“Reaching unreached peoples is not just about going overseas anymore, and reaching your local context is no longer about reaching people just like you. We have to change our understanding of both in order to understand today’s mission equation.” – IMB
News From Our Neighborhood
Often, when we discuss local missions, our version of the “Jerusalem” in Acts 1:8, we think of the Federal Way neighborhoods we’re most familiar with. However, a quick study of Federal Way and South King County reveals it is one of the most internationally and culturally diverse areas in the United States. This is the cross-cultural mission field of our neighbors who appear to be very different in many ways, and therefore not easily approachable.
According to a Migration Policy Institute study of data collected from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2019-2023 American Communities Survey, Washington State had 1.17 million (2.5 percent) of the nation’s 46.1 million immigrants from all countries1.
LifeWay’s cross-cultural mission focus is to identify, strategize and pray for outreach to newly arriving ethnic communities within our Federal Way and South King County neighborhoods.
To this end, in 2016, our church began an English as a second language class for the parents of Twin Lakes Elementary School students involved in an after-school club we operated at the school. In late 2017, the teaching team discovered an opportunity to serve more adult ESL students at the Park 16 apartments, close to Rainier View Elementary and Todd Beamer High School. A second location was established at the Kitts Corner Apartments on 336th Street across from the Multi-Service Center. These classes grew and thrived until 2020, when COVID forced their suspension.
From 2020 through the present, our Missions Team continued to pray and explore opportunities to restart an ESL class intended to serve a target immigrant community unreached by any local church outreach. One such community was Afghans relocating to the U.S. after the U.S. military exit in 2021.
Our research documented the U.S. cities that had absorbed the largest parts of the 85,000 Afghan diaspora of 2019-2022, and found that the Seattle, Tacoma, and Bellevue areas (King and Pierce Counties) accounted for the sixth largest percent of all U.S. city resettlements2. Due to the presence of servicing organizations including World Relief and Lutheran Community Services, many of those resettling families landed in South King County.
A New ESL Opportunity
LifeWay’s ESL restart opportunity came through a 2024 partnership between LifeWay’s Lindholm Gospel Community and Brooklake Church, who currently serves 70 Afghan families from Park 16 through their Resource Center.
As a lead-up to the launch this past November, the group did an ESL training emphasizing faith sharing through relationship-building. Then, they held an outreach event at Park 16, where several families and individuals expressed interest and welcomed the establishment of a class within easy walking distance of their homes.
So far, the class attendance has grown in the range of eight to 12 students per session. The team was also encouraged by the opportunity to enjoy a delicious Afghan dinner and conversation with a student’s family. We are currently planning more events and specialty classes to include more family members of the all-female ESL class students.
What Have We Learned So Far, and What’s Next?
One of the many things we’ve learned is how our new friends want to know more about their new community and how to navigate it more effectively. We’ve also learned it’s easier than expected to build relationships that extend beyond the classroom. However, as we interact and build relationships, we have grown to understand both the rewarding and costly nature of that engagement.
We’re facing a real-life example of Jesus’ “The harvest being plentiful, but the workers few.”, and the “therefore” imperative of, “ask the Lord of the harvest that he send out workers into his harvest.” Matthew 9:37-38
That brings us to share our request and need for more of our church family, particularly women, to get involved in ESL outreach at Park 16.
We’re currently meeting on Tuesdays from 1 to 2:30pm, though we are seriously considering a later class start of 3 or 3:30 to avoid conflicting with the building’s lunch closure, and to accommodate childcare challenges.
If you’re interested in this opportunity to volunteer on a regular or occasional basis, let’s talk! A first step would be sitting in on one of our class sessions, and then praying about further involvement.
For more information, please contact Rick Krekel, Mike and/or Kathy Lindholm, Rik and/or Linda Budd, Cheryl Gustafson or Terry Nakagomi.
Thanks so much for your prayers and encouragement.
Sources:
1Migration Policy Institute tabulation of data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s pooled 2019-2023 American Communities Survey. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/programs/data-hub/charts/us-immigrant-population-state-and-county?width=850&height=850&iframe=true
2Afghan refugeeresettlementpost-withdrawalby state (per100K residents) file:///C:/Users/User/Downloads/Afghan_refugees_resettled_after_2021_Afghan_withdrawal_by_state.svg
3“Cross-Cultural Missions: Crossing Streets and Crossing Oceans” https://www.imb.org/2019/02/14/cross-cultural-missions/
Pull Quote
“Cross-cultural missions is as much across the street as it is across the ocean. Doing local missions amplifies our ability to do international missions well, and vice versa.”4