Your Stories

"OpenWORD is an exciting outreach project based in West Yorkshire.  For four years, we have been offering Bible and English classes to people who speak English as an additional language.  Our vision is that people from different nations would come to know God's love and His saving power. 

The project began in March 2005 with a class one afternoon a week.  In October 2005 we were able to increase the number of classes and since OpenWORD began we have run four Summer Schools.  In January 2009, a weekly Bible and English group for mums and their young children was established.  Friday afternoons are dedicated to 'Open Door,' a drop-in which involves social activities, pastoral support and English conversation practice.  About 60 people enjoy attending this week.

Since OpenWORD began, we have welcomed over 380 people from different countries and spiritual backgrounds.  Many of our students are refugees and people seeking asylum, but some are economic migrants and international students.  A number of our students are beginners in the English language, whilst others are more proficient.  Through teaching the Bible in simple English, we long to point to Jesus so that people are saved and discipled.  We are excited about those who have made commitments to follow Jesus, have been baptised and continue to grow in Him.  It has also been a blessing to see people's confidence grow in using the English language.

OpenWORD classes are supported by members of different local fellowships. The lessons are highly interactive and include fun learning activities as study and discussion of a passage or theme from the Bible.  Topics covered so far have included: The Covenant Names of God, Prayer, The Parables of Jesus, The Holy Spirit and the Early Church and Questions in the Gospels.  

We have a vision to encourage and support other people undertaking similar projects. This involves producing lesson plans and learning resources in order to equip churches and individuals nationwide.  We are also linked with an individual using OpenWORD teaching materials overseas. 

-Jessica Davies, OpenWORD project coordinator, West Yorkshire

"The English for Migrant Worker's Project was set up in 2007 after a prior conviction that God was doing something in Bognor Regis with, at that time, the large influx of Europeans largely though not exclusively from Poland.  Our wish was to teach English to people who genuinely need language skills to survive, integrate and avoid exploitation.  

We also have attempted to provide a cultural and inter-relational bridge in order to foster greater understanding and acceptance between the migrant and more established populations of the local area.  For this purpose we organise a number of social events each year.  In addition, links are fostered with other agencies and organisations.  Because migrant workers often work different shift hours we seek to provide a more flexible framework for lessons whereby the students only pay for the lessons they attend.  

On a Friday morning, a creche takes place alongside English classes as it has become clear that there are young isolated mothers who would find it difficult to attend one of the four evening classes but benefit from the opportunity to learn English and ahve social contact with other mothers.  The project is supported by a number of churches in Bognor together with a Christian charity.

-Mrs Miranda Cormell and Miss Sarah Paget, Bognor Regis

"We started our own Mothers Union branch here in london. We are carrying on with our Church of England worship as we did in Zimbabwe and we also have a monthly  Shona service led by our own Shona priest. I tell you its electric with our drums and percussions and we dance to the lord and glorify him in style with cheerful faces.

"We are happy to be invited anywhere. It helps us cope with everyday sadness. Shona mass 2nd sunday of the month and Mothers Union takes place the last saturday of the month. Both services start at 14.00 and anyone is welcome to join us."


Agnes Mugadza, Zimbabwe



" I live in a block of flats and we had a Muslim family living above us. I made initial contact but they had to move after a short period of time.

"Another Muslim family moved in so I went to introduce myself. He was quite taken aback that someone had made contact with him. He has since told me that he had wondered if he and his family would be safe living here. My visit reassured him.

"We have now become great friends as I have helped his family with a lot of local information. As the result of this friendship I have learned a Muslim greeting - 'Assallam o Allaikum' meaning 'Peace be unto you'. I seem to be meeting other Muslims in different places and I use this greeting. It is amazing to see how their faces light up.

"We now have a family from Poland living here. I have made contact with them and have been able to help them settle in. It has been so rewarding to be welcomed into their homes and feel the warmth of friendship. Due to my wife's health problems it hasn't been possible to invite them home yet."

Wilfrid Richardson



"A group of people from several churches in Oswestry, a small market town in Shropshire, came together to do something to help migrants in our community.

"We run Talk Right, a weekly English class using the Bible, on a Monday evening. We started after Easter 2008 (as a Hope08 initiative).

"We have less than a dozen people coming along, but we have a very enjoyable and hopefully helpful time together each week."

Mary Gray, Oswestry

"My story has been brilliantly told by Actors for Human Rights in their play Asylum Dialogues. I am the John mentioned in the play and "my" asylum seeker is Angela. A short video is available on the web showing excerpts of the play."

John, Birmingham


DIOCESAN SYNOD MOTION: JUSTICE AND ASYLUM SEEKERS - 13 February business from The General Synod

Following debate, the Revd Ruth Worsley (Southwell and Nottingham) moved the following amended motion which was carried by the Synod by 242 votes to one against (with one abstention):

'That this Synod, continuing to affirm scriptural teaching about care for vulnerable people, welcome for strangers and foreigners, and the Church's calling to reach out to the marginalized and persecuted, call upon Her Majesty's Government:

(a) to ensure that the treatment of asylum seekers is just and compassionate, and to that end to: confer a right to work on all asylum seekers, declare an amnesty for so called 'legacy cases' that predate the Government's New Asylum Model, and bring to an end the practice of detaining children and families in Immigration Removal Centres;

(b) to find a practical and humane remedy to the intolerable situation of destitute 'refused' asylum seekers who are unable to return to their country of origin because of personal safety, health or family reasons;

(c) to investigate and report publicly on the quality of the legal services provided to asylum seekers.'

Read here for Ruth Gledhill's story in The Times: Church calls on government to support asylum seekers