global welcome ministry
Upcoming Events
Serve + Learn
Resources
Welcome!
This group was started in 2018 and our purpose is to serve international communities in Central Wisconsin by being a welcoming and hospitable body of Christ-followers to those from different language and cultural backgrounds.
The best way to stay in the know is to subscribe to our newsletter below!
Learn More
Although we do not have the ethnic diversity of a major city, we have a number of important international communities in our area that have motivated us to be better welcomers and community partners. For example, there are 200 Hmong families in the Stevens Point Area and approximately 100 international students at UWSP. Some of our larger businesses bring international professional workers for months or years and there are seasonal migrant workers as well. In a world of increased migration, the trend is towards more diversity in our area. The latest example is, of course, the arrival of refugees to Central Wisconsin from Afghanistan and from several other countries including Syria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Woodlands has an official resettlement team helping a large Congolese family. And the Congolese community is growing with most of them interested in attending Woodlands Church!
At this time, our Global Welcome Ministry focuses on finding and sharing needs through a newsletter. We have engaged with such things as the Annual Hmong Week or helping Hmong children with their homework, being a friendship family for an international student or supporting InterVarsity’s biweekly Tea & Talk, volunteering at the Annual Portage County Cultural Festival or tutoring English learners at the Portage County Literacy Council.
One fun way to reach out to our local international communities is to find a favorite ethnic restaurant and make friends with the staff there. Check the resources section on this page for a list of local ethnic restaurants to explore and make new international friends.
Global Welcome Overview Video
Upcoming Events
Welcome Picnic BCT-Dells
Wednesday | June 17 | 5-8PM
Volunteer to help with a welcome picnic for hundreds of new J-1 international students arriving to work at the Wisconsin Dells again this summer. These annual picnics are hosted by Bridging Cultures Together (BCT) which is part of the Woodlands supported ministry of Zak & Becky Alwin with CRU. This year’s party will happen at Bowman Park, 727 Broadway, Wisconsin Dells.
When we go, we can also help with food donations: side salads (pasta, macaroni, rice & bean or veggie type salad). These can be put in large tin foil disposable containers (so Becky doesn’t lose or break pans or bowls).
Like last year, they expect 400+ students to attend and there will be opportunities to bless and connect with them relationally and conversationally. The more church volunteers the better! Becky says that “over and over again they see that the students they make a personal connection with, they are the ones who will come to our faith-based activities and engage in spiritual discussions later on”.
Contact Gordon Williams if you are interested (817-823-1898, globalwelcome@woodlandschurch.
2026 World Refugee Day - Celebrating Courage
Saturday | June 20
There will be no public event in Stevens Point this year but only an event for the refugees themselves. But please pray for the refugees in our community and any other refugees you know. Thank the Lord for their courage to make the long journey to our area. Pray for their ongoing integration by learning English, finding jobs, managing finances, doing well in school, etc. Pray also that they may also encounter Jesus while they are here and maybe God will even use one of us for that!
Service + Educational Opportunities
Helping Resettle Refugees
Woodlands Church has a Refugee Resettlement Team which is supporting a newly arrived refugee family for their first nine months in Central Wisconsin. We met our family in Jan 2022 when they arrived from their refugee camp, took them to their furnished home, helped them learn about life in their new country, transported them to appointments, helped them find jobs, enrolled them in schools, helped them learn English, and more. Most of these things are ongoing. We have welcomed them, loved them, and been their neighbor in Jesus’ name.
Immigrant Hope - A Key Partner
RESOURCES
Foreign Language Bibles
If you are aware of attenders or guests at Woodlands who would benefit from a Bible in their own language, you can help them access online Bibles & Scripture resources in well over 2,400 languages HERE. We also have physical Bibles we can make available in White Hmong, Swahili, Chinese, Spanish, Arabic, and Japanese. Please contact Gordon Williams by emailing globalwelcome@woodlandschurch.org. Another source of Bibles and Christian literature in many languages can be found at www.multilanguagemedia.org.
Educational Resources
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God’s Heart for the Foreigner – video
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What is a UPG? (unreached people group) Learn about the UPG mission strategy and about the 350 such groups in the USA!
- Forcibly Displaced People – Lausanne Occasional Paper
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Forcibly Displaced People in the Bible – see how common this is in Scripture!
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All about Afghans – 2 pages of the essentials
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Congolese Backgrounder – cultural overview of refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and their integration into US culture.
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Strangers In Town – A 30 minute documentary looking at what happened in a small town in Kansas (Garden City) as it started to absorb a huge number of immigrants and refugees when large meat packing plants opened nearby. It shows the positive side of neighbors reaching out and the hard-working, entrepreneurial spirit of the “new americans” who came.
Ethnic Restaurants in Portage County
Make friends and enjoy world cuisines at these international restaurants in our neighborhood! Yummy!
See list
Make friends and enjoy world cuisines at these international restaurants in our region!
Afghan Kabul Cuisine – Afghan food truck and catering (see note at bottom*)
608-722-0566, www.afghankabulcuisine.com
Bamboo House – Asian bistro, Sushi & Grill
3012 Village Park Dr., Plover
Boriken Mart – Puerto Rican
514 Fulton, St Wausau
BroKogi – Korean fusion
108 Division St. Stevens Point
Chef Chu’s – Chinese
5720 Windy Dr. ste A, Stevens Point
China Wok – Chinese
135 Division St. N #6, Stevens Point
El Mezcal – Mexican
5741 Suite E, Windy Dr., Stevens Point
El Molcajete Mexican Grill – Mexican
1160 Meridian Dr., Plover
Yum House
2824 Stanley St. Stevens Point
Matsu Ya Sushi Bar & Grill – Japanese
5725 Windy Dr, Stevens Point
Mykenos Mediterranean Grill – Greek, Mediterranean
3001 Rib Mountain Dr Ste E, Wausau
Oishii Ramen – Japanese
2105 N 2nd St, Wausau
Polonia Café – Polish American
7419 County Road Z, Custer
Ranchitos Perez – Mexican
3462 Church St., Stevens Point
Rock-N-Roll Café – Mexican/American
2801 Stanley St., Stevens Point
Royal Deli – Vietnamese, Thai
7120 Merrill Ave Wausau
Samoeun’s Happy Wok – Cambodian
1540 Plover Rd., Plover
Tokyo Steak House – Japanese
1617 Academy Ave., Stevens Point
Tulum Restaurant & Grill – Mexican
3066 Village Park Dr., Plover
Vietnamese Restaurant (& Point Market)
3511 Church St., Stevens Point
NEW Zaika Gourmet India – Indian
151522 County Rd NN, Wausau
*NEW: “Afghan Kabul Cuisine”
Bakht Mohammad, an Afghan soldier who fought for the US Army, brings his experience as a chef in Afghanistan to his new business here in the US. On Saturday, Nov. 09, 2024 at Iverson Park, he officially launched his new food truck and catering business by serving free food to 500+ guests. He offers services in both Stevens Point and Madison. You will see his food truck around the area at special events and markets serving Afghan flatbread, beef Chapli kebab, and the national dish, Kabuli pulao. You can contact Afghan Kabul Cuisine at 608-722-0566 or go to their website at www.afghankabulcuisine.com.
Annotated Bibliography
Start your journey into the world of immigration, refugees, international students, and other cultures and languages by reading one or more of the books linked below. Whether you’re new to this migrating world or an old-hand at working cross-culturally, these books will equip you in this ministry of hospitality.