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