In 2011 a WEC missionary from Colombia came to Aotearoa with a heart for migrants.  In 2013 she settled in Hamilton to start as an intern with her church and work with refugee families.  She noted the migrants had English classes, but no English-speaking friends to practice with.  She decided to start an English conversation class at her church, despite her own English not being prefect.  With the support of the Pastor and WEC she began with a small team of volunteers from her church and other churches.  WEC provided cross-cultural training to the ministry volunteers in preparation.

Despite delivering many advertising flyers in the area around the church and other neighbouring areas, only one Colombian family turned up on the first night of conversational English classes.  However, the team persevered and continued speaking to migrants, telling them about the free class.  Over the next few weeks other families came, and numbers grew to 60, but still only Colombians.  The leader and helpers prayed for people of other nationalities to come too.  On the last night of the first term, a family from Myanmar came.  Their prayers were answered!  This new family remained part of the language-learning community for several years.

In the initial stages, there were only a few volunteers from the host church, yet as they saw the blessing on the growth of the ministry, more became involved, joining volunteers from other churches and a nearby Bible college.  

Prayer was an important part of the ministry. Some members of WEC, including a group of those preparing to go overseas, began to pray before each meeting. They also became part of the volunteer team for the ministry.

There was a lot of learning by the team as they pioneered this new migrant ministry, they realised that review and reassessment are important. For example, initially language helpers were also providing transport for the migrants and helping in other ways. This resulted in some helpers feeling it was too much, and some withdrew from the ministry. After reviewing this, the team began to allocate a helper to a family, so relationships could deepen, but without overload. This intentionality has helped build some precious friendships. One of the helpers recognised a desire for Bible study in a Thai learner and slowly gathered a few others to form a Thai Bible study group. Other fruit of this ministry has included a Spanish-speaking church and different events to support migrants in the church and community.  The sense of ownership by the host church has been key in terms of the support and ongoing commitment of volunteers.

Through this ministry, many of the families have found a real sense of belonging and family in their new home country. Some have chosen to mark special events at the church, including birthday and wedding celebrations.

About 2 years ago, the WEC worker, who was by then also a community pastor in the church, relinquished the ministry, and a new leader took up the role.  They had lots of community development experience, but lacked experience with migrant ministry. This new leader has really appreciated the support of a retired missionary, who has a wealth of cross-cultural and language training experience, as a coach, as well as extended prayer support for both her and the ministry. The coach is also able to tap into our network of consultants with other areas of expertise, such as making funding applications.

About four years ago, one of the ministry volunteers moved to a new city for further study and work. She felt God call her to start a similar ministry in her new church and was delighted to find that the church leaders, had been praying for someone to come to lead such a ministry. WEC was able to deliver cross-cultural training to the volunteers. WEC were also able to provide the ministry leader with a ministry coach and offer a prayer support network, in addition to the prayer and support from the church. In addition, the ministry leader was able to talk with consultants experienced in working with different people groups that she was encountering through the ministry. By learning from the experiences of the Hamilton ministry, this new ministry quickly flourished. Over the next few years several Bible study groups with migrants, including some from Buddhist, animist and Muslim backgrounds have been established. Three years on, the ministry is thriving. God has now called that leader into a new season of further preparation for overseas mission. She has handed the ministry over to a new leader and the offer of prayer and coach support continues.