When Liz Spencer became a deacon at Thatcham Baptist Church (TBC) in Berkshire, she found herself at a prayer meeting asking God to make the church less white and middle-class.
Six years ago, when Liz first joined TBC, its congregation was mostly white British and white South African, but things had already been shifting due to the arrival of several families from Hong Kong. Still, Liz and other church members, who had met together to pray one evening, roughly around 2022, longed for TBC to become even more reflective of the community around them.
What Liz didn’t know at the time was that, months after that prayer session, she’d see God respond directly to their request. Christians seeking asylum in Britain from nations around the world, including Iran, Central America, and Africa, turned up at the church after the Home Office accommodated them at a nearby hotel.
Physical and Spiritual Food
Unlike the families who had come to the church from Hong Kong, many of those seeking asylum came to the UK alone and didn’t speak English fluently. In response to their need for connection and community, some in the church set up a midweek meal and Bible study, where the newcomers, alongside existing church members, would be invited each week. The asylum seekers would take turns cooking food from their native cultures at the church to share with the group, which helped forge stronger relationships at TBC.
“Food is such a great way to break down barriers,” Liz said.
The event became a communal space where hotel residents from various nationalities could meet. Some attendees brought friends from the hotel who weren’t Christian, and one man from a Muslim background committed his life to Christ after attending the Bible studies regularly. The warm welcome he received when he first visited the midweek meals attracted him to learn more about the God of the Bible, he later told members at the church.
Worshipping in Many Languages
On a few occasions, Liz was asked to lead worship at these Bible studies, a task she found challenging, since many attendees didn’t speak English fluently. Using resources from Intercultural Churches worship ministry Songs2Serve, she encouraged the group to sing in the languages represented in the group.
Once, after singing the same song altogether, first in English, then Spanish, then Farsi, Liz asked everyone in the group to sing the song in their own language at the same time. The resulting chorus of sound was, for Liz, a very special moment.
“It was like a taste of heaven,” she said. “A little glimpse of everybody worshipping God at the same time, whatever language you speak.”
A Sudden Change
In December 2023, the community forged from these midweek meetings was suddenly scattered. The hotel stopped housing people seeking asylum, and those still waiting for their decisions were relocated elsewhere.
It came as a shock and marked a tough time for the whole group, but after a few months, newcomers were added to the church once again. This time, they were people who’d relocated to the UK on work visas from Africa, particularly Nigeria and Ghana.
It’s marked another season of change, but one the church has warmly welcomed. Sarah Wylie, TBC’s church coordinator, said that after welcoming those seeking asylum in 2022, the church is now trying to help new members from other countries feel a sense of belonging, not just of being welcomed.
From Welcome to Belonging
This journey has involved asking African church members to lead services and worship, taking on more ownership and responsibility. They’ve also started to make multi-lingual worship a regular part of church life. If you were to visit TBC on a Sunday, you’d find them displaying Bible readings and singing songs in multiple languages belonging to the various cultures represented at the church.
It’s not always been easy to press into intercultural community. For example, it’s been difficult to organize communal events because many of those in the church who are newly granted refugees or who are on visas are busy with their intense shift work. However, Liz said, persevering, being willing to try things again, or to attempt them in a slightly different way, has helped bring gradual change and movement towards the overall sense of belonging the church is trying to achieve.
Sarah, sharing her reflections on her own perseverance and efforts to learn from new members, concluded that without belonging, it’s not only newcomers who lose out, but the wider church body too.
“If all that happens is that Nigerians or Iranians are welcomed and smiled at and then go away, we will be missing out,” she said. “We are working towards developing a church environment where people from diverse cultural backgrounds not only meet but interact, worship, and serve together.”
“If we don’t give a space for each person, then we will all be the poorer.”
