Across the Diocese of Winchester, people from different cultures, generations, backgrounds and Christian traditions worship and share life in our local churches. Their different experiences and gifts create opportunities to learn from one another and discover what it means to belong together.
At Christ Church, Chineham, people from around 20 different cultures worship together. Around half the congregation were born outside of the UK.
Vicar Revd Jonathan Clark says, “We’re one of many churches in Basingstoke that has grown in diversity significantly in the last five or six years particularly. It’s a real sign of the Kingdom that we have that diversity, but not just in nationality or culture. We’ve got people with us of every age from 0 to 92, and most ages in between.”
Revd Jonathan uses the word culture rather than nationality, recognising that people from the same country can have very different cultures and experiences. As well as special services, diversity is part of church life with people from a wide range of backgrounds encouraged to lead and contribute to services.
The church holds an International Sunday each year as well as an Africa Sunday. These provide opportunities to share different languages, music and traditions. Flags reflecting the countries people come from are displayed, along with a banner featuring the word ‘welcome’ in different languages. People also bring food from their cultures to share.
The church has also introduced a late-night service to welcome in the New Year, reflecting a tradition familiar to some members of the congregation.
Children, Youth and Families Leader, Jumoke Akinbusoye, said, “We’ve introduced new things to accommodate people’s differences and make people feel that they’re welcome. We try to do things that they are used to, rather than the way that is more commonly done in the English Anglican setting. When we do those special services, there’s an extra sense of joy in the building.”
She added, “The leadership is really open and welcoming to new ideas and we are blessed to have churchwardens who are passionate about people feeling welcome. In that leadership structure as well, you see diversity and people from different backgrounds come together to lead. There’s a united front to welcome people, help them to settle and feel like it’s their church. Because of that unity and joint sense of purpose, it’s made the challenges easy to surmount and we’re all united by the love of Christ.”
She also sees the benefits for children and young people, saying, “The children hear things in a different language and ask their parents about it afterwards. It’s like we’re raising a sense of inquisitiveness, and they are keen to learn.”
Revd Jonathan recognises that bringing together people with different experiences and traditions can present challenges as well as blessings. He is part of an intercultural church leaders’ group that meets monthly to share ideas and explore how churches can become places where different cultures and traditions can learn from and contribute to one another.
Revd Jonathan says diversity at Christ Church also includes age, background, and economic circumstances. The church is one of only two local ecumenical partnerships in the diocese, bringing together four denominations.
He said, “We bear with one another in love when there are things that aren’t in our tradition, or that we’re not very familiar with but together, we have something that’s really, really special.”
At Christ Church, Freemantle, welcome and inclusion are also central to church life. The church holds an international service each month, bringing together people from many parts of the world and using different forms of worship along with opportunities for children to take part.
Revd Karen Linington said, “I think welcome and inclusivity are the most important values for us as a church because of where we are. Recently we had an evening worship service and a gentleman who was from India walked in off the street and sat in the service. We want to celebrate everyone who walks in here – perhaps they are on a placement at the university, or they’ve come as refugees or work in the hospital. Many are looking for family and community so it’s important that we learn how to do that as best we can.”
The church is also rethinking its traditional Sunday School to meet the needs of a growing number of children, many of whom speak English as a second language.
The international services are led by Revd Ebenezer Omidiji, who said, “In Acts chapter two, on the day of Pentecost, the Bible says the disciples received the Holy Spirit and they were speaking in diverse tongues from different nations and that is what we are celebrating, to bring everyone together.
“It’s not that we don’t have challenges, of course, because getting people together can be difficult, but we’ve been able to work over the difficulties and that’s lovely.”
That feeling is reflected by Jumoke from Chineham, who concludes, “God gives us a complete church, in the sense that every congregation is blessed with the special gifts of the Holy Spirit and the people who are needed to do the work of ministry. The way to help people fulfil what God has called them to do is by making them feel welcome.
“The differences can sometimes look huge, but when we focus on what joins and unites us, make people feel loved and welcome, and talk about Jesus more than all the little differences, we can fulfil God’s purpose for the whole church to grow and thrive.”
