Pastor Ron Tippens came to Albemarle Road Presbyterian Church 26 years ago. Since then, the neighborhood around the church has changed dramatically.
"When I came here 26 years ago, the neighborhood was generally white and middle class, and our membership reflected that. Nearby Eastland Mall drew visitors from all over the region. Our church's weekday school was thriving. Then things began to change," Tippens said.
Different ethnic groups began to move into the neighborhood. First came African Americans. Then there was an influx of Latinos, followed by Asians, most of whom were refugees from Burma and Nepal.
"Our denominational office told us that, in a five-mile radius, we had the highest immigrant population in North and South Carolina. And here we were right in the middle of it: A middle-class Caucasian church in a sea of people that we knew nothing about. And we seemed to be unable to connect with them," Tippens said.
Many of the white people in the neighborhood moved away, and Albemarle Road Presbyterian Church stopped growing. The membership began to age.
Then, two years ago, Tippens was in the church's large education building on a Sunday morning. In years gone by, the building would have been filled with the sound of dozens of children laughing, singing, and learning. On this morning there were only five children in the building.
"I am not usually in that building on Sunday mornings because I normally teach an adult Sunday school class. I was surprised and saddened at the absence of children. It was quiet as a tomb. And I prayed, 'God, send us children.'"
The following week, Tippens was approached by Philemon Ceu, the pastor of a Chin refugee church meeting in a nearby apartment. The Chin are an ethnic group from Burma who had fled the persecution they experienced under that country's military dictatorship. Pastor Philemon had been seeking an American church where the children of his congregation could attend Sunday school. Tippens invited them to bring the children to Albemarle Road Presbyterian.
The following week, Tippens introduced his congregation to 20 Chin children with the words, "Look who the Lord has brought us." The church members stood and applauded.
Since that time, the Charlotte Chin Community Church has started holding its services at the Albemarle Road Presbyterian Church. The two churches have combined their children's and youth Sunday school classes. The result is that, once again, the church's Education Building is filled with the sound of dozens of children, mostly Burmese, singing and learning the tenets of the Christian faith. Sunday school teachers who had been somewhat idle now have their hands full.
At first, some of the Albemarle Road Presbyterian congregation were unsure about the newcomers.
But Tippens invited the Burmese to attend their traditional ice cream social. Members of the two churches spent time conversing and getting to know one another. Many of Tippens' members were moved by the plight faced by one of the Burmese families whose father was stricken with throat cancer. They all gathered together to pray for him, and some have since offered to help financially and otherwise.
The Burmese are no longer strangers. They have become neighbors and friends.
The influx of the Burmese children and youth seems to have energized Tippens' congregation. The church will open its doors to an after-school program for the mostly Latino students at Albemarle Road Elementary School this month. Church members will meet students at the school and walk with them to the program every afternoon.
"For some time, when it came to ministering to the neighborhood, we really felt like the rug had been pulled out from under us. Now, instead, we are asking ourselves, 'What is God up to?' " Tippens said.
http://www.information.myanmaronlinecentre.com/refugees-transform-renew-east-charlotte-presbyterian-congregation/
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