New American Baptisms

/

Editor’s Note: These baptisms demonstrate the complementary relationship between a mission society and a congregation, and the roles each has to play in bringing a recently arrived refugee family into the church. This simple but effective model is indefinitely reproducible on the basis of local resources!

On Sunday, October 6th, two children from a recently resettled family from Congo were baptized at St. John’s Lutheran Church, Morganford Rd. The family arrived in St. Louis in March and had visited St. John’s which is located nearby. As Pastor Mike Tanney, recently retired, inquired further he was told by the father - Espoir (Hope) Ferdinand that they were Lutherans from a refugee camp in Zimbabwe and wanted to worship at a Lutheran congregation.

The visit initiated a relationship between the family and members of St. Johns, with CFNA playing an intermediary “bridging” role. This took the form of providing much needed support and assistance for the Espoir family as they slowly began adjusting to life in St. Louis. Initially this took the form of Driver’s Ed and ESL classes for Espior and Olga. The two children, seven year old daughter Latifa and four year old son Daniel, began participating in the tutoring, VBS and other programs offered at the Peace Center.

Click Images to Enlarge

Moreover, a sizeable furniture donation from a generous donor, Mrs. Kathryn Lang and family of Messiah Lutheran Church, Weldon Springs, provided badly needed home furnishing. Shortly thereafter, through the efforts of the International Institute, Espoir and Olga were able to obtain entry level jobs in the food and laundry service industries.

Adjusting to life in America was not easy, but regular worship with the members of St. John’s became a source of belonging and hope. The interim pastor, Rev. Bill Wilson, also provided much needed encouragement. During one of their many conversations, Rev. Wilson learned the children had not been baptized and encouraged the parents to have this done. At the request of Rev. Wilson, Rev. Stanley worked with the family, helping them to fill out the necessary forms, and also participated in the baptismal event. Interestingly, in addition to the regular members of the congregation, three recently arrived Congolese families were also present.

It is interesting to note that St. John’s is becoming a truly multi-ethnic congregation with a significant number of Nepali and Vietnamese members, in addition to a growing number of visitors from Central Africa. In Matthew 28:18-20 Christ instructed his followers to make disciples of all the nations. We definitely see this happening at St.Johns and CFNA is blessed to be part of this mission journey. For all of this we praise the Lord.

By Rev. Stanish Stanley
Executive Director, CFNA, with
Rev. Al Buckman