The latest updates of CFNA and friends helping Immigrants and Refugees in St. Louis with Christ-Like Care
The light is for everybody! If you are living and working in the same house, of course, you can share the light! In fact, it would be strange if you didn’t. Hoarding light is ridiculous. You want to put that light high.
Read MoreWorries about ghosts and spirits are common among people who move to the United States. They may have grown up believing in powers that may harm them if they don’t do all the right rituals. This leads to a kind of slavery, where you have to do this or you can’t do that because it might bring bad luck to your family.
Read MoreHave you ever attended worship in another culture? If so, you know how nervous it can make you—a strange language, different ways of doing things. You wonder if you’re going to do something wrong. Maybe you will offend the other worshipers! These are all worries that immigrants and refugees have when we invite them to our churches.
Read MoreJesus’ disciples must have felt overwhelmed. Look over there—Jesus, shining like the sun! Moses and Elijah standing beside him! God’s voice booming from the bright cloud! No wonder they fell face down. Their senses couldn’t take it. It was too much.
Read MoreAre you far from someone you love—either physically or emotionally? Do you know someone else who is experiencing this grief? Come to Jesus for help. He is the Lord who has promised to take us to himself, no longer strangers and aliens, but his own beloved family.
Read MoreHave you ever noticed that almost everybody in the Christmas story is far from home? How about us? Is it easy when we are far away from home? What should we do?
Read MoreIt can be hard to know where to find help when you are new in a country. You start with the basics — food, shelter, clothing. Then things get more complicated — education, work, and requirements from the government. Who can help you fill out that insurance paperwork? Who can check your child’s American history homework? And what about that big bill from the hospital — is there anyone who can help you deal with that?
Read MoreIt’s not easy to be dependent on other people for things you are used to doing yourself. I see this in the eyes of refugees who come to me on Sundays, clutching paperwork in a language they can’t understand. They need help, and while they are grateful, they would much rather not be in that situation.
Read MoreSome Christians seem to think they must “sell” Jesus—they must disguise his message as something else so that people will be attracted to it and swallow the bait. How can this be right when we serve the God of truth? Alas, but take note of what kinds of fishermen the first disciples were…they were not bait-and-hook fishermen, but rather they used nets!
Read MoreDo you know what an exile is? The Lord is our life and our home, and our happiness. How we need Him! But we cannot go back by our own effort. The trip is too far; the road is too rough. We need carrying. We need someone to fetch us, to heal our wounds, to bring us home again. And that is what Jesus has done for us.
Read MoreHow do we get to know Jesus? John 1:43-46 shows us the way to The Way Himself: “Come and see!”
Philip wanted his friend Nathanael to know Jesus. But he also knew that Nathanael was not a person who trusted easily. Trying to describe Jesus would not work very well. Arguing with Nathanael would be even worse!
Join us for Dr. Kari Vo’s devotion: “Getting to Know Jesus”.
Read MoreOne of the hardest things in life is when you believe, rightly or wrongly, that you are not loved. That's incredibly lonely. Jesus understands this need, and He offers us what our hearts long for—love that is actually returned.
Read MoreThey know what it means to be a stranger—to be alone and dependent on other people for help, even for basic food and shelter. They have probably experienced this in their own lives. And now Jesus is saying to them, “You welcomed me”? When was Jesus ever a stranger—ever in need, ever at their mercy for food and clothing and shelter? It doesn’t make sense. But then we get Jesus’ wonderful conclusion: “As you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”
Read MoreWhat do you bring with you from your homeland when you come to America—family roots, a native language and culture, education and skills, a religious upbringing? Whether you know it or not, God loves you so much that he created you special and has a special purpose for your life through Jesus Christ, your Savior.
Read MoreAs a little girl, I would hear my mother sing, “He walks with me and He talks with me and He tells me I am his own.” Looking back to the days she chose to sing those words, it seems those were often the days when she looked sad. Her face was strained, but firm.
Read MoreIt was sharing time during our Heart to Heart Bible study of the Ten Lepers. This is always a time of memorable moments. I will never forget one beautiful Syrian woman with the help of a translator telling about her first experience with bus riding in St Louis.
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“I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” John 10:14-16Can you picture a flock of sheep grazing on a hillside, content and peaceful? Can you picture a flock of sheep safe in a sheep pen from wild animals or thieves who want to harm them? In a dangerous world, sheep need a good shepherd to lead them and protect them. In a loud world with many false voices, sheep need to hear the calming voice of their good shepherd who knows them by name and loves them so much he will lay down his life for them. They follow him because they trust him.Jesus lived in a dangerous world of competing religious voices, many seeking to take his life. As our Good Shepherd, he was sent by the Father to gather scattered sheep from all over the world into one flock. He must lay down his life for the sheep. He loves you, knows you by name and calls you into his flock now and forever. Welcome to Jesus’ flock!Father, thank you for sending your only Son to be our Good Shepherd by his death on the cross and his resurrection from the grave. AmenStephen J. Carter, Oakville, MO
John 10:27-32
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one.” The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?”
A story of love and intolerance. That’s what this portion of John’s Gospel could be called. Jesus brings love’s stories; the Jews, stones. The Lord’s enemies do not tolerate Jesus’ affirmation that He comes from the Heavenly Father. The Jews’ blindness did not allow them to see the origin of Jesus’ works.
Open your eyes. Do you want to see Jesus’ good works, which point to the Father? Jesus healed a blind man, a paralytic, ten lepers, and another leper; he raised a little girl, Lazarus, and a boy in Nain; he fed thousands; he had compassion on thousands; he forgave a paralytic, an adulteress, Peter after he betrayed him, and even his enemies who crucified him; he walked on water and calmed a storm as well as his disciples’ fear; he was patient with the Emmaus disciples and explained the Scriptures to them. Jesus did all of this, and much more, so that we might see and believe that he comes from the Father.
The Jews could not tolerate Jesus’ affirmation of who he was. They could not understand the way Jesus explained the Scriptures! Do you doubt the Holy Scripture? The Bible came from God the Father! Is it hard for you to believe that God is compassionate and loving towards his children? No need to doubt. God has given you many signs that he loves you more than anything. He sent Jesus to die on a cross to pay for your sins. Now you can believe his promises to forgive you and to give you eternal life. God is good. Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection are witnesses of God’s love.
Hector Hoppe St. Louis, MO
2 Peter 3:14 – “So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him.”
Someone once said, “Proper prior planning prevents poor performance.” Planning is absolutely vital these days. How do you prepare for the future? Of course, that depends on what events are pending. Life can throw so many things at us.
Years ago, I played Little League Baseball. One of my early coaches gathered all the players on our team together and told us the obvious. “Guys, every time you take the field, ask yourself one question… ‘what if the ball comes to me?’” That is a good question for many aspects of life. What will you do if the ball comes to you?
Peter writes in his second letter to the church, “make every effort to be found spotless, blameless, and at peace” with our Lord. Those three efforts are a wonderful pattern for our lives. So many things come at us in this life. Change is all around us, unexpected events occur, and crises can overwhelm us. How do we handle it?
With prayer and the power of the Holy Spirit, we make every effort to live as one who is a child of God and disciple of Christ, spotless and blameless. And because Christ suffered, died, and rose again victorious over sin, we live in total peace with our Lord. We cannot do this by our own efforts. Christ Jesus makes us spotless, blameless, and gives us peace. Now we can face the future fearlessly.
Rev. Eric J. Erkkinen Chaplain, U.S. Army (ret.)
By All Possible Means
The Apostle Paul writes: “I have become all things to all people that by all possible means I might save some” (1 Corinthians 9:22).
Paul writes that although he is a totally free person, he chooses to make himself a servant, a “slave to everyone” so that he might bring the good news of Jesus to as many people as possible. It seems to me that the mission of Christian Friends of New Americans is like that. I have seen different ethnic refugee groups and families come to the Peace Center and participate in activities.
In that setting and in other churches, people of good will have reached out to welcome new refugees to our city and nation. For Christians, the goal is to share God’s love so that “by all possible means” we can connect them to Jesus and His body of followers, the church.
Helping at the Peace Center is hard work — always a degree of chaos, and lots of help needed with transportation, program support, volunteer recruitment, fund-raising, and facility upkeep But we see the CFNA vision bearing fruit as we continue to reach out to new families, to people young and old, over and over, so that “by all means” we might share with them the love of God in Jesus Christ, which is the “power of God unto salvation” (Romans 1:16).
Prayer: Thank you, Jesus, for the opportunity to reach out to New Americans. Help us to rejoice in the work of the Holy Spirit in the refugee community, and give us lasting joy as we share the love of Christ with people of “every tribe and nation” in as many ways as possible. Amen.
Chaplain Ted Wuerffel St. Louis, MO
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Walking Together
We are a mission society and a Recognized Service Organization (RSO) of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS). Learn more about the LCMS at lcms.org.
Our Mission
Christian Friends of New Americans is an outreach ministry to immigrants and refugees in the greater St. Louis area. Our mission is to be involved in relationships with New Americans with whom we can share the Gospel through caring words and actions.
Contact
CFNA Peace Center
4019 South Grand Blvd.
St. Louis, MO 63118
314-351-1740
E-mail: mail@cfna-stl.org
© Copyright 2023 — Christian Friends of New Americans
