Growing Cross Cultural Community

Friends International Guildford is hosting another morning for anyone who is part of a local church! We are looking to explore what it means to grow a cross-cultural community from the initial welcome, to worship, to serving teams, through to leadership.

There will be 2 sessions in the day, one with a speaker from Country Navigator, and another with the Friends International Guildford team. We aim to run more sessions throughout the year to engage with other cultures and diaspora in our town.

Refreshments will be provided during a morning break. If you'd like to connect with others after the morning then please do bring your own lunch.

Parking is available at the Guildford Lido or nearby at Guildford College but please be aware that parking charges may apply.

• Communication and perception across cultures
• Scriptural paradigms that cross cultures

Friends International Guildford:

Lilli and Phil will be hosting the day and Phil leading the second seminar which will be a practical workshop looking at paradigms in scripture that help communicate across cultures. Both are International Christian Chaplains at the University of Surrey.

Lilli is a trained primary school teacher (having studied Theology, Maths and German Literature) but has been working in student ministry for over a decade, firstly with Agape, then 24-7 Prayer and Emmaus Rd and with Friends International in Guildford since 2017. From Germany, Lilli has plenty of personal experience of navigating cultural differences and is passionate about seeing truly cross-cultural communities in church.

Phil is a trained secondary school teacher and moved from teaching into student ministry with Friends International in 2018. Having grown up in Papua New Guinea as a missionary kid and adapted to UK culture he has an affinity with those moving into the UK from other cultures. He is passionate about helping churches see the importance of hospitality for both host and guest in sharing faith and friendship across cultural boundaries.

Matthew Maclachlan

Matthew has been working in cross-cultural and inclusion learning for 25 years, having spent nearly 8 years in Russia. Focusing on enabling people to learn how to communicate effectively with people who have different backgrounds is a passion that has kept him busy with organizations from Stellantis to UNHCR and BP to Chanel and L’Oréal.

He is a regular worshipper at St John’s Church, Stoke-next-Guildford.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

St John's Stoke Church, Stoke Road, Guildford, United Kingdom