Bible Study: The Foreigner among us

Chawkat Moucarry

• Tuesday: Hagar and Ishmael (Genesis 16))
• Wednesday: A Syrian army general healed by the God of Israel (1 Kings 5: 1-27)
• Thursday: Jesus and his disciples are unwelcome in a Samaritan village (Luke 9: 51-56)

Chawkat Moucarry was born in Aleppo (Syria) and grew up in a Catholic home.  He lived in Paris for twenty years. In 1994 he moved to England where he taught Islamic and Middle-Eastern Studies at All Nations Christian College. In 2006 he joined World Vision International, a Christian Development and Relief organization, as Director of Interfaith Relations. He is fluent in Arabic (mother tongue), French and English. Chawkat has a Masters degree in Christian theology and a PhD in Islamic Studies from the Sorbonne University (Paris). He wrote several articles and books including The Prophet & the Messiah. An Arab Christian’s Perspective on Islam & Christianity (IVP, 2001), The Search for Forgiveness. Pardon and Punishment in Islam and Christianity (IVP, 2004) and Two Prayers for Today. The Lord’s Prayer and The Fatiha (CSS Books: Tiruvalla, 2007). Chawkat is married, his wife is from Denmark. They live in the London area and they have four grown up children.

Building a truly international church

David Wise David Wise has been the a pastor at Greenford Baptist Church in London for 28 years, during that time the church has developed from one that was almost entirely white English to one where there are people from around 45 nationalities attending. In this talk he tells something of the journey of GBC including facing up to and tackling racial prejudice in the church, developing cultural diversity in leadership, worship, preaching and prayer. He also talks about his own journey of development in understanding and practice and about the restructuring of Sunday meetings to better enable multi-ethnic engagement David Wise was ordained as a Baptist Minister in 1984. He has been the Senior Pastor of Greenford Baptist Church in West London for 28 years. He is currently the Interim Minister of Quaystone Church in East London.  For the last three years he has also worked as a tutor at Springdale College (soon to be renamed ForMission College) on their MA course in Missional Leadership. Additionally he mentors pastors and other church leaders as well as travelling and speaking widely. He is married to Lesley, has three grown up children who are themselves all married and he has three grandchildren with another one on the way. His hobbies include mountain walking, swimming, cinema and cooking and enjoying good food and wine!

Swedish models of integration of immigrants

Peter Magnusson Peter started the Underground programs that meet many needs of the local youth. It includes a big Drop In Center in the weekends, school support, counselling, a driving school for Middle Eastern girls, an employability program and a Leadership Development Program for local youth between 16-25 yrs old.  UG have fought marginalization, discrimination and injustice successfully for a long time. Underground has since the beginning had a high profile in the secular world and at the same time clearly being church based. The worlds of politics, media, government administration and business are part of the networking as respect has been built due to the impact in the wider society. Not at least the huge success among immigrant girls from Balkan, North Africa and the Middles East has caused a huge interest from secular groups. Peter and Lena also work with social services to help women and children who were victims of domestic abuse. Peter Magnusson is a trained Youth Counsellor and Teacher. He has 3 children, 1 grandchild, and is married to Lena. Lived most of this time in Råslätt, a suburb to Jönköping with the vast majority of inhabitants from the Middle East, Asia and North Africa. Worked some years as teacher and counselor and then 27 years in OM.  Last 8 years as a secular consultant for social services, schools and local governments in the area of youth work and immigrants. Leading and coordinating a network of 60 volunteers that work with youth and families from immigrant backgrounds in the Jönköping region together with the local government.

Xenophobia, Forgiveness and the Gospel

Avi Snyder Responding to the Rising Tide of Hate with the Good News of Forgiveness. Using real live examples, Avi will share with us on Xenophobia. What is the reality, the resurgence, the root and most important the remedy. Looking at the first century church, Avi will point to lessons for today’s church. Avi Snyder is the European Director of Jews for Jesus.  He was raised in a conservative Jewish home in New York City and came to a saving faith in Jesus in 1977 with the help of a Jews for Jesus tract and the forthright witness of Christian friends.  He graduated from Fuller Theological Seminary, the School of World Missions, with a Masters degree in missiology. Since joining Jews for Jesus in 1978, he has provided leadership for branch offices in the US, the UK, Germany, the former USSR, and Hungary.  Currently, he and his wife Ruth live in Budapest. Jews for Jesus is an international Jewish mission agency, dedicated to proclaiming the Gospel to the Jewish people in a creative and loving but forthright manner.  Founded in 1973, we now have missionaries in thirteen countries around the world.  As our mission statement explains, “We exist to make the Messiah ship of Jesus an unavoidable issue to our Jewish people worldwide.

Being an immigrant and missionary, serving cross-culturally

Martin Schaser

The political as well as the economic situation in Eastern Europe prompted many people to leave their countries (legal or illegal, before and after the revolution from 1989) seeking a better life in the USA, Australia or Western Europe. Spiritual needs, a lack of vision, resistance to changes, a new language, the neglected new generation, and many other factors led to internal crisis in these churches. Many young people distanced themselves from the Lord and a few left the ethnical church and joined international churches. Having this perception and seeing this reality (my reality), moved me to act. Prayer and personal time with God, bible study on Mission, looking for a godly perspective for the existence of the church and more, helped me to develop a vision for a missional agency for planting international churches in larger cities in Austria and beyond. I was born in Romania. I attended the Pentecostal Theological Seminary in Bucharest 1984-1988 and was ordained as pastor in October 1988 ministering in Romanian churches until 1996 when my family moved to Germany.  In 1997 we moved to Austria and continued the ministry in Romanian churches. I fulfilled my studies for MA in Church Ministries at the Pentecostal Theological Seminary, Cleveland, Tennessee, in 2004.  In 2012 I started the “Internationale Christliche Gemeinschaft” (International Christian Fellowship) as a church planting agency and opened a first International church in Linz, where I am the Senior Pastor.

Ethnic Churches

Bob Hitching