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Coventry

Refugees Welcome

Coventry Jesus Centre runs ESOL (English for speakers of other languages) classes for refugees and immigrants, mainly from Eastern Europe. Julia Faire works at the centre as an ESOL teacher. She writes of her experience.
Published: 25th Sep 2015
ANOTHER new ESOL student: so many young men from overseas have arrived in our city over the summer months. He lingers after the class has finished. It’s time to pack up but he wants to stay and, sensing this, I sit down and listen.

Listen … listening is magic.

He tells me his story. A close family member finds he is guilty of illicit activity and informs the police; his life is in danger, he flees to a neighbouring country. There he goes ‘underground’ and finds illegal work; he daren’t appear in public because what if he is found and deported home? Long hours labour, a pittance for pay, sleeping under the work benches of the factory at night; eventually he moves on, working his way...
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“Thank You”: The Tale of a Syrian Refugee

Julia Faire reflects on an encounter at the Coventry Jesus Centre
Published: 5th Jun 2015
SOMETHING beautiful happened the other day. I was running late and suddenly, one of our former students burst into the room. I remembered her – a tortured soul, a Syrian refugee. Two of her four children were missing, somewhere in Syria, and she had no food (I had met her at the foodbank)...
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Roy Crowne, Director of Hope Together UK, speaks to Coventry Jesus Centre volunteers

Roy Crowne became HOPE Executive Director in 2010 and was previously the National Director of Youth for Christ in Britain for 12 years. He recently visited Coventry Jesus Centre to speak to volunteers and staff; some of the address is recorded here.
Published: 1st May 2015
I want to encourage you all who work and volunteer here at the Jesus Centre! You are at the heart of God’s heart; it’s your day of opportunity!

When you touch the broken, you touch God. When you connect with the poor and broken, you connect with Jesus.

William Booth said that the only thing that really transforms people is the Gospel. We need to constantly bring the gospel to the people we work with; some of these broken people need to keep coming to hear it!

We can take heart from and learn from the Christians in this country who came before us:

The tide of lawlessness of the eighteenth century was stemmed by preachers John Wesley and George Whitfield. At Bristol Wesley had eggs thrown at him....
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A Course to Celebrate

Julia Faire celebrates diversity
Published: 26th Mar 2015
If you’re visiting the chippie today for what you think is a real British meal, please tell yourself that it was refugees fleeing Portugal, France and Spain several hundred years ago who first introduced fish and chips to England!

I’ve been designing and running a new course at Coventry Jesus Centre: ‘UK: a Mix of Cultures: Imports, Immigrants and Refugees.’ Students are learning English (I’m an ESOL teacher); they’re also learning about the unique and huge contribution immigrants to the UK have made over the years. I’m learning too... I had no idea just how large that contribution was – and it’s a cause to celebrate.
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Not Just Visitors Who Benefit: Volunteer Tony's Story

“My only friend is the TV,” Tony thought as a young man. Life has had its ups and downs but applying for a job as a support worker at Coventry Jesus Centre has led to an unexpected turnabout in Tony’s life. Tony is married to Toni and has four children. He answers a few questions:
Published: 14th Nov 2014
“My only friend is the TV,” Tony thought as a young man. Life has had its ups and downs but applying for a job as a support worker at Coventry Jesus Centre has led to an unexpected turnabout in Tony’s life.

Tony is married to Toni and has four children. He answers a few questions.
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