From the July-September 2007 Issue
London:Emerging Mission Field
Martin Leech
Hungarian Reformed Church meeting place
An extended report on a conference held at Welwyn in April
Without doubt one of the most striking developments in Europe in recent years has been the movement of large numbers of people between countries. The expansion of the European Union has opened doors to citizens of the new EU nations—and not only from Eastern Europe, but peoples from other continents are also moving into Europe. And what is happening in Europe is happening around the world as people seek better economic and social conditions or flee the horrors of war or the hardship of famine and disease.
In the light of these rapidly developing situations the European Missionary Fellowship recently organised a conference, kindly hosted by the Evangelical Church in Welwyn, entitled ‘London – Emerging Mission Field’. Many of the churches connected with EMF are having more and more contact with immigrants, especially in countries such as France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain and Portugal, but this is an increasingly familiar picture to churches throughout the towns and villages of the UK as well. The focus was on London because two EMF members are working in churches there, but much of what was reported would strike a chord with churches elsewhere.
The aim of the conference was to draw attention to this new mission field in which many people are ‘coming to us’. It is presenting opportunities to reach men and women with the Gospel who come from countries where there is little Evangelical Christian witness. The meeting was chaired by EMF’s Assistant Director, Martin Leech, and the four main speakers were EMF Director, Daniel Webber; Ken Brownell, pastor of East London Tabernacle; Yuriy Vyshnevs’kyy, who leads the Russian outreach of the East London Tabernacle, and István Salánki, pastor of the Hungarian Reformed Church in west London. The speakers addressed both the background and the response of churches to this developing situation before Ken Brownell preached the closing message from 2 Kings 6:24-7:20.
The background and the opportunity
Daniel Webber introduced the theme of the conference by outlining the background and opportunities presented to churches. The numbers of people coming to our shores are huge. There are now thought to be about 1 million Poles in the UK and Republic of Ireland and, conservatively, about 250,000 Russian-speakers in London alone. According to the 2001 census, about 30% of London residents are born outside the UK; 300 languages are spoken in London and there are 50 or so non-indigenous groups of 10,000 people or more. In 2006, 565,000 immigrants came to the UK and stayed for a year or more.
Churches need both to be aware of this massive mission field and seek to bring immigrant people into contact with the Gospel. They are likely to be lonely or needy, are perhaps exploited and are often looking for both practical and spiritual help. Christians have a long and illustrious history of welcoming people, integrating people and helping people and now, in our generation, we have opportunity to show our mettle and to stand in that long tradition. In many European countries, especially those where the dominant religion is Roman Catholicism or one of the forms of Orthodoxy, evangelicals are seen as being a cult. This is not (for the time-being at least) the case in the UK. The environment for evangelism among, for example, Polish people in the UK is massively different than in their home country. Immigrant people have already made one huge decision – to leave home, and perhaps family, to seek a new life in the UK. Having done so, they become more likely to make another big decision – to listen to the message of evangelical Christianity.
To support this mission, churches should be prepared to assist in wise ways in solving the practical problems with housing, employment and registration that immigrants face. Here is a ministry for deacons to pick up – perhaps suiting especially those who are retired and able to contribute more time. There is, of course, opportunity too for churches to set aside for evangelistic and pastoral work among immigrants those with gifts and experience in theology, pastoral work and a facility with languages. Literature also is an important tool in our kit – tracts and books in foreign languages are becoming increasingly available and should be put to good use – by offering them to those who may be thrilled to receive something to read in their own language!
The conference then heard from men in two churches who now have some years of experience in working in just this sort of environment.
Istvan, Yuriy, Daniel, Kenneth
Examples and lessons from London
Ken Brownell of East London Tabernacle [ELT] spoke of his own congregation’s work in an area of London occupied by people from numerous nationalities (they have some 35 different nations represented on a Sunday). The surrounding community is ethnically and socially diverse – with affluence and poverty side-by-side in an area of London that has been transformed since the Second World War. The church has a basically ‘British’ approach to worship but seeks to learn from and adapt to other cultures too and they hope to establish a leadership that reflects the multinational nature of the congregation.
Many lessons have been learned. For example, pastors need to be aware of the cultural background of both members and contacts in their pastoral care and evangelism. Sermon applications and illustrations can all too easily focus on a traditional British culture and therefore be lost on other people. There are many possibilities that churches can consider in the realm of social projects to help needy people. The intention is to open the door for initial contact with the Gospel; the motive for seeking to help people in their physical needs is to point them to the one who can deal with their vastly more significant spiritual need. Offering English language classes can obviously be a useful means for contacting people. In an interesting twist at the ELT they actually offer Russian classes aimed at the children who are growing up speaking English and need opportunity to learn the language of their parents!
This last point draws attention to both an opportunity and a potential difficulty for churches in this sort of environment. The ELT seeks to be an integrated and multinational congregation – but it is hard to keep people together where language and culture can be so different. Providing simultaneous translation in meetings is one way of helping: although it is demanding and obviously needs people with excellent linguistic skills. But dual-language meetings can be held occasionally in which everyone will be on an equal footing: able to understand some of the time – and also ‘dual-culture’ meetings in which, for example, the congregation stands to pray as would be the norm for Russian-speakers in their own country. Such means help to build a sense of fellowship and unity and militate against a tendency to separate along language-lines. The conviction of the ELT is that they should seek to build a multinational – but not a homogenous – biblical church and thereby demonstrate something of the glory of the Gospel.
A major part of the work of ELT is with their Russian speaking congregation. Yuriy Vyshnevs’kyy spoke about this work which has developed in recent years out of a small group of Christians meeting for prayer and Bible study. They started inviting non-believers and have seen people converted and the group grow. People come to the UK in the hope of making money, often to pay off debts at home, but can quickly discover that life here is not as they imagined and they can be in some difficulty. Regular meetings are organised and also special evangelistic meetings at times like Christmas and Easter, which are important to people, reminding them of their home countries. Another aspect of the work is to organise outings for people who are working very hard to earn a living and get little opportunity to get away from London. Caring for people like this demonstrates that Christians are genuinely concerned for them and the hope always is to show that this concern stretches to their spiritual need. Simple means are used to publicise the work – adverts in a Russian-language newspaper, a website (the web is increasingly the first port-of-call for people looking for information when moving to a new place) and leaflets either left or handed out in places where people go. But the main means is word of mouth. Those already attending, many of whom are Christians, are out and about working and living among their compatriots and can tell others about the church.
István Salánki spoke about the rather different Hungarian work that he leads in West London. The Hungarian Reformed Church has been meeting since 1948 and is a Hungarian-speaking congregation. This is, therefore, rather different from the situation at the ELT. It is an established church that has seen greatly increasing numbers of Hungarian people coming to London. Before 2004 it tended to be students and au pairs who would come to the UK for a year or so and could be easily contacted through the agencies where they were registered. Since Hungary joined the EU in 2004 more people are coming – official figures say that 15,000 Hungarians arrive each year. The work would have many similarities to the Russian outreach at ELT – especially in means used to contact people, the various activities organised and help provided.
Undoubtedly, a major issue to be faced by this church – and no doubt others too – is that people come and move on again. In other words, the situation can seem quite unstable. Pastors need to consider that someone in the congregation this Sunday may not be there the next; but, on the other hand, new visitors may well be found in the congregation on a regular basis. What should be the pastor’s approach to preaching? Surely fundamental Gospel truths need to be preached every week in such a situation, forming at least a significant part if not the whole of a sermon. The seed which is being sown may not bear fruit until that person is elsewhere, but the precious seed of God’s Word is not wasted even if the result is not seen immediately. Whilst this is a potential difficulty for a church, perhaps creating a sense of always starting again and not being able to build something more stable, there is the hope that the core of regular attendees and members will grow.
There is also another thought. Those who leave move somewhere else, many returning to their home country. Some of them will have been converted and others at least made aware of the Gospel. And in this lies an encouraging prospect. Many European countries are spiritually very dark places. People are held in the vice-like grip of worldliness, materialism and godlessness; many others are deceived by false religions or perversions of Christianity that either openly deny or cunningly distort the true message of the Gospel. Evangelical Christianity is viewed with suspicion and hostility like a dangerous cult. It is a hostile environment in which to even hand out a tract, let alone invite someone to a meeting, is likely to meet with rejection. Vast areas of continental Europe are without any Gospel witness. Could it be that God in his astonishing wisdom and infinite mercy is bringing the mission field here in order to send the fruits of that mission back to the nations of Europe: men and women who have experienced the transforming grace and mercy of God in the power of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ? What then could be accomplished in Europe’s needy lands through those men and women who know and love the Lord and have a passion for their own country and people? Perhaps you and your church have a part to play in this emerging mission field right on our own doorsteps?