Who we are
Welcome Churches grew out of a church-based work in Derby (England) who were running a Welcome Boxes project to welcome asylum seekers who were dispersed to the city by the Home Office. As asylum seekers arrived in Derby, the church sent volunteers to welcome these new neighbours, bringing a Welcome Box of small gifts as a token of friendship and a first friendly 'hello'. As this work grew and flourished, the vision grew for Welcome Boxes to be a national project. In 2018 Welcome Churches became a charity in its own right and we began to train churches across the UK to use Welcome Boxes to welcome refugees and people seeking asylum as they moved into their locations. We also set up our national Welcome Network, which functions as a secure online referral system, so that refugees can be referred, or self-refer, to receive a welcome from a local church in their location. This Welcome Network has grown exponentially and now over 1,100 churches UK-wide from many denominations are part of this Network!
Since then, we have vastly developed our training and equipping for churches; it includes training to work in hotels housing people seeking asylum, trauma awareness, good practice in self-care, training in working cross culturally, understanding the asylum system and much more. Our Welcome Plus churches are specifically trained and supported to work proactively, building refugee ministry to be an integral part of their expression of church. We produce resources for churches to use such as The Welcome Course and Wellbeing videos in numerous languages. We are also developing our refugee-facing work through FindYourWelcome.org, empowering refugees to access information in their own languages about life in the UK and to refer themselves for a welcome from a local church.
We are the largest organisation in the UK helping the Church engage with the increasingly pressing topic of refugees and we continue to equip and support churches as they, in turn, welcome refugees and people seeking asylum in the community around them, and we eagerly work towards our vision of No Refugee Alone being fulfilled
Values
What Welcome Churches believes in
Welcome
Christians are called to love and welcome the stranger, whatever their cultural background. Every church has the privilege and opportunity to welcome and care for refugees and asylum seekers in some way.
Empowerment
Refugees are resilient and creative. We want refugees to grow in their gifting and leadership and churches to benefit from their unique contribution.
Building Community
Churches are well placed to provide community and care for those who have lost homes and family and are recovering from trauma.
Relationship
We value relationships with other organisations, networks and individuals. We help churches connect relationally with partners in their own communities to provide integrated support for refugees.
Religious Freedom
Refugees arriving in the UK should have the freedom and right to explore faith without fear of intimidation or persecution. Churches should be well equipped to help them.
Justice
The Church should be at the forefront of challenging injustices faced by refugees and asylum seekers and fear and prejudice within our wider communities.
Healing
We equip churches to work towards healing for refugees and for communities that can feel divided by immigration issues locally.
Emily
Emily is our CEO, having cofounded Welcome Churches with Karina Martin in 2018, and is now based in Greater Manchester. She has a wealth of experience in welcoming many people seeking asylum and refuge with her local church. Emily is passionate about seeing the UK Church being at the forefront of welcoming refugees. She has an MA in Conflict, Development and Security where she specialised in European citizens’ responsibilities to refugees.
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Having been part of the leadership teams of Member Care at European and Global level for a number of years, Marion instituted an MA in the subject at Redcliffe College. She now consults with Refugee Highway Partnership on Care for Refugees and Refugee workers and leads trauma response for the European Evangelical Alliance. Marion has developed courses for churches on working with Traumatized refugees and Sustaining Refugee Workers. She is an international speaker on Staff Care and works with an international relocation company as an intercultural trainer both pre- and post-assignment. She has written two books, “Families on the Move” and “Burn-up or Splashdown – the survival guide to re-entry”.
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Alex is Head of Fundraising & Supporter Development at Christians Against Poverty leading their fundraising strategy and working to build a movement of supporters and churches committed to releasing people from grinding poverty in the UK. Alex is deeply committed to a world where each person is treated with inherent dignity and infinite worth and has led campaigning and fundraising at Christian Aid, including a campaign to change the story about refugees living here in the UK. An active member of a local Baptist Church in Bradford, he is passionate about church unity and celebrates the rich diversity of Christian expression across the world.
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Ali’s experience spans over 22 years in NGO's, international organisations, and the charity sector both abroad and in the UK. Ali's background resonates deeply with the challenges faced by refugees and individuals seeking asylum, as he himself has lived experience as a refugee. His profound understanding of these challenges fuels his passion to make a difference. Driven by his own journey, Ali is committed to facilitating a seamless transition and integration process for refugees in the UK.
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Henneke has spent over 20 years living overseas and learning cross-cultural skills there and in multi-cultural Manchester, UK. Now setting up a Trauma Healing Centre for women refugees and asylum seekers in Greece, she is drawing on the experiences she has had with refugees over the last 10 years or so, both in North Africa and the UK, and using her Arabic in yet another context. She has done various courses on Counselling and Trauma Care, as well as learning about refugees.
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Jon is a qualified Chartered Accountant who previously worked in the housebuilding sector. He has many years experience in church life and being part of church leadership teams. He seeks to live out his Christian faith by being involved in a local church and other organisations that express Christ’s heart for justice, mercy and hospitality. Welcome Churches gives great expression to this and he sees being part of the team a real privilege.”
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Mark has been in church leadership for over 40 years and has been involved with inter-cultural ministry for many of those years. He has been one of the founding trustees of Welcome Churches.
Today, he lives in Worcester and continues to encourage and support church leaders across the country in various locations.
He is married to Nesta, and has 3 married children and 10 grandchildren!
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Nathaniel Jennings is of Anglo/Caribbean/American heritage and was born in Bangladesh. He trained as a teacher in London and then worked in a Christian international school in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Following completion of a Master’s in theology through Queens University Belfast he returned to Bangladesh to be involved in social development and welfare work with SIM. For the past 12 years he has been based in Ireland, working for OMF International, first as their Ireland Area Representative and now as their Intercultural Ministries Director. During this time he has also been involved in teaching at several theological institutions and working with churches to see them welcome and embrace newcomers to Ireland. Nathaniel lives in Belfast, is married to Donna, and they have two children, Micah (15) and Tabitha (13). Nathaniel loves travel, reading, music, football and all kinds of food.
Our Trustees
Our Church Engagement Team
Our Church Engagement Team officers are dedicated to working alongside churches across the UK as they extend a local welcome to refugees and those seeking asylum.
Find out more about the Team here.
Our Operations Team
Our Operations Team ensures that our Welcome Network of churches runs smoothly - ensuring oversight of our online referral system good systems, impact, data protection, finances, safeguarding and much more!