stable,” he added.

Many challenges remain. The South African government has not recognized Zimbabweans as official refugees and is instituting a new policy, effective Dec. 31, which will require these refugees to have work, business or study permits or face deportation.

With South Africa’s high unemployment and the hostile atmosphere for refugees, Verryn believes such permits will be difficult to obtain and has been warning those currently lodged at the church to look at alternatives. “I anticipate there is going to be a huge crackdown,” he said.

Still, the work with refugees has brought a feeling of “holy ground” at Central Methodist Mission. “The ray of hope is when you refuse to accept that social boundaries are Christ’s boundaries,” Verryn told the congregation in New York.

*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service multimedia reporter based in New York. Follow her at http://twitter.com/umcscribe.

News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org.