When Jimmy was a kid, his people, the Karen were being persecuted. He was able to come to United States, and years later, Jimmy is ministering to the Karen people throughout North America.
When Jimmy was a kid, his father fled to the border of a neighboring country, chased by soldiers. His people, the Karen [kuh-ren] were being persecuted. With help, Jimmy was eventually able to travel through the dense jungle to reunite with his father. Together they journeyed to a refugee camp in Southeast Asia.
Jimmy attended an Adventist school in the camp operated by Helen Hall, a missionary from Australia. When he graduated, she asked him to teach. One day while he was teaching, a visitor from the city promised to sponsor his education.
He studied theology and later coordinated the work among the Karen, planting churches and setting up feeding centers, orphanages, and schools for Karen refugee and internally displaced children.
Later, when his name came up for resettlement in the United States, he was sent to North Carolina.
Within two years, he already had three budding Karen church plants and was finding Adventist Karen refugee families scattered across North America.
There are about 80,000 Karen refugees in the United States. Many are just trying to adapt to a new way of living in a foreign land. Some have found refuge and support in the Adventist Church, especially while being able to worship with other Karen refugees.
“You know, I have more friends in church, in the Karen church. We can speak Karen and understand each other. If we go to an American Church, we don't know how to speak English so we don't understand each other.”
“It is very important to worship in my language because we can understand our preaching or share the gospel if we do it in our own language.”
“It's important because you know the church members and the pastor. If we can communicate straight to each other then that would be better. Because if they feel like they need help, they have to go to the interpreter and the interpreter has to translate it to the pastor again.”
“Some of the personal problems we don’t want to tell the other person. We can just go straight to the pastor.”
Jimmy Shwe [shway] pastors several Karen congregations in North Carolina and also serves as the Karen Church Planting Consultant for the North American Division Adventist Refugee & Immigrant Ministries.
“Pastor Jimmy did many things for the Karen people. Number one is that he tries to organize all the scattered church members who came to the United States.”
. Every three years we have a family camp everywhere in the United States where we have a church. Every family comes together to have fellowship.
“Unless he planned this, we wouldn't have fellowship. We’d just stay in our own states and we wouldn't know each other. And also because of this, the young people are coming together, serving more in the church.”
“My favorite thing is to be together, and worship together, sing together. We love the way that Karen people do that, because you know it sounds good when they sing. They sound so good. You know Jesus gave them their voice. .”
The Karen Adventist believers across North America asked Pastor Jimmy to nurture and lead them, as many still are not yet fluent in English. Pastor Jimmy is planting churches among the Karen across this territory.
This quarter, a portion of the 13th Sabbath Offering will support refugee and immigrant ministry throughout the North American Division. It will give the opportunity for other groups like this to come together. It will also provide scholarships for them to get a valuable Adventist education.
Please pray for groups like this. Pray that they find comfort in Jesus as they transition to life in a new land. Thank you for supporting the 13th Sabbath Offering.
