The Caroling-in-East-Dearborn Outreach

This Anchor outreach took place on December 4, 2010, and was its 7th consecutive year. It was hosted by Dearborn Free Methodist Church.

by Sue Nofziger, Defiance, OH

"Our journey began in the afternoon in Defiance, Ohio, and it was sunny and not so cold-PTL!

"Our group of 9 in our van plus two following us in their vehicle got to the Dearborn church in good time to partake in the sumptuous bounty of the potluck. What a wonderful idea, to get warm and healthy food before journeying out into the cold! This way we were not on a total sugar high all the way back to Defiance!

"As we joined the others upstairs in the sanctuary and met up with our good friend Mark Vanderput, we finalized our plans for the evening. Hope and Jamie went with his group, and the rest of us were together in one. The service was encouraging and helpful, and I was impressed with how many quality items were in the gift bag this year for the homes, and all of the work that obviously went into it.

"As we began our trek, with some time out to add the necessary extra socks, foot warmers and snow pants, we jumped in the van and looked for our neighborhood. At first we only saw a dark neighborhood but we found the condos where we were to begin. Although lights were on in some, no one answered the door at first, and a few homes you could hear someone working the locks-in other words-locking us out! Still we came upon one curious family with little kids who were really excited to see us, and had a chance to sing and offer the gift bag to them, and the father was very appreciative.

"Next we made our way back to the side street where there were more typical looking homes. Some had Christmas decorations and others had none. It was spotty as to who would open doors and who wouldn't, but since some homes obviously had people listening on the inside, we sang anyway.

"The most significant stop for me was to a home that looked like a regular Christmas decorated house. It was so cute we couldn't resist, although I was quite sure in my mind this was a Christian home. I wasn't completely right about that. A lady came out on her porch and was really listening to our singing. Dave asked her where she was from and she said she was Iraqi, had lived here a long time, but she was a Christian, and her husband was a Muslim. She said she had to come out and hear where the beautiful (!) music was coming from. She was so touched and said she had never before seen anything like this and was so blessed. She explained she would have liked to have had us all in for dinner! Middle Easterners are very hospitable! I think you could see that she genuinely felt that she felt very special to be selected, but that was a God thing. I asked if we could pray for her and she said Yes, and we prayed that Jesus would shine in her home. She thanked us again and again. It was so COOL!

"The next interesting place was a huge home, but from across the street was a young mom bringing her toddler daughter over. The little girl was dragging along, because I guess she was scared of us! She knocked on the door though and shouted for the others. Several kids and a mom appeared and they were glad to see us. Then kid after kid appeared, we thought there was a party. Apparently there were four families of kids there and most of the parents were gone. The mom explained they were Lebanese. We gave them several gift bags for the families and they told us God Bless You many times and Merry Christmas, and that there were many Lebanese in the neighborhood. ( There are a lot of Lebanese Christians in Lebanon.) But I think she said no one had ever caroled around there.

"I also recall a small home we went to where a few young men answered and you could see them beckoning a friend to the door. Someone said something about "Your English is better" and so he was dragged out to the front more or less! But they were very cordial and he said thank you and bless you. They were from Yemen. It was good to be able to give them the gift, which had a lot of Arabic materials in it.

"Another fun stop was at the home of a very outgoing man who appeared to be Arabic, and was very excited to hear us and wish us a merry Christmas. Dave was talking to him and he shared that his wife was in the hospital as she had just had a baby boy that afternoon! So we all rejoiced with him about that.

"As we had covered the entire street, we jaunted down to another side street, to give away the last of our three gift bags.Some opened the door and others didn't but we saw some watching us from upstairs or side windows. One home had a much older couple living there. Then man saw us and went off to go get his wife. It took a while but soon they both were in the doorway with a bag of candy to share with us. We had the little girls, Gabby and Mackenzie, go up the steps to get some and Gabby handed them the gift bag, and the old man gave her a huge hug which was sweet. Children are hard to resist aren't they??

"The last place we visited, Rene said he could tell we were "being watched" again, little faces looking out the window. Sure enough we saw them in the shadows. But we kept singing and the blind was opened, the mom was there, and eventually they opened the window a bit to hear us better. Then we wanted to give them the gift so they opened the screen so we could have the kids hand it to them! I concluded that when God closes a door He opens a window!

"Our team was very enthusiastic in their singing and blessing people. Although we didn't actually get to go inside a home,we were pleased that many people opened up their door to us.In some neighborhoods it was much harder, and as I spoke to Jamie Johnston about that, since he was on a team that happened to, we concluded without prayer walking and intercession many neighborhoods are still under a lot of oppression. Our group was eager and determined and held up well under the cold and were great singers by the way!

"It was great going back to the church and wonderful to hear the various testimonies of the groups and then a chance to sing over a young lady's cell phone a carol to one of her Muslim friends! Another young lady was so moved at being able to minister to Muslims, something she and her husband had a desire to do, she was crying at the opportunity. We were blessed with hot drinks and lots of cookies and desserts to choose from before heading home. It was a quiet and safe trip home, so some could rest before a busy Sunday morning. I missed trying to sing the entire version of the 12 Days of Christmas though like last year.

"Thanks to all who participated and joined in and prayed for us! It was a great night! Bless you all and Merry Christmas."


Part 2
This Anchor outreach took place on December 12, 2009 and was its 6th consecutive year. It was hosted by Dearborn Evanglelical Covenant Church. Many of the testimonials are from previous years as well.

*Each group has an experienced leader to guide the group to the assigned neighborhood and lead them to each home (though the song leader can be someone else). There they sing a few carols and give the person at the door a gift bag, then see what happens. The leader decides whether to move on and what to do next, in case they're invited in. Groups return to the church by 8:30 for warm refreshments and testmomies. There are usually close to 200 other believers for this evangelistic opportunity. It is our prayer that thist will have a penetrating impact on the lost Muslim people whom we will enounter as we go a-wassling. The organizers this year were Scott & JoEllen, Elizabeth Pierce, Jeff and Debbie Davis, Benjamin and Monica Bailey, and Delores from Dearborn Covenant Church.

The following testimonials are from people who have participated in the past and give a mental picture of the experience. This is a truly wonderful church group activity. Merry Christmas now and always.-Scott and the Anchor planning team.

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by Sue Nofziger, Family Christian Center, Defiance, Ohio

“On Saturday, December 6 we brought a group to go caroling in Dearborn where there is a sizable and dense Arab-Muslim community. We gathered with about 125-150 other Christians at First Baptist Church on the west side of Dearborn. After a short orientation with prayer and singing in the church, we were dispersed to different parts of the Arab-American community on the east side of town. Once in our selected east Dearborn neighborhood, our caroling group went first to the home of an American family whom our group leaders knew from previous visits. Then we proceeded down the street to do the rest of the caroling and to pass out the gift bags. However, nobody seemed to be home except one family. At the last house where we sang we knew they were home, but they wouldn't come to the door! Then, when we turned around we noticed a tall man who had walked our way, and he was standing with three small children behind us. He had come up the street to see what we were doing. The full story was a bit difficult to get due to our lack of Arabic and his limited English, but he was so sincere and wanting to talk to us, as Liz Doyle explains below. It was such a privilege to pray with him and such an honor to see that God had truly spared these precious lives and brought them to America! Everyone was so moved! And, of course, he got the last gift bag!! Everyone agreed that even if he was the only one it would have been worth it, and God really did save the best for last! Then of course, later we found out a lady at the church does prayer walking all of the time on that road. Syd Doyle, our group leader, spoke to someone else (Joe) who does Muslim Ministries in the area and gave him the Muslim man's address--who gave it to us quite happily. Joe said that was great because he practically lived around the corner and would be able to visit him!“As I said before, this was new for a lot of our group since only Dave and I got to go last year! Some had gone because of their love for caroling and others for the opportunity but all felt very blessed and privileged to be able to go and do something for God and get out of the "comfort zone!" I think it was an excellent first-time mission for them. Many were recruited because Dave and I held a Missions IsPossible Class a few months ago, and let people know how almost anyone can connect; and there are a lot of options out there. So I haven't stopped bugging people since!” In Him, Sue

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Liz Doyle of Nations Light Ministries, Michigan“

"It was not as cold as expected, there had been light snow most of the day and we arrived at night to meet with about 150 others to go Caroling to our neighbors in the predominately Muslim area. Our Nations Light team of 28 people from both Ohio and Michigan had the opportunity to pray at 15 homes. We called this "extreme prayer walking"! “We would knock the door, sing a carol and ask if the family would like prayer for anything. We were able to pray at every home for God's blessing on the family, for happiness or the children's education. Then we left a gift bag with candy and testimonies in Arabic of Muslims meeting Christ and sang, 'We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy New Year!' “Children in upstairs windows listened and identified with Rosalind our little Mexican girl, who looked just like them, and she gave them gift bags! “We were invited into Sandy's home. She had just moved from California and her Lebanese mother, in traditional dress, was visibly touched when Sue prayed for her in the loss of her daughter. She then offered us some food from the well-spread table in the front room. “After about two hours caroling, as we were preparing to return to the church, we met a man and his two sons who had come from their home to see what we were doing. We sang to him in the street and in broken English he explained that he had just been in America--two months! He told us how his 12 year old son had been kidnapped by an Osama gang in Iraq. He had to get a lot of money to buy his son's release. He said the walls were splattered in blood. The son was very happy to be safe and in school in America! “When asked what they would like a prayer of blessing for, the father said, ' but I am Muslim.' Syd responded, ' ...but don't Muslims need blessing too?' He laughed and agreed and we prayed together. “We came back to join the other Carolers for refreshments and to report back. We knew that you our prayer partners had been supporting us. The doors where literally opened to us! We also discovered that one lady regularly 'prayer walked' the street we visited! When we shared our testimonies she was thrilled and praised the Lord. “Please continue to pray for the gifts we left, that the Holy Spirit will nurture the seeds of love and salvation we deposited and that these special guests, who have come to our nation, will get to know Christ, the Savior of the World.”

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Pastor Phil Linton, Ward EPC, Northville, MI-

“It was a pleasure serving this worthwhile mission. Here are my comments:1) “We were blessed to sing to three very enthusiastic households. The first was a group of teenage girls who heard us across the street, and asked us to come sing. The second was a group of women and children having a birthday party for one of their young boys. They shared delicious goodies from the party. The third was an older man who repeated "God Bless You" after we sang to him.”2) “Well done! One minor suggestion - several households offered us money, which I took and contributed in the buckets. However, I found this an awkward situation to handle. Perhaps you should explain how to handle this next year.3) “Next year, we will try to get our whole church choir to participate. Perhaps this would work for other churches.“I wish you many blessings for your ongoing missions, and would definitely consider helping out in other ways.”

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Robert Burns, Chinese Alliance Church, Madison Heights, MI-

“We had a good time caroling. This was a 'first time' for a few things: the first time for me and for us, and first time a group was assigned to the Warrendale neighborhood of Detroit rather than Dearborn. Here are some reflections I had; learning points for the future.1. “We were actually in Detroit (the Warrendale neighborhood), not in Dearborn. I think this was significant. Although Warrendale and Dearborn look kind of like interlocking parts on the map, they are different. Dearborn, even East Dearborn where Arabs are concentrated, really is a suburb. It's an old neighborhood, and Arabs dominate the landscape, but it does have a suburban character. Warrendale is definitely Detroit. The main implication of this is that people were very reluctant to open doors to us on Saturday night. Other groups, going to random houses in Dearborn, found houses opening up to them as they were singing. People in Detroit are probably guarded about opening their door at night.2. “Because of #1, we should have gone to select houses, probably contacts we made from the ministry center [Immigrant Oasis], in Detroit.3. “The guy who actually was WAVING US AWAY was a Chinese guy! He surely must have seen the faces of most of our group. As far as I'm aware, there are hardly any Chinese in Warrendale. He's the first Chinese person I've seen there. I guess I expected a warmer welcome - even if he was strongly Buddhist (which is what he said).4. “We got gift bags with great evangelistic materials in them to Arab families who are usually not reached. Please pray for God to use those materials to really impact people with the person of Jesus Christ this Christmas. I have heard stories of God using literature, videos, and Scriptures before in amazing ways with Muslims. By giving the gift bags out, we were participating in ‘sowing the seeds’ of God's Kingdom to people who need Him. But we must PRAY. Thanks to everybody who participated - and if you didn't, there's always next year (we're not sure what we will do yet - hey, it’s a year away)!!"

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Anonymous-

“I loved to see the happy smiling faces of the children and the adults. That would be enough alone to cause me to think that caroling is very personal and touches the hearts of those we bring the message to.“The outreach is a most excellent expression of our joy. It was very well-attended and organized.“I believe the regularly planned Oasis events are an excellent means of follow-up.”

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Steve Coats, Dearborn-

“I thought it was a success and very great. My wife and I love the ‘tradition’, and it is a great time of year to get Christians involved in something purposeful. It's something most people want to do anyway so why not combine it with an outreach in East Dearborn. Good idea, keep it going. It's something small that most people can do and get excited about. Two stories... Doug went in to talk with a Yemeni guy who is new here and doing some research, and he exchanged phone numbers with Douglas. He will follow up with him this week. Then we went by our Lebanese friend's mother's apartment building at the end and blessed her with some songs. She was beaming! She has since been excitedly telling her family about our pop-by. On the way out of the building there were about 6 non-Arab ladies sitting in the lobby chatting and we sang a couple songs for them and they enjoyed it and said, ‘Wow, we needed some cheering up around here.’"

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Anonymous-

“Thanks for the chance to meet you all and to go Caroling. I was well impressed with the number of believers there and am letting others know . . . Keep us in touch with things.“On Saturday I ENJOYED MEETING AND PRAYING WITH the Iraqi family and will continue to do so; and also the Lebanese one who invited us in.“Keep up the valuable evangelism and care up there, and we will do what we can as well.”

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Anonymous-1. "We saw several families who were very touched by our singing carols. One woman appeared to be near tears after we sang."2. I am not sure how this outreach will move the cause of the Kingdom of Christ forward. I am not saying it was of no value, but none of our Arabic neighbors invited us into their homes. But they took our gift bags, so it is up to the Holy Spirit how that is used.”

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Anonymous-

a) "One veiled, Muslim woman, greeted our caroling by excusing herself, going to get her Arabic Bible, and then showing it to us and telling us that she reads “our book”. As we left she repeated “God bless you” many times.b) "One Arab teenager, told his little brother to stop listening to us, then shouted at us, 'Get out of here, or I’ll call the cops.'c) "One Palestinian couple (probably Christian background), listened to our carol, and then excited told us, ‘That’s our hometown that you’re singing about'.“It is a very low-key way to communicate good will to the community. It is generally received positively. Teaching the carolers a blessing song in Arabic to add to the repertoire would be a great addition".

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Anonymous-

1. "It was fun, as always. 2. One of the guys who came to the door was sick, so we had an opportunity to pray for him. 3. I was disappointed that we only sang one or two carols at most of the houses. I have enjoyed it more when we spent more time singing at each house. 4. Two families offered us money, which we politely turned down. 5. No one invited us in or gave us refreshments. Then again, I think these were almost all ‘fresh’ contacts. They didn't know us and no one had ever caroled for them before. 6. Much warmer weather than last year. I’m looking forward to next year already.”

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Bob Dickhudt, Guardian Lutheran Church, Dearborn, MI

“I have never before been involved......from what I saw, it seemed the planning was well done. Lots to organize....and things surely seemed organized! I think the inclusion of PRAYER in the planning, prep, and going out.....AND upon return.....is so important….Something that WE, in OUR congregation do NOT always do! I think it would be well to try to REACH OUT TO ALL CHRISTIAN CHURCHES OF DBN., DBN. HTS........even us Lutherans, LCMS! Things that seem "IMPOSSIBLE" to a single congregation ARE POSSIBLE, as you have shown! GOING A STEP FUTHER.......I think there are ACTIVITIES DURING THE YEAR to which we could seek to invite our Muslim neighbors......and folks of OTHER CHURCHES........which could ‘enrich us all’ and make us more ‘productive messengers‘, for example, our Guardian ICE CREAM SOCIAL out on the PARKING LOT in June. Why not include Muslim neighbors in our invitation..…‘non-threatening’ out in a parking lot!!! There must be lots of OTHER EVENTS the various churches do to which we ALL could be invited....and invite the WORLD ON OUR DOORSTEP! Please include me on your ‘Mailing List‘........I will be an ‘ambassador’ in our congregation, continuing to encourage and urge folks to ‘move from their Anglo ‘comfort zone’ into the ‘arena’ to which the Lord calls many, if not all, of us!"