What is CFNA?

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Refugees arriving in St. Louis come with a host of needs: housing, furniture, employment, learning the English Language, education, particularly for kids, and most importantly spiritual and religious needs to name a few. It was with this in mind that we at CFNA sprang into action by providing a host of services to enable immigrants and refugees to resettle, thrive, and become productive members of the St. Louis community. Some of the services, among others, that continue to make the most impact on the lives of immigrants and refugees are:

  • The CFNA Scholarship program

  • The After-School Program

  • The Health Screening Program

  • As a faith-based program, we share with all immigrants and refugees the Story of Jesus as our Savior and provide them the option of becoming Christians when possible by connecting them with participating Lutheran congregations in St. Louis.

  • Teaching of English as a special language

As a Facilitator for the CFNA Scholarship Program from the onset, I have been instrumental in providing scholarships to immigrant and refugee children born outside of the United States to study in Lutheran elementary and high schools in St. Louis. My role involves not only identifying families and enrolling their children in Lutheran schools, but also working with the families, schools and the participating Lutheran Churches. The scholarship program has been a huge success in many ways.

First, many of the students enrolled got good quality Christian education, graduated, and went on to further their education in colleges and universities or pursued other career paths.

Second, most of the immigrant and refugee students that were enrolled in Lutheran Schools became members of participating congregations such as Timothy Lutheran Church, Messiah Lutheran Church, St. John Lutheran Church, and Ascension Lutheran Church. These churches over the years have not only seen a spike in the number of baptisms of immigrants and refugees, but continue to enjoy the most diverse congregations among the Lutheran Churches in St. Louis, Missouri.

Third, the CFNA Scholarship Program paved the way for the After-School Program at the Peace Center. This program was initially meant to help CFNA Scholarship students with homework and assignments, but it soon attracted kids from public and other schools. There were kids from Nepal, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Eritrea that came to the After-school program twice a week. The kids learned about Jesus during devotions, played games, did their homework assignments and learned how to use the computer. In order to strengthen the services of CFNA in immigrant and refugee communities, ministries have been formed such as the Nepali Ministry, the West African Ministry and the Kunama/Ethiopian Ministry.

Members of my ministry, the West African Ministry, have been meeting every Sunday morning at Timothy Lutheran Church prior to the Divine Worship Service, to study the Bible until COVID-19 pandemic hit. In spite of the current challenges CFNA continues to provide services to members of our communities most notably through COVID relief package to immigrants that lost jobs due to the pandemic, the annual Christmas Gifts, and the annual Thanksgiving Turkey Blessings. I am truly blessed and thankful to the Almighty God for being a part of this great ministry.

Gerald Brewah,
CFNA Facilitator, West African Ministry