Institute students help Congolese refugee church begin youth group
Institute for G.O.D. students Angel Nibaruta, Emily Marotta, Walt Reynolds, Jesse Grooms (back), and Erin Gammill (not pictured) are heading up the youth group at Angel’s church.
Angel, a refugee from the Congo, finds friendship and support from fellow Institute Students
Angelique Nibaruta fled from her home in the Congo with her family when she was 4 years old. Decades-long war in the Democratic Republic has displaced millions of people, Angel’s family included. She grew up in neighboring Burundi from age 4 to 22, where she lived with her parents and 6 siblings in a dirt-floored home. She knew she was a refugee, and life always felt limited. She compared herself to Burundians her entire life. Due to her high GPA, she got to go to a better junior high and high school than where her siblings and most other refugees went. But she felt alone there as the only refugee among her Burundians classmates. While her father had taught her to be satisfied and to love education, she couldn’t help but notice she was the only one who wore the same shoes all year, or couldn’t afford to participate in extracurriculars like other students. She knew her mother felt bad, so she stopped sharing with them when things came up at school she knew she couldn’t attend. Angel resolved not to behave like others at school, to stay away from anything that could damage her, and instead focused on her education, hoping one day it would pay off. She quotes, “I had to believe my education and reputation would serve me one day.”
In 2018, Angel and her family were granted asylum in the United States. She was 22 years old. She worked at 2 different warehouses for the first year before she started English training at Nashville State for the next two years. She really wanted to work jobs and take classes that helped teach her the language, as she felt that was the best way to eventually thrive here. While she was very happy to have a better life materially, that alone wasn’t satisfying. She wanted knowledge, to go to school, and to learn English. She felt pressure to catch up to American life as a young person, which was very stressful. She quickly learned that life is more than knowing English, having cars, and pursuing American life, but she didn’t know how to achieve it. She felt her identity in crisis.
In 2019, G.O.D. Int’l started teaching English classes to a group of recently-arrived Congolese refugees, which included Angel’s parents.
Through them, Angel met John Nyago, G.O.D. Int’l East Africa immigrant and refugee coordinator. From there, she was extended both a job offer and an opportunity to study the Bible. In 2021, Angel became a student at the Institute for G.O.D. The stresses related to her identity started slowing down as she considered how little she was including the Lord in what she was passing through. She had many hard moments, feeling like it was all on her to fix everything alone. But she says, “God helped me to understand that whatever I pass through, God knows why. I’m so thankful I came to Bible college so I can learn more about my identity, theology, and community. I don’t have to be perfect, I’ve tried to be a people pleaser, trying to fit in all the time, but that makes me feel tired all the time. I’m so thankful I came to this school so I can know myself and who I am.” Angel is finding identity in Christ. She’s also learning to be patient with herself. She’s thankful for her teachers who’ve encouraged her, “Stick around, you’ll get it, you’re not stupid, you’re learning this in your 6th language!” (For real, English is Angel’s 6th language.)
“ “God helped me to understand that whatever I pass through, God knows why. I’m so thankful I came to Bible college so I can learn more about my identity, theology, and community. I don’t have to be perfect, I’ve tried to be a people pleaser, trying to fit in all the time, but that makes me feel tired all the time. I’m so thankful I came to this school so I can know myself and who I am.” ”
Angel poses with part of the team who visited her church during the summer conference. (L to R: Violet Warren, Ezrah Aaseby, Angel Nibaruta, and Merci Warren)
There is a greater community of Congolese refugees here in Nashville whom Angel knows. She has many friends and relatives in local churches who feel a lot like she felt before she started at Bible school. She says that though now they can make money, many people struggle with emptiness. No one’s ever taught them to be confident. Angel has a heart for the high school and college-age students in the Congolese community here. She doesn’t wish any of them to pass through what she did before. She doesn’t want any of them to lack identity or confidence or patience.
Angel doesn’t feel bad about the life she lived in Burundi. But she also wishes she had a mentor to tell her that “you’re not the moment you’re passing through.” She recognizes the need she and others have for people to speak into their lives and help them grow in confidence. So she’s partnering with 4 other Institute college students to extend youth group opportunities to Congolese high school and college students in Nashville.
John Nyago led a Q&A with Angel during the summer conference.
Angel is partnering with 4 other Institute college students to extend youth group opportunities to Congolese high school and college students in Nashville.
This summer, a team of 15 volunteers from the Institute and G.O.D. Int’l facilitated a 1-day conference for the youth at Angel’s church to kick-off our work with them. They led a powerful time of worship and special music, enjoyed interactive activities to increase connectedness, shared testimonies on how learning God’s Word impacts how well they do everything else, and preached on Luke 10 to encourage them to choose the better thing, time at Jesus’ feet seeking first the kingdom of God. Angel shared how God has so dramatically opened her eyes to who he is, what is possible when people truly love God and that she has a great purpose because many are going to be coming after her to walk in this calling she has and learn God’s Word. The students present were overwhelmed by the truth and acknowledged their need for such teachings.
Out of that event birthed an opportunity for Angel and 4 other Institute for G.O.D. students (Walt Reynolds, Erin Gammill, Jesse Grooms, and Emily Marotta) to start 2 youth groups, one for the high schoolers and one for the college students. Each Sunday they Zoom with the college students, as they are at various colleges in the region, and one Sunday a month they gather with the high schoolers in person at Angel’s church. Everyone involved is so excited to respond to this need, and they all have something to give. Angel says, “I can help others, use my gifts to build my sisters and brothers up. They’re going to teach me a lot, and I also have a lot to teach them. I am enough, and when I don’t have something I have to be humble to learn from them. Try to find who you are in Jesus, and everything else will follow.”
Emily and Angel performed a song Angel wrote in her native language about remembering and counting up all of the good things that God does for us over the course of our lives.
Last week, Walt led the college Bible study on Daniel 1. He shares:
“We talked about how to find the identity of God outside of culture and during a time of national identity crisis. I encouraged them to hold onto faith, even while learning a different language and cultural context. We discussed the power of a name and Daniel choosing to remember that ‘God is his judge’ (the meaning of Daniel) rather than letting cultural pressures give him a new name. Daniel did not defile himself with cultural food but chose to be fed by God. Amidst troubling circumstances, he found the importance of friendship and a shared connection to a calling from God. Some students shared that they were encouraged by different aspects of the exhortation. Angel was especially encouraged by rethinking Daniel as a refugee, not having to be conformed to a certain culture but choosing to find confidence in God.”
We look forward with excitement to more of God’s Word being poured into this precious community of young people who need healing of the challenging mindsets from life as refugees. Like Angel is doing, they too can find a home in Christ.
