West Ridge

This week we move a little west of Rogers Park to the neighborhood of West Ridge.  West Ridge, like Rogers Park, is very diverse in the ethnicity of it's residents.  It was once known as the Golden Ghetto because of it's thriving Jewish community there from about 1930 to the mid- 70's. It is still the midwests largest Hasidic community. (Wikipedia) West Ridge includes a section of Devon street that has been settled by many immigrant groups and is a popular tourist destination. "Here, one will encounter concentrations of Orthodox Jews, Assyrian Americans, Russian Americans, Indian Americans, Pakistani Americans, Bangladeshi Americans, and others.  Portions of Devon in this area have been renamed in honor of Golda Meir, Mahatma Gandhi, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, respectively. ^[3][4]"(Wikipedia)

                        

We, as YWAM Chicago, do a lot of ministry in this area, especially what we call "Little India".  We love introducing the teams that come on outreach to this area to teach what it means to interact with a different culture and share Jesus with them. For me, as I've traveled different places and have seen other peoples and cultures it has expanded my view of God and our world.  Chicago is a great place where we can see aspects of the different cultures of our world in one spot.  What a gift God has given us to interact with the nations in our own back yard! 

The need is great to minister to the people of West Ridge and there are quite a few ministries centered there. One praise that we can pray about West Ridge is that there is definite unity among the Christian organizations that are working in the area. Partly because the need is so great there isn't a sense of competition.   With the high number of foreign born people, there is a lot of need for things like English classes and tutoring, help with finding jobs and filling out forms and acclimating into a culture different than what they know.  

This week as you pray, please pray for more people to come and minister to this area.  Pray that the YWAM teams that come will understand how to reach outside of themselves and understand the cultures around them.  Pray for the relationships that we already have there and that we will continue to find people that will take what they learn about Jesus and share it with those in their circle of influence both here and abroad.

Thanks for praying!  Let me know in the comment section what you think or any comments you might have about West Ridge!

Next Week: Uptown

Rogers Park

Thanks again for reading my blog and praying for Chicago. I am planning on writing a new post every Wednesday. Check back each week to see what area of the city we will be focusing on for prayer. I would also love it if you would share the link with anyone you think might be interested in praying for Chicago in this way!

Number 1 on the Communities of Chicago map just happens to be the area in which I live, Rogers Park. I'm excited to start in this area. We as a team at YWAM Chicago along with each outreach team that we work with, have been praying specifically for this area for the last two years. We have seen positive things happen in this part of the city and know God has much more in store. Rogers Park is an incredibly unique and diverse neighborhood. It is 1.8 square miles on the far north side of Chicago, just south of the suburb of Evanston. There is an estimated population of 56,000 people, representing 150 nations. It is considered one of the gateway neighborhoods because of it's immigrant and foreign population. Because of it's foreign population it tends to be a very transient neighborhood as well. New people to Chicago arrive on a daily basis.

There are two areas I wanted to focus on for Rogers Park in our prayers. The first is for the church in and around Rogers Park to utilize the tool God has given us in bringing the nations to our door. We can step out and reach lives right where we live. They in turn can reach out to their family and friends in their home nation. What a blessing! Pray that people coming to Rogers Park from foreign countries will have direct interaction with Christians and be marked by God's love. Pray also for the ministries in the area to be able to reach out effectively to such a transient group.

Rogers Park is also home to Loyola University. This is what I want our second area of prayer focus to be. The University has a huge impact in Rogers Park and takes up quite an area within the community. I have a friend that works at Loyola as a chaplain. I asked him what he would like to us to pray for and here are a few things he shared. First is to pray for students who are mentally ill. There is a lot of mental illness on campus with very little help. Second, the ministry at Loyola to students is short on men. Loyola is a female dominated school and the ministry there has about 90% female attending. Third is that the students would get outside of maintaining their Christian bubble and engage with those who believe differently, essentially evangelism. Last, pray for the leaders, that they would have wisdom to lead their peers.

Thanks so much for lifting up Rogers Park in your prayers this week. I have grown to love this neighborhood as it has become my new home. Have a great week everyone! Expecting great things from God!!

Coming Next Week: West Ridge