An African Choir evening at St Augustine’s Church, this Sunday May 17th will be the culmination of a weekend of events hosted by St Augustine’s and St Clement’s churches in Bradford being put on for Congolese refugees who have come to the city to escape armed conflict and violence in their own country.
Under the Gateway Scheme, over the past two years the UK has received 750 of the most vulnerable refugee families from the Democratic Republic of the Congo , and groups have settled in both Bradford and Norwich. Many of the families here have joined the churches of St Clement and St Augustine which have received a small mission grant to work with the new arrivals and help them integrate into the UK as Christian disciples.
This Saturday May 16th a local charity is assisting the churches to provide a bus trip to Bolton Abbey. Priest in Charge of the two congregations, the Revd Dale Barton, says that singing will be central to the day out which will include a “picnic lunch, choir formation and practice (our folk express their faith in Christ through song), a guided tour by Paul Middleton at the Abbey, choir rehearsal in the Abbey, plus dipping our toes in the river, a look at lambs and maybe an ice cream!”
Many of the Congolese refugees have come with health needs says Dale. “You see people begin to bloom in front of your eyes as their nutrition improves."
All are welcome to come to support the African choir night on Sunday 17th May at 6:30pm at St Augustine’s. As well as being promised plenty of singing and worship, “we will have the Lord’s prayer in as many languages as we can muster and some testimony about how God has met people's needs.”