Michigan Islamic Society Offers Mosque as Temporary Worship Space for Church Congregation
"It's been a lovely story to live. It has been a beautiful relationship," Rev. Kathryn Bert said, as quoted by Religion News Service(RNS). Rev. Bert is the leader of the congregation of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Greater Lansing.
Sohail Chaudhry, the leader of the Islamic Society of Greater Lansing, heard about the Church's current situation. He then invited the Church congregation to use the mosque of the Islamic Society of Greater Lansing as a meeting place until their Church's building was finished, free of charge.
According to the Lansing State Journal, the Church congregation has been meeting in the mosque building every Sunday since April 3. During the first service of the Church, the Islamic society welcomed them with coffee and showed them around.
The new building, an "upcycled school" of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation, is scheduled to be completed by May. The Church plans to move back as soon as it is finished.
The Church decided to devote their plate offering one Sunday this month to the mosque to show the congregation's gratitude and appreciation for the kindness that the Islamic society has shown. The plate offering will all be donated to the Islamic Relief USA. The Islamic Relief USA is a local organization that helps victims of the Flint water crisis, as well as to resettle the refugees.
Since there has been an ongoing issue on clashes and complications between different religions, this example of sharing and cooperation between two different beliefs can be used as an inspiration to create peace and unity in the world.
"It worked out well for us both," Chaudhry told the Lansing State Journal, as quoted by RNS.
Chaudhry added he hoped that the partnership would "provide an example to other faith-based communities around the nation."
Source: Christian Daily
