FCC Collaborates to Create an Ongoing Partnership For Peace
In 2015, First Christian Church of Louisville partnered with Peace Catalyst International by offering them a grant to use toward their ministries of creating reconciling partnerships between Christians and Muslims.
In talking with Martin Brooks, the Midwest Regional Director of the organization, our pastor Brian Gerard learned about the difficulty Martin has had getting Christians to open themselves and their churches to on-going relationships with local mosques and their members. At the heart of that difficulty are on-going misconceptions about the Muslim faith and those who practice it. Unfortunately, many misconceptions are also held by Muslims toward Christians.
The purpose of these grants was to begin, and continue, the process of forming a dialogue between First Christian Church of Louisville and the River Road Mosque in Louisville. The first step of that relationship was an invitation for members of FCC to attend worship at the mosque. The date was set, but no one could have expected what would happen the week it was planned. In the video above, you will see how the story unfolded and why partnerships like this are so important.
Since that first invitation in 2015, there have been multiple events attended by members of First Christian Church in an effort to continue building a relationship with this mosque, along with other Muslim communities in Louisville. The journey, the partnership, and hopefully the growing of mutual respect and understanding is just beginning.
The wholeness grant used to fund this ministry was made possible through your faithful financial support of our church and its ministries and help fund a variety of efforts to make our world a better place.
You can find more examples of those efforts or apply for a grant to make the world a better place by clicking here.
To learn more about Peace Catalyst International, click here.