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When Nancy Agafitei received a special request from a patron at the library where she worked, she discovered a new passion: bridging the divide between the various faith traditions in her community.
She has been instrumental in getting her church, Hosanna Lutheran in Houston, Texas, to partner with Muslim neighbors. Women from both faith traditions now work together to make flannel quilts to donate to a community assistance organization. The Ahmadiyyah Muslim Community and Hosanna Lutheran have jointly hosted a blood drive and memorial event to remember the lives lost on Sept. 11, 2001.
“Last spring a Bible study member at my church mentioned she’d never met a Muslim,” Agafitei said. “Our WELCA quilting group took that as a challenge to visit to a local mosque.”
The group made six fleece quilts to donate to the Muslim community. They toured the mosque and then ate lunch together.
Agafitei said she is passionate about “helping people discover that we’re really all the same.”
This message is excerpted from “Houston woman builds bridges in faith community” by Kathryn Haueisen in the July 30, 2016, blog of the Women of the ELCA.