Two years ago, Joshua Samuels was in a missions training programme in Dallas, Texas, when he felt led to start volunteering with refugees in the city.

The move changed his life and faith for the better.

Pastor Samuels now works with Christian non-profit organisation, For The Nations: Refugee Outreach.

He oversees one of its English-language programmes and he’s part of a team that welcomes families to the United States.

“I see this as an amazing opportunity the Church has in Dallas to show love and kindness in the name of Jesus to people fleeing terrible situations like war and persecution,” he said.

“Many of these refugees are in their deepest time of need and just coming into a new country without money or a job. Many of them don’t even speak English.

“We have the opportunity to be some of the first people that they meet, and just show kindness. To me, that was a chance or a responsibility that couldn’t be passed up.”

He’s found it interesting meeting people from places such as Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, the Congo, Eritrea and Burma, and hearing what life had been like for them.

“I’ve never lived through war, so being able to meet people and talk with those who have lived through some unimaginable things, many of them who leave their countries fearing for their lives, it was an education,” he said.

As part of his work with the charity’s welcome team, he connects newly arrived families with people from Dallas. They greet them at the airport, take them to their new home — which has already been set up with furniture and supplies — and make sure they have support with such important tasks as getting their children enrolled in school, finding a job and learning how to drive.

Mr Samuels has built some amazing relationships as a result.

One family he met early on was from Afghanistan.

“It was a husband and wife and their two small kids and the wife welcomed their third baby, a girl, three months after arriving in the city,” Mr Samuels said.

“My role was to take the family back and forth to medical appointments and help them get anything they needed. I spent a lot of time hanging out with the dad, who was a translator for the military and when the US troops pulled out of his country the Taleban put death threats on his family.

“We would talk quite a bit. I got to see him as a person and learnt about his hopes, dreams and fears and love for his family. That’s what sparked a deeper interest in me to do more work with refugees.”

Mr Samuels also manages one of the charity’s English campuses. Their studies there allow them a better chance of getting a job, give them an opportunity to interact with their neighbours and do everyday things like go to the grocery store and send mail.

“We have over 200 students in English classes every day,” he said. “I oversee one of the newer campuses, which is in a part of Dallas that didn’t normally have refugees, so we went into an apartment complex that had many families from Syria and the Congo. We also teach Bible lessons every day.

“Many of the refugees from African countries come from a Christian background and many have a strong faith whereas most, almost all, that come from the Middle East — countries like Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan — are Muslim or at least come from a Muslim background. We serve refugees no matter what their background and what religion they are from.”

The programme aims to meet practical needs, as well as emotional ones.

He’s found the volunteers’ acts of kindness go a long way and allow them to reflect the love of Jesus Christ.

“One of the great things that I think comes from interacting with refugees is there’s so much I can learn from their lives, which have been markedly different from mine,” Mr Samuels said. “Some are Christian and have a faith in Jesus, but they have been through war and been tortured. So to be able to interact with them and see some of the things they have endured, and yet you still see their hearts filled with gratitude, that has been really instrumental to [growing] my faith.”

He will never forget meeting a family of nine that had just emigrated from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

“When they first arrived at the airport they had this shell-shocked look on their faces,” he said. “They didn’t speak. They were tired from a long flight and had come directly from a refugee camp.

“We took them back to their apartment for the first time and our welcome team brought out a meal for them, a traditional African meal, and they smiled for the first time. We explained through a translator that everything in the house, all the furniture, belonged to them and had been given as a gift because we loved God and them and wanted them to feel welcomed and loved. The father in the family dropped to his knees and, with hands lifted, began to sing praise songs to God and the rest of his family followed. Sooner or later we were all on our knees.

“They began to pray out loud thanking God for protecting and providing for them. My heart was so thankful they recognised God’s provision and I remember that experience changing me.”

Mr Samuels left his family and job as a youth pastor at Cornerstone Bible Fellowship in Bermuda several years ago. His plan was to enter tribal missions and reach a group of people who had never heard the gospel — however God moved him in an unexpected, but wonderful direction.

“I saw this as an opportunity for missions and jumped in,” he said. “There are currently 20 million refugees in the world, over half of which are children. Dallas has over 200,000 refugees and is the city with the second- highest number of refugees in the US, followed by Houston, Texas. I just think this whole worldwide refugee crisis is such an opportunity for the Church to be the Church and relay the grace and kindness of God to people all over the world. Many of these refugees who come to us in Dallas are coming from countries where it’s not possible to go in and serve as a missionary and where sharing the gospel would be illegal, but we have an opportunity right here with those who are here to tell them about God’s love, and do so freely.

“I definitely feel God has me here for a reason. In a day I can have tea with a Syrian family and then meet someone from Eritrea for lunch and then go off to spend time with a Burmese family, teaching them English.”

For The Nations doesn’t give a salary to its workers. Instead staff are required to raise money through their home church and individuals wanting to make a difference in the lives of refugees.

•Learn more about Mr Samuels’ work and how to support him here: www.joshbda.com