The gift of hospitality

Salisbury in Adelaide has become one of the most multicultural suburbs in Australia, and the local Lutherans at the Ark, Salisbury Lutheran Church, have been praying for ways to build connections.

Recently a strong bond has developed with Hope Arabic Church, an Arabic language church group, and a bold plan was hatched to co-host a special dinner for Muslim people who live in the northern suburbs.

While we have been celebrating Easter, the Muslim people have been marking Ramadan this year, so an invitation was circulated to them to come and share a free meal on 1 April 2023.

A local community centre in Salisbury was hired and decorated for the evening, and food and gifts were prepared.

The team at Salisbury just wanted to ‘welcome these newcomers in the name of the Lord’, and more than 100 guests turned up.

It was a wonderful evening as we all mingled, with the Arabic-speaking Christians able to convey more reasons for the celebration.

People arrived as strangers, and many left as friends, and it was amazing to observe joy starting to light up faces. A number of the guests said it was the best night since they had arrived in Australia and expressed hope for other gatherings.

This event has set in motion something good, and the Arabic church reports that one family joined them over Easter.

May our Lord be honoured among the nations!

GET INVOLVED

If you would like to create an outreach plan, feel free to contact our Cross-Cultural Ministry team at crosscultural@lca.org.au 

We may be able to help with ideas and talk about our grants available to help cover the costs.

Craig Heidenreich is the Cross-Cultural Ministry Facilitator for the LCANZ.