Alex Jun says it took a pandemic to bring the PCA’s Mission to North America’s (MNA) minority ministries together.

“We knew each other, but primarily in professional roles,” says Hernando Sáenz, the MNA Hispanic American Ministries coordinator. “We’d go to meetings together, interact with each other, but didn’t really know each other’s stories,”

A year and a half before COVID-19 hit the U.S. with full force, a group of leaders from MNA’s ethnic church-planting efforts and missional partnerships began talking about gathering together on a regular basis for prayer, story-sharing, and general encouragement under the banner “Ethnos Coalition.”

In one Miami Haitian church of 300, all but three members had lost their sole source of income. Most of the church’s members had worked in the service industry as Uber or taxi drivers, hotel busboys, or housekeepers.

A week after the coalition’s second virtual gathering this March, the coronavirus put America on lockdown, and coalition members began hearing stories of hardship from across the PCA’s minority constituencies.

First, Dony St. Germain, MNA Haitian American Ministries leader, reported that in one Miami Haitian church of 300, all but three members had lost their sole source of income. Most of the church’s members had worked in the service industry as Uber or taxi drivers, hotel busboys, or housekeepers. The church’s diaconate fund was swiftly swallowed up by myriad requests to help cover rent and food.

“We began to realize that what was happening with Dony’s ministry was multiplied by many of the other ministries,” explains Pat Hatch, MNA Refugee and Immigrant Ministry director. “Hispanic Ministries, Portuguese Ministries, some of the Korean Ministries, African American Ministries, Native American/First Nations Ministries — they’re experiencing it too, significantly more than before.”

As stories continued to flow in of nannies, day laborers, landscapers, home health aides, and many others who were ineligible for unemployment benefits or stimulus assistance, the coalition members realized that many churches who served these minorities were struggling to address the newly increased needs. Normally, most diaconates would have three to four requests at a time; now they were responding to needs from 30 to 40 previously self-sufficient families at once. And not for the one-off water or medical bill, but to help pay for basic necessities: rent, food, and cellphone bills.

Who Is Most Vulnerable?

In a matter of days, the coalition mobilized to draft an article — “A Case for Love and Mercy in the Midst of the Pandemic” — that offered practical ideas for individuals and diaconates to show love and mercy to minorities, provided links to multilingual resources for those whose primary language is not English, and took a formal stand against scapegoating and racism toward Asian Americans.

The coalition represents a variety of minorities across the denomination, including Native Americans/First Nations people, African Americans, immigrant professionals, legally present refugees and asylum seekers, and mixed-status families.

While some of these groups are economically stable, the most vulnerable tend to be mixed-status families and refugees. According to Hatch, newly arrived refugees were once provided several months of transitional assistance through case workers. But many refugee resettlement agencies have had to close their doors due to drastic cuts during the past year, leaving thousands of recent refugee arrivals without interpreters or without jobs.

Likewise, Native Americans have been particularly vulnerable, with disproportionate numbers contracting the virus and experiencing economic hardship. Jeb Bland, MNA Native American/First Nations Ministries coordinator, says that many are furloughed, living hand to mouth, and at greater risk of illness because of large mixed-family households and higher propensity for comorbidities.

“The problem that Native Americans experience is desperation because they, like many others, are living paycheck to paycheck, day to day,” says Bland. “There’s no safety net for them.”

In order to help refugees, immigrants, Native Americans, and others facing financial hardship, “A Case for Love and Mercy” laid out several ways church diaconates can help meet practical needs, such as creating pickup points to distribute food and hygiene supplies, providing stipends for out-of-work day laborers, or collecting items to occupy children who are stuck at home. It also created a mechanism via MNA’s website for churches and individual believers to donate to a fund through which PCA ethnic churches can then apply for mercy dollars, inspired by the example of Gentile believers in 2 Corinthians 8 who gave to their Jewish brothers and sisters in Jerusalem who were experiencing an extended period of famine and hardship.   

In addition to fueling mercy outreach, the coalition included in the article a public statement defending Asian American brothers and sisters facing racism generated by the coronavirus. According to Jun, Korean American Leadership Initiative coordinator and former General Assembly moderator, defending Asian Americans might mean providing financial assistance to workers who have lost their jobs when Americans boycotted Chinese American restaurants. Or it might mean correcting those who wrongfully blame Chinese Americans for COVID-19’s spread.

“I thought that it was important for us as minorities to stand together with Asians …,” says Sáenz, chairperson of the new coalition. “If we as other minorities say, ‘This is wrong. This is not an Asian virus. And you should not take inappropriate action against Asians,’ then we’re doing an educational piece that is crucial in this whole pandemic,” urging believers to emulate the unifying, unconditional love of Christ.

Venturing Beyond the Wagons

Hatch points out that the coronavirus has created a critical opportunity for the church at large to reflect a different value from the world around it.

“In a crisis moment like this, the church has to make a choice, and that choice may determine how unbelievers here and abroad view Christ’s church and the credibility of the gospel for decades to come: Are we going to look inward? Are we going to circle the wagons and care only about people just like us? Or are we going to look outward? Are we going to recognize the needs all around us? Are we going to look at the hurts other people are suffering? And are we going to say, ‘That’s where Christ calls us?’”

Visit here to learn more about the Ethnos Coalition Relief Fund for Ethnic Minorities or to complete an application for financial assistance.