More than 120 ‘wogs and people who love them’ gathered for the first annual Wogs for Christ conference.

The conference was run by Wogs for Christ, a non-denominational ministry linked to MBM Anglican Rooty Hill. It was designed as a vehicle to bring together not just wogs, but people from many different cultures to hear the Bible in a culturally relevant way.

“People from about 20 cultures gathered to hear God’s word, celebrate diversity in unity, eat really well, praise God, and laugh a lot,” said MBM senior minister the Rev Ray Galea.

The group has four main goals says Mr Galea: “We want to help strengthen the faith of wogs and connect them with others of a similar background, we also want to share Christ with wogs who may have experienced religion but not relationship with the Lord Jesus. We want to help wogs identify their unique sins and struggles and address them with the word of God and we want to encourage church plants which will reach out to wogs and those who love them.”

The conference held at the Rooty Hill church included seminars and talks from “respected wog preachers” on a variety of issues including ‘Superstitions and Wogs’ and ‘Living in a mixed marriage’.

“This conference functions to reach out to Mediterranean and Middle Eastern people, as well as South Americans,” Mr Galea said. “We want it to be the base of growing ethnic ministries in Aussie churches. Most churches usually have 3 or 4 wogs but they often find it hard to bring their relatives to church and they don’t connect culturally.

“Wogs for Christ functions as a place to bring friends and family as a first step which can be followed by a bible study in their own church.”

Mr Galea points out that the term ‘wog’ can actually be helpful for ministry.

“It’s a useful and provocative term to draw a circle around many cultures,” he said. “What was once a painful word to many of us becomes a tool to bring us together in Christ.”

Despite it’s name Wogs for Christ is not an exclusive ministry, aiming to be as inclusive as possible.

“What I loved the most was having one Aussie lady in my church say she ‘loved it so much’, this meant that no one was excluded,” Mr Galea said.

At the 2011 Synod held last month, churches heard about the need for cross-cultural ministry as Sydney becomes more and more multi-cultural.

“The reason why God has brought the nations into our backyard is so they can reach out to him and find him,” Mr Galea said at the recent Oxygen conference. “We get the opportunity to introduce Jesus to people from cultures [where he is off limits]. This is the mindset we need to focus on and allow the congregation to look differently at the people around them.”