The Nations Inside Your Church

The Lord watches over the strangers; he upholds the orphan and the widow,
but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

Psalm 146:9

Catalyst Services, a ministry helping churches effectively partner with missionaries, recently published this guide explaining ways to identify the nations within your church in order to enrich your church body and your outreach. Immigrants, their children, international students, businesspeople, and connected ethnic congregations can all be part of helping your church body learn to “welcome the stranger” and to effectively serve internationals, both at home and abroad.

What might result from identifying the nations within your own church community? 

• What if your next church missions trip overseas was led by nationals of that country? 
• What if you served underneath and alongside those who grew up in that culture? 
• What if your mission teams studied cross-cultural communication together and then went to serve together, enriching your relationships and understanding of the Gospel?
• What if you discipled international students and businesspeople, preparing them to go back to diverse nations and share Christ there?

Ultimately, we are all called to love our neighbors, and as those neighbors become more diverse, we can all play a part in learning more about what they believe in our pursuit of sharing the hope of Christ through relationships. Learn more about reaching the nations by starting inside your church in the full article from Catalyst Services here.

At Restoring Hope Roanoke, we love to help churches find ways to love and serve their communities! Here are just a few services we offer:

• Interested in learning more about the ethnic makeup of your church’s community? Request a neighborhood data analysis here.
• Want to learn how to welcome your refugee neighbors? Attend our Good Neighbor Team Training with Friendship House on December 3, 2021. More information is available here.