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gifts of new immigrants

Minute for Mission: Gifts of New Immigrants

Rola Al Ashkar is a Presbyterian Christian from Lebanon. She grew up in a nonreligious family, in a culture drenched in religion. Her parents took her and her brothers to church and Sunday school on occasions. When she had her confirmation class, she received her first Bible, and even as a teenager, she read the Bible with critical eyes, questioning parts of it and searching for answers. Her curiosity led her to regularly attend Sunday services, youth meetings and church summer camps, and through those experiences her faith grew, and she found a community in the Presbyterian Synod of Syria and Lebanon.

Minute for Mission: Gifts of New Immigrants

Rola Al Ashkar is a Presbyterian Christian from Lebanon. She grew up in a non-religious family, in a culture drenched in religion. Her parents took her and her brothers to church and Sunday school on occasions. When she had her confirmation class, she received her first Bible, and even as a teenager, she read the Bible with critical eyes, questioning parts of it and searching for answers. Her curiosity led her to regularly attend Sunday services, youth meetings and church summer camps, and through those experiences her faith grew, and she found a community in the Presbyterian Synod of Syria and Lebanon.

Minute for Mission: Gifts of New Immigrants

Rola Al Ashkar is a Presbyterian Christian from Lebanon. She grew up in a non-religious family, in a culture drenched in religion. Her parents took her and her brothers to church and Sunday school on occasions. When she had her confirmation class, she received her first Bible, and even as a teenager, she read the Bible with critical eyes, questioning parts of it and searching for answers. Her curiosity led her to regularly attend Sunday services, youth meetings and church summer camps, and through those experiences her faith grew and she found a community in the Presbyterian Synod of Syria and Lebanon.

Celebrating the gifts of new immigrants

Whole wheat bread, tortillas and Korean sweet rice cake served as emblems for the body of Christ during Wednesday’s Chapel service, “Celebrating the Gifts of New Immigrants,” at the Presbyterian Center in Louisville, Kentucky.

A prayer celebrating the gifts of new immigrants

This prayer is dedicated to celebrating to the gifts of new immigrants as part of the Special Days and Emphases of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Gifts of New Immigrants is celebrated the last Sunday of September. This year, the celebration occurs on Sept. 29.