Ministry Trainee/Intern

Tower Hamlets in East London is home to over 100,000 people with a Sylheti Bangladeshi background. We long to see a vibrant gathering of Jesus the Messiah's disciples from a Sylheti background established in Tower Hamlets and united with other believers. Therefore, we prayerfully together speak about Jesus the Messiah with Sylheti people.

"Asha" means "hope" in Sylheti and since autumn 2021 we have been meeting on Sunday afternoons, with our meetings operating in both English and Sylheti-languages. We teach through books of the Bible, from the front and in discussion groups, offering hope that can only be found in Jesus. There are currently 25-30 of us from all different backgrounds meeting together on Sundays.

Throughout the week we aim to look for opportunities to offer this hope too. For example, we have an arts and crafts drop in for women, ESOL teaching, book tables, Facebook outreach, visiting homes and businesses, and organising tours of the British Museum. We serve in our bookshop and library, and simply hang out in the community. We do so in partnership with other churches in Tower Hamlets (such as Tower Hamlets Community Church and East London Tabernacle), as well as churches outside the borough (such as St Helen's Bishopsgate in the City of London), and with other Christian organisations (such as London City Mission and Mahabba).

We would love to have a couple of interns join us in this work and to train them in cross-cultural ministry. Knowledge of Sylheti language is not required, not least because we would love to be more involved among second- and third-generation Sylheti people for whom English is their first language.

An intern will need to raise financial support for their time with us, but Asha will provide accommodation and training (in-house and through the Cornhill Training Scheme), as well as help with fund-raising. We will also provide pastoral support and oversight. This will generally be through being part of the team, as well as having a more mature team member specifically assigned to this role.

Required Skills

Any intern will need to be willing to integrate fully into Asha, its team and community work; to be organised, punctual and flexible; and always willing to listen and able to say no with grace.

Experience of cross-cultural work generally or among Bangladeshi people specifically would be great, but not essential. Experience of teaching the Bible in some capacity is necessary.