Peter Bates > Christian meetings in community languages in Nottingham, UK

Christian meetings in community languages in Nottingham, UK

Written by Peter Bates, peter.bates96@outlook.com. Started 16/1/23, last revised 05/04/2024.

Introduction

This is a list of some places in Nottingham where Christians meet to worship, read the Bible and encourage one another in their Christian faith in their mother tongue. As some regimes in the world oppose Christianity and forbid their citizens from changing their religion, some expatriate groups may have chosen to protect their members by obscuring details of their meetings. Please send me corrections and improvements to this document.

We might consider the list below as a spectrum ranging from the most segregated events through to quite small adjustments to enable diverse language groups to access shared worship. Beyond the specific issue of finding ways for people to worship in their own tongue are a whole host of steps that help everyone feel welcome in any church. Choosing the right thing will depend on asking people what they want, but may include any of the following:

  1. Lead a whole time of Christian worship in a community language, including greetings and liturgy, song lyrics [1] and spoken prayers, Bible readings and preaching, discussion and public prayer[2]. Launch a midweek group that operates entirely in a community language.
  2. Deliver all parts of the worship in English, while providing simultaneous translation via sign language or through a translation app to members of the congregation who need to hear everything in their own language [3].
  3. Invite people to sit at separate tables with others who speak their language and place a bilingual person at each table. Offer a brief introduction in English, perhaps with breaks to allow the interpreters at each table to explain to their table group, and then move into discussion around the table. The bilingual facilitators then feedback to everyone in the room.
  4. Do everything in English and select one or two community languages and translate a few brief statements for use on screen. Select some songs that can be sung in different languages so everyone has one verse that they can sing in their native tongue.
  5. Offer a room in your building[4] to an independent group that meets for Christian worship or social events in a community language and then (with their consent) advertise their presence on your website. Visit each other’s events and share food.
  6. Find out which members of your congregation are able to speak other languages so that you can introduce them to visitors who prefer to speak in another language rather than English. Encourage English speakers to learn another language and use it at church.
  7. Use a welcome poster or put a message on screen to welcome people in their own language[5]. Create welcome leaflets and obtain some copies of the Bible in relevant community languages so guests can follow the reading in their own language. Signpost people to places where they can worship in their own language.

The brief survey of Nottingham reported below [6] does not specify which of these things are done in each place, but it may help us all to support people to find a place where they can worship in their heart language and also find a real home in their adopted nation. In heaven, we will hear worship expressed in every tongue, so let’s enjoy it here too!  Care is needed, however, as worship in the migrant’s heart language may be good for the first generation but is less good for their biological and spiritual children.

Summary table of meetings led in specific languages

List of organisations

This list is in alphabetical order. It gives more details of the events shown in the table above, and other incidental yet relevant information that has come to light. For example, some churches have mentioned that individual members speak a particular language and would offer interpretation or a friendly contact so they appear in the list below, but not in the table above.

Audacious Faith International Church, Bakersfield Community Centre, 312 Sneinton Dale, Nottingham NG3 7DN. Facebook. Worship in French and Lingala, with an interpreter translating into English. Last checked 25/1/23.

Basford Road Baptist Church, Basford Road, Nottingham NG6 0JL. NG6 0JL. Website. Facebook. A hom e group meets in Farsi at 10am on alternate Fridays. Last checked 12/06/2023.

Bethlehem Church of Eritrea. Meets at Carlton Baptist Church, 108 Station Road, Carlton, Nottingham NG4 3DA on Sundays from 2:30pm to 5pm. Tigrigna is used in meetings. Confirmed 27/02/2023 – Open.

Church of Christ Nottingham, Unit 27, Block D, Hartley House Business Centre, Haydn Road, Nottingham NG5 1FD. Sunday 11am to 1.30pm. Txt Brother Gyasi on 07462 020 154, or Brother Baah on 0744 880 9305, or Brother Osuwu on 07404 997 902. Services in Twi. Confirmed 11/10/2023 – open.

Church of God in UK, Room 4 (ground floor), Queens Walk Community Centre, Queens Walk, Nottingham NG2 2DF. Sundays 10am to 3pm with lunch. Services in Cantonese. Last checked 09/04/2023.

Church of Pentecost – UK, Basford Road Baptist Church, Nottingham NG6 0DL. Worship Time – 2PM on Sundays. Services in Twi and English. Last checked 21/03/2023.

Dominion House Church, 147-149 Alfreton Rd, Nottingham NG7 3JL. Charity Commission. Facebook. Last checked 30/01/2023.

Ethiopian Christian Fellowship meets at St Ann with Emmanuel church, Robin Hood Chase, Nottingham NG3 4EY on Sundays from 2:30pm to 5pm. Charity Commission. The main service is in Amharic and the youth service that runs in parallel is in English. Newcomers welcome.

Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo church meets at St Augustine’s, Woodville Road, Nottingham NG3 4QF. Services at 1pm on Saturdays. Most of the Holy Mass liturgy is conducted in Ge’ez, while sermons and other services are in Amharic. Last checked 4/2023. At 30/06/2024 it appeared at Facebook, named as Ledetalemariam Nottingham Church. 

German Lutheran Congregation, 67 Homefield Road, Nottingham NG8 5GH. Website. Last checked 24/02/2023.

Ghanaian Methodist Fellowship. Website. Meets on the last Sunday of every month at Sherwood Methodist Church to worship in English and Twi. Last checked 02/03/2023.

Gilgal Pentecostal Assembly, Malayalam Pentecostal Church, Sheila Roper Community Centre, Tenants Hall Close, Beeston, Nottingham NG9 2RW. English and Malayalam Assembly. Facebook. Last checked 24/03/2023.

Iglesia Unidos por Jesús meets at Assemblies of the Firstborn, 28 Palin Street, Nottingham NG7 5AD. Facebook. Meetings are led in Spanish and English. Confirmed 16/09/2023 – open.

Immanuel Christian Fellowship, The Pearson Centre, 2, Nuart Road, Beeston Nottingham NG9 2NH. Facebook. Last checked 24/1/23.

Korean Church of Nottingham, Beeston Methodist Church, Chilwell Road, Beeston, Nottingham NG9 1EH. Website. Facebook.

Manifestation Centre, 3 Warton Avenue, Nottingham NG3 3AH. Website. Charity Commission. Worship in English, Italian and three Ghanaian languages – Twi, Ga and Ewe. Last checked 12/03/2023.

Maranatha Community Church of Jesus. Charity Commission. Facebook. Care of New Vision Church, 11 Mount Street, New Basford, Nottingham NG7 7HX. Worship in English, French and Swahili. Last checked 21/03/2023.

NCCC. Nottingham Chinese Christian Church. Care of West Bridgford Baptist Church, Melton Road, West Bridgford, Nottingham NG2 7NF. Website. Last checked 24/1/23. Meetings in Cantonese and Mandarin.

NEWC. Nottingham Enlightening Word Congregation, All Saints’ Church, Raleigh Street, Nottingham NG7 4DP. Website. Facebook. Last checked 24/03/2023.

Nottingham Christian Fellowship. (Malayalam Pentecostal Church), Dunkirk and Old Lenton Community Centre, Montpelier Road, Nottingham NG7 2JW. Charity Commission. Services in Malayalam. Last checked 13/03/2023.

Nottingham Salvation Outreach, St John’s Community Hall, Graylands Road, Nottingham NG8 4FD.Tel: 07455671791. No website. Charity Commission. Worship primarily in English, but have translating devices and translators for French, Romanian and Spanish where needed. Last checked 23/03/2023.

One in Christ Church. St Christopher’s Church, 83 Colwick Road, Nottingham NG2 4AL. Website. Youtube. Congregation established 1997, meets on Sundays 2:00pm to 5pm.  The congregation is mainly Pakistani and Indians who understand Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi and English. Last checked 19/1/23.

Our Lady and St Edward. Catholic church, Gordon Road, Thorneywood, Nottingham NG3 2LG. Website. Facebook. Vietnamese Catholic Mass, dates to be confirmed throughout the year.

Our Lady of Holy Patronage and St Alban’s, Ukranian Catholic Church, Bond Street, Nottingham NG2 4QX. Services on 2nd and 4th Sunday of each month at 10.00am in Ukrainian with the Gospel reading and sermon in English. Last checked 16/01/2023.

People’s Church, Gladehill Road, Bestwood Park, Nottingham NG5 5SA. Website. Individual members speak Portuguese and Spanish. Last checked 23/1/23.

Polish church, Bakersfield Community Centre, 312 Sneinton Dale, Nottingham NG3 7DN. Pastor Jonas (tel: 07888 814 980) leads services in Polish. Last checked 03/08/2023.

Polish Roman Catholic Church, 2 Sherwood Rise, Nottingham. Website. Facebook. Services in Polish. Last checked 14/03/2023.

Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Sherwood United Reformed Church, 1 Edwards Lane, Nottingham NG5 3AA. Facebook. Services in English and Twi from 1pm to 3pm. Last checked 23/03/2023.

Revelation Church, Bakersfield Community Centre, 312 Sneinton Dale, Nottingham NG3 7DN. Services in English and Ndebele. Last checked 16/03/2023.

Sacred Heart of Jesus, 99 Carlton Hill, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, NG4 1FP. Website. Italian Catholic Mass 1 pm every Sunday. Last checked 27/03/2023.

Shalom Evangelical Christian Fellowship meets at Mansfield Road Baptist Church, Sherwood Rise, Gregory Boulevard, Nottingham NG7 6JN. Facebook. Service at 3pm on first Sunday of each month held in Urdu, Punjabi and Hindi. Last checked 11/04/2023.

St Aidan and St Chad Russian Orthodox Church, 86 Carlton Hill, Carlton, Nottingham NG4 1EE. Website. Facebook. Liturgy mainly in English with a small amount of Church Slavonic. Last checked 24/03/2023.

St Augustine, Woodville Road, Nottingham NG3 4QF. Website. Facebook.

St Gabriel’s Eritrean Orthodox church, All Saints, Raleigh Street, Nottingham NG7 4DP. Worship in Tigrigna. Last checked 06/04/2023.

St Jude’s, Mapperley. Website. Groups meet in the church hall in Amharic and in Igbo (Igbo Union and Igbo Ambassadors). Last checked 25/1/23.

St Mary & St George Coptic Orthodox church, St Matthias Rd, Nottingham NG3 2FE. Website. Facebook. Most of the liturgy in English with some prayers in Arabic and in Coptic. Last checked 25/03/2023.

St Mary’s Eritrean Christian Orthodox church meets at St Augustine’s, Woodville Road, Nottingham NG3 4QF. Most of the Holy Mass liturgy is conducted in Ge’ez, while sermons and other services are in Tigrinya. They will shortly be using a projector to present the Holy Mass Liturgy in English, Ge’ez and Tigrinya.

St Nic’s Church, Maid Marian Way, Nottingham NGG1 6AE.  Hispanic community that meets on Tuesday evenings. Last checked 13/03/2023.

St Peter’s Church, Hartley Road corner of Churchfields Lane, Nottingham NG7 3DW.. Christian worship in Urdu/Punjabi language every Sunday 2 pm until 3.15pm.

St Stephen’s & St Paul’s, Hyson Green. Midweek meetings take place in Farsi. Last checked 17/1/23.

St Stephen’s, Dale Street, Sneinton. Website. Facebook. A Ukrainian Orthodox meeting takes place every second Sunday in the month at St Stephen’s starting at 12.30pm.

St. Peter and Paul and St Spiridon, Romanian Orthodox Church, 43 Cherry Orchard Mount, NG5 5TQ, Nottingham. Website. Liturgy in English and Romanian. Last checked 17/03/2023.

Stapleford Baptist Church, Albert Street, Stapleford NG9 8DB. Website. English Conversation Club meets on Tuesdays from 9:30am to 11am. The Club gives rise to occasional meetings in Cantonese such as a Carol Service, post-Sunday service meal and Chinese New Year celebration. A group of Cantonese attendees meet regularly for Bible Study. There are almost always bilingual Cantonese-English speakers at the  10:30am Sunday morning service. Last checked 25/1/23.

The Dales United Reformed Church, 63 Parkdale Road (corner of Parkdale/Eastdale road), Bakersfield, Nottingham NG3 7GL. Website. Hosts a class in German that meets once a month on a Monday morning. Last checked 23/01/2023.

Trent Vineyard. Email: connect@trentvineyard.org.Several midweek groups in community languages.

United Methodist Church of Zimbabwe, Ravensworth Road Methodist Church, Ravensworth Rd, Bulwell, Nottingham NG6 8FN. Website. Last checked 22/03/2023.

Upper Room Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Bells Lane Community Association, 194 Amesbury Circus, Cinderhill, Nottingham NG8 6DD. Website. Many members are from Southern Africa (Zimbabwean, Zambian) and a growing number from West Africa (mostly Ghana) so in-service interpreters are available for Shona, Ndebele, Tonga, Chichewa, Twi and Swahili. Last checked 19/08/2023.

[1] Also use of ethnic instruments and ethnic musical genres. Taize have used a songbook in multiple languages since the 1980s. Resources for intercultural worship are available at Songs2Serve.

[2] Training is available in leading intercultural worship. See for example, All Nations.

[3] See How to decide whether to use machine translation in church services.

[4] The Church of England and perhaps other organisations have clear rules limiting building hire to only those groups that have written safeguarding policies and other assurances. Approval may also be needed from the Parochial Church Council and the Archdeacon. Some hirers have not paid consistently and some have exceeded house rules on maximum attendance, exploiting the low staff oversight at the weekend. 

[5] Resources are available from Welcome Churches and  Home – Church for Everyone.

[6] The method used for collecting this information is described at Detecting dark matter – Peter Bates and the linked papers found there. Advice for churches wishing to advertise their activities on a community directory can be seen at /wp-content/uploads/2023/07/How-to-get-your-group-listed-in-community-directories.pdf.