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7-29-07 -- Reaching Out to Arabs
Ministry with Class
Many churches provide English classes to the Spanish-speaking members of their community, but this summer Adventure Christian Church (Roseville, California) began working with the Arab people of Sacramento—a group with significant differences in religion as well as language.
Adventure partners with the Damascus Coffee House, a shop in the heart of Sacramento’s Arab business area, to provide the weekly English classes. The sessions include not only language instruction but also cultural acclimation.
“Many Arabic people studied English in school and can understand written and spoken English fairly well,” says Catherine Pors, missions coordinator at Adventure. “They need help with pronunciation and with understanding our idioms and slang. We help them communicate more effectively and build relationships with them beyond just classroom learning.”
Adventure also provides transportation between the coffeehouse and Sacramento State University.
The classes will continue throughout the summer; Adventure’s global outreach emphasis in August will include the classes as a volunteer opportunity for members.
“About 110,000 Arab people live in Sacramento,” Pors says. “This program helps us love them one at a time.”
www.adventurechristian.org
After Words
“We keep considering a multisite, and so far God has closed those doors,” says Mike Richardson, pastor at Polaris Christian Church (Brunswick, Ohio). “The After Sunday Guides are one resource that may facilitate a second campus if the opportunity comes.”
The guides will certainly help PCC integrate another site, but they also meet a need for current members. Richardson and Alex Poindexter, another Polaris pastor who shares the preaching responsibilities, prepare the half-page handouts; the guides serve as personal devotionals with follow-up questions and supplemental material from the Sunday message.
“So many of our people are new to the idea of a relationship with God,” Richardson says. “Rather than just suggesting they spend time in the Bible, we’re investing a little more effort to meet them where they are.”
To help with this goal, the guides currently offer material for three days. Polaris leaders encourage members to use the devotionals as an every-other-day resource throughout the week. Several small groups in the church will also try including the guides in their studies.
www.polarischristian.com
Saving with Grace
John Piercy, a leader in California, shares, “A group of Christian church pastors in and around the city of Los Angeles have come together to aid two of their own, Bill Pile and John Scott. The Los Angeles Ministers’ Brotherhood (LAMB) group opened up a savings account with Church Development Fund under the heading, ‘Pastors’ Grace Fund.’ With the aid of other churches in the Southern California area, funds were gathered to help pay off the high medical bills these two men have incurred while battling cancer. It is our hope to continue the fund after these two men are no longer in need.”
www.cdfonline.org
Give and Take
In addition to encouraging participation in its “River Rising” capital campaign, River Hills Christian Church (Loveland, Ohio) created another way for church members to help fund the new building project.
After several people expressed a desire for friends and family to give to the campaign rather than buying presents for birthdays or holidays, the church developed “gift certificates” to facilitate the process. Prospective givers simply print out a certificate from River Hills’ Web site and fill in the amount of the gift. Then they write a check for that sum to the campaign fund. The certificates serve as an attractive, convenient way for donors to announce the gift, and the fill-in-the-blank format encourages donations of any amount.
www.riverhillscc.com
Jennifer Taylor, one of CHRISTIAN STANDARD's contributing editors, lives in Nashville, Tennessee.
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