London’s churches reflect the multicultural nature of a world city. Among Grace Baptist churches in inner London, there is a strong Caribbean, African and Latino presence, in contrast to churches in provincial towns and villages. Ministry has to be consciously cross-cultural, understanding a range of cultures and relating the gospel to each of them in one church.
Who will pastor such churches? Across London and the Home Counties, Grace Baptist churches have pastors who come from Nigeria, Zimbabwe, India, Mexico, and Brazil. They are also seeing people from several European nations coming to the UK to train for ministry. This mix of cultural backgrounds is enriching local churches.
It has been seen as a virtue that pastors should be trained for ministry while also serving part-time in a local church. A number of churches in the association have a ‘pastor-in-training’, who already has some ministry experience and who is training part-time on the Cornhill Training Course or at London Seminary. Working in churches alongside other elders, they are able to grow their ministry gifts while connecting their theological studies with pastoral life.
Rocco Dalia is an Italian who, after serving with Grace Church Guildford, is now pastor-in-training in West Hill Baptist Church, Wandsworth while studying at London Seminary. He finds the demands of both together a challenge, but says: ‘Training feeds into ministry in such a natural way that makes it stay with you. Ministry gives vision and perspective to your training, avoiding the danger of it becoming a sterile end in itself, by always reminding you why you do what you do and what is your higher goal.’ Dalia preaches for half of the time.
How well does an international pastor adjust to London’s culture? Dalia says the Lord has helped him and his wife to appreciate London enough to call it home: ‘We take for granted that the reason we get along so easily in our churches, despite our different nationalities, is Christ in us.’
When it comes to unbelieving people, there can be less willingness on their part to invest in a deeper friendship. In church life the ‘what about in your country’ questions can dominate small talk, reminding of the differences between us.
Calix Furus is pastor in training at Rehoboth Baptist Church in Horsham, Sussex. He receives partial funding for his training at London Seminary from AGBC(SE), and says he values the opportunity to train and pastor together: ‘The huge advantage is being able to see the relevance of what we’re learning straight away, and put things into practice. The challenge comes from juggling commitments between family, church and seminary.’
So how does he make the cultural adjustment to ministry life in Sussex? ‘I am still very much Cuban-Hungarian, I think. But you learn to appreciate how different cultures tick and learn that “language” – I’m sure it’s the same both ways. In Christ, believers are one, and that ultimately accounts for how good our church experience has been in the UK.’
