Adapting to a new culture and environment was challenging, but CFNA played a significant role in my continuing transition. Connected to CFNA’s tutoring program for English through a friend, I grew academically and spiritually as I was introduced to the Living God and the Lutheran community in St. Louis.

What impact does VBS have on our immigrant/refugee friends? Deepshyas, a Nepali boy, shared: “I learned that God helps me to make good choices in my life and that bad choices can have negative consequences. Good choices please Him. When I make bad choices, He doesn’t give up on me and will forgive me.”

At CFNA, we strive to follow Jesus’s words to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your strength and with all your mind.” (Mathew 22:37) We try to model love, service and learning to our New American neighbors and celebrate when they engage in opportunities to do likewise. Students from our After School Tutoring program are participating in creative ways!

CFNA provides scholarships to three types of young people. Although most of the recipients are members of New American families, we have also supported some students whose parent(s) are studying at Concordia Seminary, or who work as missionaries to refugee and immigrant families. 

It has been a blessing to have the opportunity to meet and work with school-age children from many different countries and cultures. Each week as we help them learn, we have an opportunity to share Jesus. What a joy it is to see these young people grow in their understanding of who Jesus is, what He has done for them, and how much He loves and cares for them.

104 students from 22 different countries have also been served through the CFNA Scholarship Ministry. Almost all have made satisfactory academic progress and gone on to quality high schools, colleges, universities, and military service. In at least three cases, the fathers of three of these families have graduated from Concordia Seminary and are now on the LCMS clergy roster.

Dental health is often lost in the avalanche of things New Americans must learn as they acclimate to life in the US. Staff and volunteers at CFNA, the Lutheran Church of Webster Gardens, Christ Community Lutheran School, and Affinia Healthcare were overjoyed to be able to provide education and practical support for dental wellness for refugee families who attended the event.

Approximately 90 kids from 12 birth countries were served by more than 25 regular tutors from various Lutheran congregations and SLU on Tuesdays and Thursdays every week. In this work partnerships are everything, and the additional resources made available through these partnerships were of great value to the students and their families.

Your gift is a partnership in ministry. This $10,000 match on Give STL Day gives us a greater opportunity to love our refugee neighbors through our programs and staff. Here’s how you can support us:

Zo Member-Meneh: “Thanks to God’s work through CFNA, I, a Nigerian-born, South City Saint Louis-raised kid was able to attend and graduate debt-free from a Division 1 school, Alabama State University. I then landed my dream job at Google. Now I can showcase how much of a difference an opportunity like the one I had makes in children’s lives.”

With the help of CFNA, they received support, guidance and assistance as they adapted to their new culture and language. During this time a relationship developed with Pastor Tanney at St. Johns Lutheran Church. It was then that Nabin (and later Ratna) took the first step to learn the teachings of the Lutheran Church and be confirmed. With a hunger to learn more, leadership classes began and with the help of CFNA they prepared for admission to Concordia Seminary! 

CFNA welcomed over 200 trivia players to Abiding Savior Lutheran Church on April 6 for the 17th annual Trivia Night and Silent Auction. Twenty-one volunteers worked to make the evening a success, including CFNA staff people, students, and friends. One said, “I am so glad CFNA was so blessed with the night and wish God's continued blessing for the amazing work done and will continue to do.”

These multiple blessings perfectly illustrate CFNA’s ministry and role in urban St. Louis, which is to connect recently arrived refugee families with Lutheran congregations and their well-established families in the greater St. Louis area.

I am constantly amazed at how the Lord can use any skill, whether it be technology or something else. My time at CFNA has been “happy chaos” with a jumble of languages, cultures, and people. Sometimes I feel like a world traveler who hasn’t left home!

This time becomes a beacon of hope and renewal, guiding us toward a new chapter filled with possibility and purpose. It is a reminder that transitions are not endings, but rather beginnings, infused with the promise of growth and resilience. As we approach this pivotal moment, let us embrace it with gratitude and anticipation for the journey ahead.

Al and Carol Buckman have been selected by the faculty of Concordia Seminary to receive the Christus Vivit honorary award at the seminary’s commencement ceremony to be held on May 17, 2024.