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Indo-Pak Fellowship was founded by Rev. Ernest C. Singh
in July, 1984. Our first Worship Service was held outdoors at the
Des Plaines River Forest Preserve with five families. The fellowship
continued to meet at the apartment of Rev. and Mrs. Singh until
1985 when we began to look for a permanent place to worship. Ravenswood
Fellowship United Methodist Church rented us their chapel. The church
was registered with the Secretary of State as an independent church
under the name Indo-Pak Church.
In 1989, Indo-Pak church merged with and became a ministry of Ravenswood
Fellowship United Methodist Church. Ravenswood Fellowship is now
a multi-language,multi-ethnic and multi-cultural church. There are
Japanese American, Indian American, Pakistani American, Anglo-American, African-American,
Hispanic, Iranian among others in this congregation. Along with
Rev. Singh, Rev. B.J. Birkhahn - Rommelfanger is also our pastor
who has primary responsibilty of the morning English speaking congregation.
Ravenswood Fellowship was recognized as one of the 300 Excellent
Protestant Churches in the United States in 2001 in a research conducted
by the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.
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Each Sunday there is a service conducted in English
at 10:15 a.m. and a service in Hindi/Urdu/English at 5:00 p.m. We
use all three languages in the evening service to accommodate Indian,
Pakistani as well as our U.S. born children. Harmonium, tabla, drums
and tamborines are used during worship services as we sing traditional
Indian and Pakistani songs, bhajans and zuboors. There is Sunday
School every Sunday during the worship service.
We have communion and a fellowship dinner at the first Sunday of
each month. Once a month we join with the English speaking congregation
and worship together at 10:15 a.m. This normally takes place on
the third Sunday of each month but check our calendar
which is updated regularly to make sure. We hold traditional Christmas,
Easter, Good Friday, and New Year services followed by fellowship
dinners.
Along with the church service, come join us for our many other
activities. Our youth group meets every other Friday (check out
our youth page). Our young adults meet
one Friday a month. There is family Bible study/prayer once a month
on Saturday. We have various fundraising activities along with the
morning congregation such as spaghetti dinners, pancake breakfasts,
bazaars, rummage sales, etc... This usually happens on the third
Sunday of each month. Check out our calendar
which is updated regularly to see exact times and dates for all
our activities.
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