Love That Welcomes

Dear young people of the United Church of Christ:

We sometimes get letters from you in your Sunday School or confirmation classes or youth groups. We respect your teachers and advisers, who are volunteering to help you with your religious education and spiritual growth. We hope you realize how lucky you are — and we’re sure they are lucky to have you as their students!

Dear young people of the United Church of Christ:

We sometimes get letters from you in your Sunday School or confirmation classes or youth groups. We respect your teachers and advisers, who are volunteering to help you with your religious education and spiritual growth. We hope you realize how lucky you are — and we’re sure they are lucky to have you as their students!

Sometimes you tell us that you think it’s great that we have gone to Turkey to “spread the word of God.” Thanks for these kind words. We think it’s great that UCC people, including your families, send us to Turkey and support us. We think it’s also good that we have three high schools, a hospital, and a printing press here in Turkey. These were started by missionaries before us, more than 100 years ago. Turkey wasn’t even Turkey then. It was the Ottoman Empire. We especially thank the Turkish people for letting missionaries start these organizations and for allowing them to continue right up until today. That is really something when you understand that most Turks are Muslims, not Christians. They have also welcomed us very warmly. We hope this gives you a different picture of Muslims than the one ones you see in your news.

Do you know any Muslims? Has your church class or youth group visited a mosque?

We hope to hear from you again soon. Maybe one day you will represent your church in another country, as we do.

Sincerely,

Betty & Ken Frank

Ken & Betty Frank serve as missionaries with the Near East Mission, assigned to the American Collegiate Institute, Izmir Amerikan Lisesi.  Ken is a teacher of math and works in the area of Christian-Muslim Relations.  Betty serves as the librarian and also works in the area of Christian-Muslim relations.