On Wednesday, October 26, 2022, our friend and colleague, Rev. Dr. John Loum, left us to be with his Heavenly Father. Born into a Muslim family in The Gambia, he became a believer in Christ after having come into contact with a missionary associated with the Islam in Africa Project, then based in Nigeria.

This year on November 19th from 4:00pm-7:00pm, IISTL, CFNA, and a number of other partner organizations in the area that work with the refugee community will be hosting a community Thanksgiving dinner event! This event will feature a number of guests from the community, a traditional thanksgiving meal, plenty of kids and family activities, and more!

Rev. Dr. Matthew Harrison, President of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, visited the Peace Center to learn more about how this mission society impacts New Americans! “The destination for everyone they serve is the Church and by so doing, this dynamic mission society has facilitated the baptism and/or confirmation of more than 250 New Americans, primarily refugees.” President Harrison learned how CFNA manages to link with over 200 refugees every year and extend these links into relationships with several LCMS congregations in urban St. Louis.

Meramec Community College presented information about the more than 30 options in the five-week Accelerated Job Training program to refugees at the Peace Center. Free training, during the day or evening, often with travel expenses, stipends, and job placement in well-paying jobs, is offered. Job possibilities span culinary positions, computer coding, commercial trucking, medical training, welding, and much more! For these refugees, open doors like this are life changing!

Our group is working with a family from Afghanistan. They had been in the US on a military base and in a hotel for 6+ months. The kids were not yet in school, and the family was still lacking many basic needs including a working phone. Our group dug in to provide basic household goods, get the kids in school, and help get the family a phone.

Hi! My name is Heather McDermott and I’m the new Volunteer Ministry Coordinator for CFNA. Joining CFNA was a complete God thing. I wasn’t looking for a job and then Dr. Stanish Stanley was talking to my mom at church about the need for someone to coordinate volunteers for all the various avenues of ministry for CFNA. What I wasn’t looking for, became something I am incredibly passionate about!

“I was blessed to go to CCLS and learned the importance of community for sports and academics. Win as one, lose as one, together as one like a tribe and have each other’s back. I also learned the importance of growing in my Christian faith and live it out with confidence. My hope is that others will receive the blessings I received.”

379 volunteers provided over 6,000 service hours for the benefit of more than 600 refugees during the past year! Services included 121 ESL, citizenship and driver’s ed classes, 53 sewing classes, 50 after-school tutoring classes, 10 Peace Center renovation and improvement events and much more, including the formation of nine Friend a Family groups organized to help provide assistance to more than 57 recently arrived Afghan refugees.

As I prayed for an opportunity to serve and put some of my skill sets to use, our former pastor and his wife shared information with me about CFNA. After visiting the Peace Center and then with members of the staff, I was offered and accepted a position as the Driver’s Ed/ESL coordinator.

Last month a dozen Afghan women conquered their fears and began swimming lessons. CFNA provided swimwear and transportation. At first, all were very cautious, but that soon gave way to laughter and determined effort. By the end of the second lesson, everyone jumped off the pool deck into the shallow end.

With a list of more than 30 Driver’s Ed students, there was no debating the need, and the service opportunity that came with it. To keep up with demand, classroom instruction includes English vocabulary needed for driving, record keeping, etc. This ministry also includes coordinating our volunteer instructors, as well as the use of the CFNA vehicle by our student permit holders.

Concordia, Kirkwood’s VBS was in back full force this summer with over 170 participants. Among them were 24 refugee kids, ages three to fifteen, from five birth nations including Congo, Kenya, Nepal, Uganda and Rwanda. Worship featuring songs, videos, and lots of dancing led to teaching key Bible verses like Ephesians 2:10: “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Jesus Christ for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

In this position I hope to use my experience in the healthcare field to improve the health of our new refugees and immigrants. I have been so impressed with the courage of these wonderful people and have most enjoyed spending time with the new families, listening to their stories and learning about their culture.

CFNA is again providing water safety classes for refugee kids, and the enrollment is larger than ever! Approximately 100 students from almost a half dozen birth nations have signed up. The purpose of the class is to provide basic water safety skills for refugee kids that never had the chance to learn how to swim. Beyond these important skills, it has been a time for the development of friendships, even among New Americans from different birth nations and much more!

Change brings uncertainty and inherent in this uncertainty is the reality of control. It has always belonged in the hands of the now dwindling Anglo community, but this is slowly beginning to change. Change of this magnitude, however, carries with it not only uncertainty, but also the very real possibility of a better future for everyone. For this to become a reality, however, positive relationships will be essential.

This spring, Epiphany Lutheran Church, participated in the LCMS Missouri District’s second annual SHINE! service event, by providing raised garden beds to 4 CFNA immigrant and refugee families. The idea for this service project came from one of our older youth, Elise Zeigler, who is an active volunteer at CFNA and employs immigrant and refugee youth, through her business, Selah.