Belvoir parishioners build bridges with Sudanese community
Over the past year, Belvoir parishioners have had the opportunity to actively engage with the Sudanese Community Association NI (SCANI) living in Belfast. They are seeking to become a bridging point between Muslims and Christians with the purpose of reaching out, building mutual understanding and developing trust.
As part of this mutual exchange, Belvoir parishioners Helen Livingston, Revd Colin–Hall Thompson, David Maganda and members of All Nations Ministries (Hana Aziz, Hudson and Rabia Kaunda), were invited to attend the Sudanese Community’s Iftar (Breakfast – breaking the fast) event on Sunday 10 June 2018 at The Chinese Resource Centre, Belfast.
They had the privilege of being joined by Revd Angelos Elsouriany, originally from Alexandria in Egypt, and leader of the Coptic Church in Belfast. The Muslim community worldwide is currently observing their holy month of Ramadan. In that context, Father Angelos was asked to share from the Bible regarding the true meaning of prayer and fasting from a Christian perspective (pictured below).
Meeting and interacting with one another is helping to alleviate many misconceptions, and enables members of both the Christian and Muslim community, to see each other as fellow human beings created in the image of God, and loved by Him. David Maganda writes, “As Christians, we are called to show love where there is hate and be salt and light in our communities. Pray that these interactions between Muslims and Christians will bear fruit for the Kingdom of God”.