Healing the Wounds of Trauma

seven men who are respected, wise, and full of the Holy Spirit. We will put them in charge of this problem.” The Church chose seven men. At least one of these men was from the group of foreign Jews.They dealt with the problem, and the Church continued to grow.The unity between the foreign Jews and those who stayed in the homeland was a strong testimony to those outside the Church. ❂❂ SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION 1. What were the historical causes of the conflict in Acts 6.1–7? 2. How did the church leaders keep the ethnic tensions from ruining the Church? B. Nate and Paul Nate was married and had three children. He grew up in a neighbor- hood made up mainly of people from Kizi. A few years ago, a huge influx of immigrants fromMora started coming in. Hostility began to build as the Kizis saw Mora families taking over “their” houses, jobs, schools, and even their place as the largest minority population in the city. Every day Nate grumbled about the situation as he walked through his old neighborhood on his way to work. Paul had emigrated from Mora with his wife and four children. Even though it was difficult to adjust to this new country, he found it to be a land of opportunity. He couldn’t understand how the Kizis could be so lazy. He stayed as far away from them as he could because he thought they were thieves and no good. One day, Nate and Paul were both nominated as representatives for a special parent committee at the school. Hesitantly, they both accepted and the group began to meet every week. At the meetings, the Kizis and the Moras avoided each other as much as possible. But as the meetings went on, Nate and Paul got interested in the issues the school was facing and began talking together. Nate couldn’t believe how industrious Paul was, working more than sixty hours a week at two jobs on opposite sides of the city! Paul was surprised to hear Nate talk about how much he wanted to keep the kids in school and off the streets so they could have good

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How Can We Live as Christians in the Midst of Conflict?