No Big Programme Needed
Yvette’s Guide on Building a Welcoming Community
Hi, I’m Yvette. I’m the Compassion Pastor at Lagan Valley Vineyard (LVV) in Lisburn, just outside Belfast. In recent years, our community has begun to change - with more and more people from other countries moving here. It’s been a joy and a learning curve.
So, how did we start a community of welcome?
1. Start With What You Have
When members of our church, Lesley and Andrew, came to me three years ago and said, “We’d like to help the church create a welcoming space for people from other countries,” we didn’t look for funding or write a plan. We had a kitchen, a table, and Lesley had some fond memories of potluck dinners in Thailand, where everyone brought a meal, shared it, and got to know each other.
So we thought: Why not gather people around food?
That’s how, with Lesley’s help, the All Nations meal was born. Everyone brings a dish. We sit around the table and eat. We talk, we laugh, we learn. And honestly? That simple act has made our church feel more like home for so many.
2. You Don’t Need to Speak the Same Language
Then we met Krystyna and Tetiana from Ukraine. They taught us how to welcome, and our community learnt a lot simply by welcoming them in as friends.
Welcoming them into our lives didn’t require a programme. I’ll never forget the morning Krystyna and Tetiana arrived at our church for the first time. They didn’t speak much English at the time. So we smiled and laughed a little because we couldn’t really communicate.
I thought, “coming early would feel quite unsettling for them. What could I do to make them feel at ease?” “Make yourselves at home,” I said. “Make a cup of tea and get anything you need.” They smiled, but still looked a little bit at a loose end. So I invited them to help sort the food bank donations after the tea.
They’ve been coming and serving since that day, and they are such an important part of our church family now.
3. People and Partnerships Over Programmes, Always
One guiding principle God gave us in our early days was “concentrate on people and partnerships before programmes.” This has shaped our approach to welcome.
We’re not a big church with loads of resources. But we trust that if God wants a welcoming church, He will bring the people. We’ve learnt to partner with other organisations so that when we don’t have the expertise to help - say, with paperwork or English language skills - we can signpost our friends to our wider community to find what they need. All we need to do is welcome them.
4. Let Our Friends Lead and Share
When our friends find what they need in our community, they help new friends by sharing the resources. This is the easiest way to multiply welcome: empowering everyone to welcome in their own way, using their own story, lived experience, and partnerships. They signpost and share not only in the church building but across the community.
We just made a few introductions… then the relationships multiplied.
Nowadays, it’s a joy to have a monthly meal together with 12 different languages in the room. One of my favourite parts is going around with the trolley at the end of each meal just to say hello again and watch people talking to each other, enjoying their food and encouraging each other.
5. Be Kind. This is the Starting Point.
It’s a beautiful privilege to have people from other countries coming to our church. I felt God’s Spirit speaking to us gently about this before we even started.
God has been gently inviting us to welcome that picture in Revelation, where every tribe and every tongue gathered around the throne. Because at the heart of God - and at the heart of His Kingdom - is an invitation to be diverse.
Diversity is the heart of God. It’s not a church programme. It’s a privilege and our joy to live out God’s Kingdom and to welcome one another.
I dream of our church becoming much more diverse. By welcoming people, we hope that one day our church will reflect that diversity more fully. We want to keep learning - from others who join us, and from other churches too.
As a church, we’re not doing everything - but we’re doing what we can with what we’ve got. And we’re having a lot of fun doing it.
It’s about being with each other, having fun, being brave, and just giving it a go.
It’s about being kind.
And I want to say to our All Nations friends: thank you for leading us in that.
With love,
Yvette 🫶
Want to see more churches welcoming and thriving like LVV?
With training and support, local churches across the UK can be equipped to welcome refugees and people seeking asylum with compassion, practical support, and the love of Christ. At Welcome Churches, we help churches across the UK to open their doors to those seeking safety - offering friendship, activities like English classes, practical help, and a place to belong.
Will you support our work, so more churches like LVV can be equipped to welcome and thrive?