Guide helps Minnesota Christians and Muslims be good neighbors

A worrisome topic had gnawed its way into the conversation at the monthly conferences attended by Lutheran pastors in central Minnesota.

The religious leaders were uneasy with the tensions between some longtime residents of the St. Cloud area and its newest citizens — Somali refugees, mostly Muslim, who've moved to the area in large numbers to work, raise families and worship.

"Not many of us in my church knew any Muslims. I didn't," said the Rev. Jeff Sackett, pastor of Celebration Lutheran Church in Sartell. "Christians are called to love their neighbor, but there was this divide."

Seated among the clergy and listening to their uneasy discussions was the Rev. Mary Brown. As director of congregational relations for Lutheran Social Service (LSS) of Minnesota, it was her job was to respond to needs identified by ministers in the state's Lutheran churches.

"I heard these pastors say repeatedly that the people in their pews had a deep longing to better understand the faith of everyone in their community," said Brown, 54.

LSS has itself sparked controversy in the St. Cloud area. Since 2008, it has been instrumental in resettling about 1,000 Somali refugees there.

"There's been pushback from people who oppose what Lutheran Social Service is doing, and that put the local Lutheran pastors on the defensive," she said.

So Brown went to work. She collaborated with the pastors to come up with a list of key questions about Islam. She took that to theologians and scholars, asking the academics to produce plain-spoken, fact-based chapters on the history and tenets of Islam.

The result is "My Neighbor Is Muslim," a 60-page study guide complete with discussion questions. Starting late last year, it became available to St. Cloud area pastors to use as the basis of a multiweek adult education course. And it's starting to make inroads into the Twin Cities, including a course at St. Andrew's Lutheran Church in Mahtomedi.

The Rev. Dee Pederson, lead pastor at St. Cloud's Bethlehem Lutheran Church, is one of the clergy who met with Brown and requested the study. The interest in the course was so strong in her church that additional sessions were added to meet demand.

"Our people were wrestling with questions and they didn't know how to respond when others spoke in inflammatory ways. Without accurate information, it's hard to be discerning and change the tone of a conversation about our Muslim neighbors," she said.

Jane Oxton, a longtime member of Bethlehem Lutheran, took part in the series.

Brown came to the project steeped in her lifelong Lutheran faith. Ordained 25 years ago, she previously worked as a pastor at several Minnesota churches, then in pastoral support at Luther Seminary. She's the oldest of three sisters who all heard the call to ministry; both of her sisters lead Lutheran congregations.

As editor of "My Neighbor Is Muslim," Brown was cautious in her choice of academic voices.

"Frankly, I have mixed feelings about a resource about Muslims that is produced by Christians, but there's good research that shows that if church members have information from credible Christian leaders whom they respect, they will be more open to it," she said. "In Minnesota, scholars at Luther College and Luther Seminary have an excellent reputation and those are the sources we sought."

The Rev. Eric Barreto, a New Testament professor at Luther Seminary, was one of them.

"Mary heard this call for help and rallied folks around the vision to bring their expertise to it. She's a person who listens deeply to what God might be saying in the most unexpected places," he said.

"When Mary came to me with this idea, my first reaction was, 'This is beyond our expertise.' My background is in Christian theology," he explained.

"So we wrote from a Christian perspective and aimed to be faithful in describing the beliefs of others while holding our own convictions as followers of Jesus. We want to contemplate what it means to encounter these beliefs and listen gracefully without contradicting or embracing them. We can be hospitable to another's faith while remaining rooted in our own."

Brown worked with more than text; she shepherded Muslim members of the community into churches for face-to-face discourse.

"We networked to reach out to Muslims who live near us to come meet with us. We heard from young and old, men and women. We saw diversity in the way they practice their faith, just like there is with Christians," explained Sartell pastor Jeff Sackett. "I have Muslim friends now through this, on Facebook and with people I see around town. They know me as someone willing to befriend them and not be suspicious of them."

Haji Yusuf paid visits to St. Cloud area congregations. Of Somali descent, Yusuf, 39, arrived in Minnesota in 2006 to attend St. Cloud State University. Now a small-business owner, Yusuf is also community director of Unite Cloud, a nonprofit that promotes tolerance in central Minnesota.

Brown watched as the central Minnesota pastors championed the coursework.

"The study is free and easily downloaded," Brown said. "They started telling their peers this was a helpful resource and other pastors embraced it."

With an estimated 140,000 Muslims living in Minnesota, the relevance of the guide appealed to other denominations. It's been picked up by other worship communities, as well as civic and secular organizations, and is gaining traction across the country.

The Rev. Rebecca Craig is using the study as a teaching tool at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Palm City, Fla.

"There's a lot of curiosity because there's so much rhetoric about Islam and people say they don't know what to think. This is a good resource — it's very well-balanced," she said.

"There's been an uptick in negativity in this politically charged environment, but what we don't hear from the media is that more people want to respectfully learn about their neighbors and have an open-minded dialogue with them," said Onder Uluyol, president of the Minnesota Islamic Resource Group, an organization that provides information about Islam and cultural guidance to schools, health care institutions and law enforcement.

Uluyol commends the efforts by Lutheran Social Service.

"Saying 'live and let live' is not enough. Those of us who emphasize what we have in common need to be proactive in building bridges," he said.

Brown's name is not found anywhere on the study that she edited; she is quick to credit the scholarship of professors and the initiative of the group of central Minnesota pastors for its viral success.

Earlier this year, Brown left Lutheran Social Service to be director of development at People Reaching Out to People, a nonprofit based in Eden Prairie. But she continues to be involved in promoting "My Neighbor Is Muslim."