Learning to Love

Many churches actively seek to welcome migrants through various church-based activities such as language lessons, cooking, or gardening clubs. These and similar activities often aim to be missional or evangelistic, seeking to communicate the love of God and neighbor. The author explores how the love of God and neighbor can be expressed effectively through the implementation of pastoral care principles and practices. These include expressing love through empathy, hospitality, group prayer, and spiritual formation. When the functions of pastoral care are evident, mission and evangelism occur naturally and at the appropriate time.
This book is the result of the author's PhD study of four church-based intercultural initiatives aimed at welcoming migrants. Two churches offering English conversation classes, a sewing club, and employment training classes were observed. Volunteers and pastoral staff were interviewed, and church documents were examined. This empirical research demonstrates that when volunteers are trained in principles and practices of pastoral care, when church systems and supervision support them in their tasks, and when group planning and reflection occur, the love of God and neighbor will be effectively expressed to migrants attending these initiatives.