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So, Your Neighborhood Has Changed?
The ethnic populations in America’s urban centers are increasing dramatically, and will continue to do so. This presents an excellent opportunity for churches to build bridges of friendship and love in Christ to those newly-arriving cultural groups. Instead of looking at differing cultures with fear, suspicion and ignorance, Christians need to be encouraged and trained to reach out for Christ’s sake.
Ethnic America Network
OC International is a member of the Ethnic America Network (EAN, see www.ethnicamerica.com), a coalition of over 30 churches and agencies that seeks to encourage those engaged in ethnic ministries and to create awareness of the opportunity for ethnic outreach among churches that are not yet currently doing so.
OC-US is heavily involved in cultural bridge-building in the Northwest USA as a part of EAN’s efforts. We seek to encourage and train those in ethnic ministries, network among those engaged already, and help train and mobilize churches who desire to get started. Please contact us if you have an interest in this area.
Coaching
Some churches realize their surrounding neighborhoods have changed over the years, but do not know how to begin engaging those cultures. In fact, they may not even know who their new neighbors are, what they believe, what they need, and what language they speak.
Often times it merely takes a dialog to open up new vistas to see the opportunity and responsibility to share Christ’s love with the cultures nearby. We are most happy to engage on those dialogs.
People Group Research
There are resources available today to help a church discover who their new neighbors are. Such discovery provides a tremendous help in designing a strategy for impact, and in receiving training so as to build relational bridges with understanding. Let us help in this exciting discovery process!
People Groups related links:
Find the people groups in your area at www.peoplegroups.info
Access a wide range of local and national resources through the Sitemap link at www.ethnicharvest.org
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