Mike and Beki Nicholls, here with their three children, are embracing Luton's multicultural diversity.,,,
When Mike and Beki Nicholls watched a crime documentary about the Bedfordshire town, moving to pastor a church there was the last thing on their minds.
Just before Mike and Beki Nicholls were asked to move to lead the Elim church in Luton, the town appeared on Channel 4’s 24 Hours in Police Custody.
After watching the hour-long episode on knife crime, Beki told Mike, “I’d never live there!”
When the opportunity to pastor Luton Christian Fellowship came up just a week later, friends added their own warnings about the town’s reputation for poverty, drugs, homelessness and race riots, and for being one of the worst places to live in the UK.
But in the two years the couple have pastored the church they have discovered an entirely different side to the town they and their three children now love to call home.
“Luton is one of the most diverse places in the UK, and the people in our church are so vibrant,” says Mike.
“We have city high-fliers who rub shoulders with people on the poverty line. We’ve got current and ex-addicts and it’s beautiful seeing someone about to fly off to a business meeting in Japan sitting next to someone who’s two weeks sober.”
The congregation is made up of around 45 nationalities, with Kenya, Nigeria, Mozambique, Canada and America among the countries represented. The multicultural nature of the church came into sharp focus for Mike and Beki after the killing of George Floyd soon after they moved to Luton.
“We were really impacted by this as a church because many of our members were affected,” says Mike.
“We wanted to face this head-on, so we ran justice and race forums online, creating safe spaces to talk, and we looked at race in the community and in our kids’ and youth work and spiritual oversight.”
RETHINK
The couple were soon challenged to rethink their approach to inclusivity in their international congregation.
“We learned from people who’d been attending the church for many years that while we’re multicultural, they didn’t necessarily all feel like they belonged. That’s bad because one of our tag lines is ‘a place to belong’,” says Mike.
Beki explains one issue they discovered: while the church is home to children from many different backgrounds and cultures, most of the materials, Bible illustrations and toys were white representation only.
“One parent told us their children couldn’t relate to the stories we were showing them,” she says.
Quickly, the church adapted, buying dolls, toys and Bible illustrations to represent people of colour. And even where the worship team has musicians and singers from diverse backgrounds, the team are still allowing themselves to be challenged, so music keeps widening to reflect the people of LCF.
The whole church is now trying to ensure that LCF’s multicultural background is naturally reflected in every area of church life.
“We thought we were doing a good job because once a year we have a multicultural Sunday where everyone brings their national dishes and comes in national dress. Now, the heart of our church is that we carry those things through naturally, day-to-day, to represent all the different cultures,” says Beki.
Another priority for the couple is the church’s community outreach. Their predecessors Alan West and Rob Boyle did much to establish youthwork and support for people living in poverty or coping with homelessness. Mike and Beki are keen to build on their legacy.
From Direction Magazine issue 235
