On Saturday, we went out to explore different ethnic communities in Chicago. There are TONS of them!! This is a pic of the students I took out that day. We had the privilege of going to an area called West Ridge. We walked up and down Devon Street, which has probably 7-8 different ethnic communities represented on that one street!! Including Jewish, Pakistani, Indian, Russian, Muslim, Greek Orthodox, Lebanese, etc. It was amazing!Our goal was to go and observe and explore each community to broaden our knowledge base and open our eyes to the ways in which each community did life. What an incredible opportunity!! Boy were our eyes opened!!
We split into smaller groups so as to not overwhelm the communities with a group of 8 people who obviously don't live in the community. :) My group after about 10 minutes found a man on a bench and we decided to talk to him to hear his story. He was probably in his 70s, a refugee from Iraq. He has been living in the states for 8 months. He lives with his wife and two daughters. He cannot find a job. His daughters are going to school to learn English so that they can get a job. He lives in a TINY apartment (he showed us) with his family. And they pay $750 in rent with no jobs! They had to leave Iraq because things were so bad over there. We asked him if he missed Iraq. You could see the sadness in his eyes! It broke my heart! But hearing him talk about his life, his homeland, his family, being in America - was amazing!! He wanted/needed to be heard!! And what an incredible blessing it was that God chose us to hear his story!!
We had lunch as a group that day at an Indian restaurant! First time most of us had tried authentic Indian food!! It was incredible!!
While we were eating lunch, out the windows, we saw all of kinds of Muslim men walking to some sort of gathering. So when we were done eating, we went outside and asked what was going on. One of the men told us that they were having an annual Muslim gathering that day. How crazy we were on that street exploring on the day of the Muslim gathering! God is so funny!! So, a couple of our students started talking with a Muslim man - they wanted to hear his story (this was part of our assignment for the exploration). This individual actually was not originally from America and he actually directed us to go across the street and talk to another Muslim man who was from America and who chose to become a Muslim rather than grew up in a culture where it was expected. We found out later that a Muslim (in this area) will talk to someone who is not Muslim if you come from similar areas or origin (born in the U.S.). That is why this man sent us across the street because the Muslim man across the street was originally from Chicago.
We headed across the street and so as to not overwhelm this man and his two friends with him, we again split into two groups. One group approached this man to talk and the other group walked around the neighborhoods on this part of the street to do some more exploring.
Allison and I (another staff) were SOOOOO proud of the students!! Both groups ended up in front of this man and the dialogue that took place between this Muslim man, his two disciples, and our students (and us - staff) was INCREDIBLE!!!!!!! This man was brilliant! He was articulate, deeply intelligent, a leader, persuasive, influential.... and the list could go on and on! And what could have scared our students away, only intrigued them and made them converse more and ask more questions!! This man was not in a place to really hear about the Gospel, he wanted to focus on what we all agreed on and would not allow discussion to go into anything we disagreed on!
But, friends, it was an AMAZING experience!! Not only for the students!! WHAT A HUGE CHALLENGE TO YOUR FAITH TO HAVE A CONVERSATION LIKE THAT!!!! The biggest thing this man could not accept about being a follower of Jesus was the concept of the Trinity. He could not accept or understand the idea that God could be three separate beings and all One at the same time. And honestly, that is a huge concept to understand! And if we're all honest with ourselves, we don't understand it! And we never will completely! We have to at some point accept it by faith! And this man could not do that. But, boy, did the students try to get him to understand! They didn't just simply accept the fact that he didn't get it - they came back with their solid thoughts, ideas, and Biblical, real-world examples to try and make him understand.
About 10-15 minutes into our conversation, other Muslim men (who had come for the gathering) had joined around our group and this man and his disciples to listen in on the conversation. By the end of the conversation, there was at least 20-25 Muslim men gathered around us listening to the interaction!! The man leading the conversation asked at one point how much more time we would like with him - we all decided on about 10 more minutes. But after about 3 minutes, this man looked around and saw the crowd that had formed and said we needed to go our separate ways. He said that if the police came by, they would stop because so many people were gathered and wonder what was going on - He commented that even though nothing was happening, the police would stop and blame them (referring to the Muslims) for "whatever" was happening. Super sad reality, huh??
And the even crazier thing is that for this gathering, there were no women or children present. And obviously in our group there was a few women in on this experience. And what we found out was, this man and his disciples should not have been talking to the women in our group!! He even shook two of their hands in the beginning - however, at the end, once the crowd had formed, he would not shake any of the women's hands. You could tell his disciples, sitting on either side of him, were very uncomfortable that he had shaken the women's hands in the beginning and that he was being as open in talking when women were present!!
Couple things about this interaction were super challenging for me... the first was when one of this man's disciples asked a question (well, asked his leader first if he could get permission to ask us a question). He asked, "Are you a Christian just because you are an American? Or do you actually believe and that is why you are a Christian?" What he was trying to articulate (he had some trouble with English) was are we simply Christians because we call ourselves Americans and "American" and "Christian" seem to just go together? Or do we call ourselves Christians because we actually believe in something and have a lifestyle that is different and that is what makes us Christians?? In his mind, all he saw since he came to America was everyone just calling themselves "Christians" because they lived in this country. But nothing was different about the way they lived their lives.
The other thing that was both challenging and heart-breaking was the influence and leadership this man exhibited. In debriefing with our students after our experience, the one thing many of them commented on was how if this man had been a Christian, he was such an influential and powerful speaker that he could have brought many to Christ through his words and witness! And the reality was, because he is such a powerful and influential leader, he brings many young men in their 20s to Muslim because of his words and witness being a Muslim man!! That being said, why aren't we vocal, powerful, and influential in our words and witness as Christians?? Why don't we have that much passion for our beliefs and the God we serve?? Or if we do have that much passion, do others see it?? Why do we not stop people on the corner and tell them about how our lives have changed because of a man named Jesus?? Wow!!! If our passion, love, and commitment for Christ manifested in the way this man's passion and commitment to being Muslim did.... it would be incredible!!!! Kingdom-growing for sure!!
Sorry this post is so long! It was just so amazing, challenging, and overwhelming that I couldn't just sum it up in a few words! And the words I did use, still didn't do it justice! But I wanted to share!
Much love!!
