Jacob’s Well in Spokane, Wash., has become a refuge for scores of Christians fleeing persecution in MyanmarA charismatic church in Washington state has become a spiritual home for scores of refugees who have fled persecution in Myanmar.
Jacob’s Well was launched by pastor Eric Blauer in 2006, after he felt God’s call to leave his middle-class, suburban church in Spokane and move his family downtown to minister among the poor. Weeks after the church opened, refugees from Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, began arriving in Spokane. In just a few months, around 100 refugees were worshiping at the church, outnumbering the white congregation.
The congregants—members of the Karen ethnic group—fled brutal treatment at the hands of Myanmar’s military regime. The Karen are hunted down, beaten and forced to live in leaf shelters in the jungle because of their Christian faith and their opposition to the military junta. Many live in dire camps across the border in Thailand.
Even before the Myanmar refugees arrived, the 39-year-old pastor wanted Jacob’s Well—named after the story in John 4 of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well—to be a place where people of diverse backgrounds would grow in their faith and serve God together.
Four years ago, Blauer was the associate pastor of a large nondenominational church in Spokane and lived in a comfortable, five-bedroom house in the suburbs. His life took a sharp curve when God called him to give up his middle-class lifestyle and move in with the city’s poorest and most vulnerable residents.
“We lived in a very nice upper-middle-class environment” Blauer said. “But I felt God’s call to be with the poor and the marginalized ... those who were in and out of jail and those in the low-income parts of town.”
In 2006, Blauer and his wife, LeeElla, took the plunge. They sold their home and moved with their four children into Spokane’s east-central neighborhood—an area known for poverty and drugs. “We went from taking our kids on a field trip to tour the police department to seeing the police every day on our street,” he said.
After hearing that Myanmar were coming to Spokane, he called World Relief, an evangelical agency that resettles refugees, asking how his church could help. When the first family arrived, Blauer’s family welcomed them at the Spokane airport.
Moonlight, 44, remembers stepping off the plane with his wife and their three children, weary and anxious. “I think, What now?” Moonlight recalled in broken English. “Pastor Eric say, ‘Welcome, Moonlight!’ When I hear my name, tears run down face ... someone knew my name.”
Another Myanmar family arrived, then another and another. “It was obvious that the Lord had a plan for our church from the beginning,” Blauer told Charisma, “a plan we didn’t know anything about when we answered His call.”
Now Jacob’s Well has thriving English-speaking and Myanmar-speaking congregations, and church volunteers run ministries aimed at helping refugees and other vulnerable people in the community. Ministries include English language classes, a clothing bank and women’s groups that support young mothers and teach health and hygiene.
To help make ends meet in the tough economy, church members planted an organic vegetable garden. “The poor have to buy the cheapest food, which unfortunately is not very nutritious,” Blauer explained. “We believe in saving souls but also helping people grow healthy so they can live productive, abundant lives.”
Ministering among Myanmar refugees—and seeing their resilience and their passion for Jesus—has shaped the church, changed the lives of the American congregants and made his family’s sacrifice seem insignificant, Blauer said.
Thousands of miles from the jungles of Myanmar, Moonlight’s family feels at home. “We follow Jesus,” he said, “He say to us: ‘Love one another.’
—Julian Lukins
