The birth of a new Intercultural Worshipping Community

God knows no boundaries, His love knows no end and, in a pandemic of isolation and restricted social interaction, He has brought together a like-minded group of multicultural friends.

Intercultural Pioneer Ministers for the Diocese of Leicester, Venessa (Vee) Boahemah Pedro-Pinto and Kat Gibson, have shared with us the good news that 11 people have come together during lockdown to form a new Intercultural Worshipping Community (IWC).

Above: Vee

The fledgling group - who are from a wide variety of cultural and ethnic backgrounds and encompass a range of ages and diverse theological and denominational backgrounds - have been meeting over video chat for the last three weeks.

“When Kat and I first started our roles in early March, we had all of these strategies and plans before us, but because of lockdown we had to let them go,” explains Vee.

The big question then was; how could they connect with their communities and create opportunities to talk about God?

They decided to each send out postcards to their neighbours in the city, saying ‘hi’ and introducing themselves, offering support to those self-isolating and, as many of us have during these times, suggesting a WhatsApp group to keep in contact with one another.

From that, a handful of people began engaging with Vee and Kat on a regular basis, asking questions about their work and showing a real interest in exploring the Christian faith.

Quite organically, things grew from there, more people got involved and the messaging turned into talking over video calls. Now, the group is planning to meet every Monday evening, and look forward to finally meeting in person when lockdown is over.

Vee says: “Some of us are very much Christians, others are exploring and enquiring, but something really special has come out of this desire to reach out to our local community. It’s just wonderful seeing people come together.”

A usual ‘gathering’ of the group starts with an icebreaker activity, before they move into deep, meaningful Christ-centred conversation.

“Last week one of the guys, who is originally from Bolivia, prayed in Spanish at the end of the session. I had no clue what he prayed (as I don’t speak Spanish) but it was beautiful,” says Vee.  

“Our vision as an IWC is to learn what it means to follow Jesus and explore the meaning of the Gospel together, and to learn from one another through listening deeply and celebrating each other’s gifts, passions and unique qualities.

“This, we hope, will lead to personal and collective growth in understanding, bridging divides and challenging prejudice within each of us,s and articulating our faith in Jesus in everyday ways.”

Kat agrees and believes God has been showing them how He is so much more invested in this than they are; that when He calls them to do something He makes it possible even when they feel incapable or frustrated.

Above: Kat

She says: “It's been amazing to see how He has brought this little group together - beautifully diverse in so many different ways - and we're trusting that He'll continue to equip us with the wisdom we need both as individuals and collectively, to see the project flourish in the ways He wants it to.”

Vee and Kat would really appreciate prayers for wisdom on how to establish a culture where people can learn from each other and intentionally create a space for following and learning from Jesus.

Please pray for them.

For more information, contact Vee on venessa.pinto@leccofe.org

 

First published on: 13th July 2020
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