OUR PARTNERS & INSPIRERS
CHICAGOLAND & ELSEWHERE FAITH COMMUNITY PARTNERS
We are indebted to our growing network of partners joining with us throughout Chicagoland to learn with us how to be "Everyday Peacemakers" with newcomers from Arab & Persian countries of both Muslim & Christian background. Every one of our personal perspectives has lenses. As one of our good friends from a Middle Eastern country told us, "If you want to know what someone from a different culture or different religion thinks, go to the primary source & ask them what they think." Being an "Everyday Peacemaker" requires us relearn how to see others different than ourselves, relearn how to listen to other people's perspectives longer than comfortable to give sincere dignity, & earn seat of long-lasting respect in these friendships that is not hinged on our commonalities, but as Jesus people, we are neighbors seeking the good of our neighbors no matter where they are from or what our neighbor's faith is.
THE WELCOME NETWORK
The work of The Ahlan Bridge is a branch off from the vision The Chicagoland Immigrant Welcome Network (or The Welcome Network) founded in 2014. The Welcome Network's purpose is to help engage local faith communities with the needs of migrant newcomers in South Chicago & Northwest Indiana (primarily through subsidized legal services & creative temporary housing). In 2024, our slightly different (but in the same family) vision was birthed to help local faith communities address specific needs of Arab & Persian Muslim & Christian newcomers living in Southeast Wisconsin, to North Chicagoland, to West Chicagoland, to South Chicagoland, to Northwest Indiana through our growing network of partners. We are indebted to The Welcome Network for what they started & what they will continue as we build off from them in our hopes to address specific needs of Arab & Persian newcomers.
NATIONAL PARTNERS
We are indebted to our growing national partners helping us flesh out our best approaches to being everyday peacemakers with Arab & Persian Muslims & Christians here & in their homelands, & potentially helping with prayer & humble dreaming hoping that our Father helps more communities around the world join us in becoming everyday peacemakers. Special thanks to The Global Immersion Project for providing our core framework and vocabulary for how to practice being everyday peacemakers, for their support of us in recent months, & for their partnership with us in the coming years.
OTHER INSPIRERS
Similarly to our influence from The Global Immersion Project, we are deeply inspired by the work of Musalaha in the West Bank. What both groups have in common in their strategies is they believe the true reconciliation & peace with perceived or actual enemies comes through creating immersive experiences that allow us to listen longer than comfortable to narratives we do not agree with, and to have experiences with that "other" person that allow us to see their humanity in spite of our important differences. This is the first step of "Peace". Join us!