Welcoming a new
congregation
Six years ago, in remotest West Norfolk, out of the blue I was asked to perform a wedding between a Brazilian woman and a Portuguese man.
Previously I had worked in Brazil, spending ten years there for the Baptist Mission Society, so I knew the language, now I was in local church ministry in Norfolk.
And suddenly there was a ready made congregation. 120 Portuguese speakers came as guests and many were asking me "where can we worship?" I was not aware that there were so many migrant workers on our door step. The church leadership had to address this with urgency. We tried simultaneous translation during our services, throwing a few Portuguese worship songs into our worship time, but none of this was adequate or satisfying for our growing numbers.
We decided to start a separate service. We also offered sign posting, form filling and advice, language classes, and even started teaching Portuguese to the existing congregation. Teachers from local schools and local government employees also came to learn Portuguese. This service expanded. We started an Afro-Caribbean service and offered our other services to Eastern European people.
We found it necessary to exchange information so the church participated in the local community partnership, incorporating a very diverse range of organisations. This put the church on the map and was ideal for networking and being involved in wider community activities.
Over the past three months I have been working as a researcher with the Anglia Ruskin University and East of England Faith Council. Making contact throughout East Anglia with faith groups involved in projects with migrant workers and new communities. A major finding of this research is that there are now numerous churches and Christian groups working in this area with things like language classes, cultural evenings, social events, meals, etc.. Many are successful but they are not always aware of how much more support, information, knowledge and funding is available to them.
The Partnership Development Project of MENTER, focuses on assisting with the integration needs of asylum seekers, refugees and migrant workers in the East of England. MENTER works in partnership with the East of England Regional Assembly’s Strategic Migration Partnership (EERA-SMP) and other organisations to produce resource packs for the Multi Agency Forums (MAFs) in the region. MAFs invite all projects working with new communities to come together and share good practice. These meetings are held every month in towns and areas throughout the Eastern region, and with partner organizations throughout Britain. In order to further share information all the chairs of these forums meet together and communicate with local strategic partnerships and wider strategic partnerships. They are warmly inviting any Christian project to participate with them. For more information see
www.menter.org.uk
Reverend Chris Collict
Kings Lynn Evangelical Church, Gayton Road, King’s Lynn Tel 01553 762020
email
chriscollict21@hotmail.com
www.arthurrankcentre.org.uk/publications_and_resources/rural_migrant_workers_resources/ church_related_resources/ has lots of current resources on migrant workers
18
www.arthurrankcentre.org.uk
migrant workers
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