Idea: Plan a Multicultural Thanksgiving

The Churches: Trinity Presbyterian Church, Portland Bethel Church and St. Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church

The Challenge: Make the refugee community feel welcome on Thanskgiving

One Key Idea: Hold a multicultural Thanksgiving feast

Trinity Presbyterian Church in Tucson, Ariz., partners with local refugee agencies and organizations—and their volunteers—to host a free annual celebration of the very first Thanksgiving where people of different countries, cultures and religions came together to enjoy a meal and fellowship. The church invites all area refugees and provides fun entertainment for the children, including games, skits and international performers.

Filipino, Vietnamese, and Micronesian congregations worship each Sunday at Bethel Assembly of God in Portland, Ore., along with the church’s home congregation. So last Thanksgiving, the church hosted a pre-Thanksgiving multicultural feast for the community, complete with all the traditional American fixin’s and Southeast Asian dishes.

For newly arrived refugees from Somalia and Nepal, St. Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran in Grand Forks, N.D., hosts an annual Thanksgiving dinner with a goal to help their new neighbors integrate into the community. Church volunteers pick up and drive refugees to the event and make gift bags for the kids. The church, in turn, gets to learn about Somali and Nepali customs.

Find more fall outreach ideas »

Outreach Magazine
Outreach Magazinehttp://outreachmagazine.com

Outreach magazine publishes ideas, innovations, resources and stories to help church leaders reach their communities and change the world. Founded in January 2003 by church communications company Outreach Inc., Outreach is an award-winning, bimonthly periodical for church leadership and is available by subscription and on Amazon.com. Find out more at outreachmagazine.com

What Does It Mean That We’ll Still Be Finite in Heaven?

The promise of Heaven is not that we will become infinite—that would be to become inhuman. It’s that we’ll be far better finite humans than we have ever been.

When Christian Leaders Crash and Burn

When we hear of leaders falling, we must take a look in the mirror and remind ourselves to live holy lives.

Summer Synergy

You don’t need a massive budget or a construction crew to make a big impact.