A Testimony of the Holy Spirit

Midway Presbyterian Church/Shalom International Ministries

"We desire to pass on the baton of faith to the next generation ..." This is the first line of the vision statement of the Midway Presbyterian Church in Decatur, Georgia. This vision came as the Midway members came to realize that their time was nearing the end as a viable congregation. Declining members with declining health contributed to declining financial support of an aging building. Average Sunday attendance was between 25 and 35.  Thee average age of the members was 74. In November 2007, the session — faced with a bid of $50,000 to fix the sanctuary ceiling — faced the question of whether God was still leading them forward as a congregation, or whether God was leading them to close the church. 

After a month of intense prayer and discernment the elders agreed God was calling Midway forward, not just to fix their ceiling, but to reach out in mission to the community. The calling and the passion were there, but the way was unclear. Where were they to start? The congregation continued to pray for God to show them where and how and whom to serve.
               
Later that December, their pastor, Joy Fisher, had a dream. "I was awakened one night, knowing I had been visited. In the dream I was kneeling to pray in the sanctuary of Midway, and as I turned around I saw the church was full — black, white, brown, young, old.  And the Holy Spiritwas there.  In the dream there was no question of, 'who are these people?' or 'where did they come from?'  They were my people; I knew that they were part of Midway."
               
Pastor Fisher shared her dream with the church, asking them to pray for God to show them how to prepare for the coming of the Spirit. Then one day the Spirit came knocking! Brother Wilson Arimi, the pastor of an immigrant fellowship came knocking on the door, saying that his congregation was in need of a church home.
               
Shalom International Ministries began as a Sudanese fellowship, but when their founding pastor had to go back to Sudan he asked Wilson to be the pastor. Wilson was Kenyan. Because of the language barrier between Kenyans and Sudanese they began to worship together in English. Wilson began to invite neighbors of the Sudanese members, inviting them to "come learn English; come learn about Jesus." Taking free bread, donated by a local grocery store, he and the Shalom leaders went into the refugee resettlement apartments in nearby Clarkston, Georgia where refugees come from all over the world to begin their lives in the United States. These apartments are said to make up the most densely populated, most diverse square mile in the world! Shalom is now a multicultural church with members from Burma and Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal, Sudan, Congo, Liberia, Rwanda, Burundi and India. Though many are Hindu, Buddhist or Muslim, they are finding hospitality and healing as they are welcomed and embraced in the Body of Christ at Midway.
               
In late May 2008, Shalom began to worship at the Midway Church. They are picked up at the apartments by the Shalom bus and enjoy a small breakfast and some fellowship time before joining Midway congregation for worship at 11 a.m. The two groups worship together until after the children's sermon when Shalom breaks out to continue their own, more multicultural, worship, followed by age-specific Sunday school and English classes, lunch and recreation. Worship on Sunday at Midway is literally a dream come true. Picture 25 to 35 older, white Midwayans, now interspersed with 30 to 70 refugee children, youth and young adults from around the world. 
               
As the two groups worked out the details of Shalom coming to Midway, Brother Wilson left Georgia to pursue his education. This felt like a terrible blow to the momentum of the process, and yet the groups trusted in God. Within a week of Wilson's announcement, a new pastor, Brother Gad Mpoyo from the Democratic Republic of Congo, stepped forward to accept leadership of Shalom. In addition, God provided four other strong leaders — two from Kenya, two from the United States — to direct the various aspects of the ministry. "The creation story in Genesis 1 describes the Holy Spirit blowing over the chaos.  This is a lot like the feeling of the early months of Shalom at Midway," describes Brother Gad. "There are so many things we are trying to accomplish all at once. We must find the resources to help with people's physical needs. We are trying to create a choir, a youth group, a women's group, a food co-op. We are learning as we go about teaching English with tribal mountain folks and also doing Bible study with Hindus, Muslims and Catholics!  But as we go into their apartments we are so warmly received. As we sing together on Sunday morning, "God is so Good," in English, Karen, Arabic, Swahili and French, we feel that God is alive and truly bringing Shalom. The word Shalom, from the Hebrew, means not only peace, but wholeness, wellness, healing, reconciliation, justice, community, freedom from oppression. Each of these refugee families come with a story of pain and persecution, coming into a land of opportunity and finding themselves lost and overlooked. We pray that Shalom is a place of reconciliation, healing and peace. We pray that Midway is a place of people meeting one another mid-way in God's love."
               
"We are definitely in the birthing stage," comments Pastor Fisher. "This is all so new, in a congregation that hasn't done anything new in decades! We know that 'we' — Midway — need to move over and become 'us' — Shalom and Midway together.  A covenant council, made up of members of  Midway and Shalom, has begun to meet together to increase communication and power-sharing as decisions are made as to what this partnership will be. We are working on ways to increase Shalom participation and influence in worship and on committees — building on the beginnings of new friendships and community. We are overwhelmed with the tremendous needs they bring, but also aware that they bring so many gifts to us, as well. We are definitely seeing God's mutual blessing as God answers the deepest prayers of this church."
               
It is the hope of the Midway session that as Midway decreases, Shalom will increase and that at some point they will join together into one multicultural church: brown, black, white, young and old, with the Holy Spirit in their midst.  Glory to God.

For more information, check out Shalom's blog.

Midway Presbyterian Church/Shalom International Ministries
3363 Midway Rd.
Decatur, GA 30032
(404) 289-3535
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Email Joy Fisher