UKHK, a Welcome Churches project, was started in early 2021 to support and equip churches across the UK to welcome incoming BN(O) visa holders and their families from Hong Kong. This small project soon snowballed into a movement where more than 1,000 member churches and other Christian organisations came together to support Hongkongers by providing services, resources and friendship.
Apart from connecting those who need a friend in the UK with churches and their volunteers, UKHK also developed many resources and hosted different events, like the Welcome Course, the Wellbeing videos, the Skills-to-Work series and the Friendship Festivals, to help Hongkongers to connect with churches and different Hongkonger-supporting organisations and services. From 2021 to July 2023, over 60,000 people have benefited from our work and have settled down more quickly in the UK because of UKHK.
One of the Welcome Course church organisers from Glasgow shared with us the stories about the great friendship the Hongkongers built with them. The Hongkongers, along with participants from other countries, now have weekly meetings at the church to practise English conversations. They also became part of the church community and volunteered at church activities.
Photo by Erika Giraud on Unsplash. The picture shown here is a general representation and has no connection to the church nor the individual in the story.
“It's wonderful to join KCC (King’s Community Church), because I can make more friends here, and I can settle in the UK more easily.
As a welcome church embracing a wide spectrum of cultures and languages, we Hong Kongers have found KCC our home to be blessed and to bring blessing to many others both within and beyond the church community.”
From a Hongkonger welcomed by KCC, Southampton
At Welcome Churches we have heard many similar stories of Hongkongers being welcomed in the UK, and how many of us have settled much quicker in our new home as we have been helped to connect with local people and organisations. We hope that more newly-arrived people - be they Hongkongers or people from other parts of the world - will have the same opportunities. We are therefore looking for friends and partners who can support this work, and Welcome Churches’ wider work, financially to help more people get this opportunity to be welcomed and connected.
Would you consider a regular gift of £8 per month to Welcome Churches, in order to help us to welcome more people from Hong Kong and other countries to the UK?