The idea for Welcoming International Neighbors (WIN) began with Mark Szymanski, former leader of Mesa Global’s North America region. At the time, Mark saw a growing reality—people from all over the world were arriving in the United States and Canada at remarkable rates. Many came from places with little to no access to the gospel, from ethnolinguistic groups that were 2% Christian or less.
And yet, they were settling in cities and neighborhoods where churches stood on nearly every corner.
As Mark reflected on this, a simple but weighty question took shape:
Who better to welcome new neighbors than the local church?
And just as importantly:
Who could help the church learn how to do that well?
Out of those questions, Welcoming International Neighbors—WIN—was born.
With the help of others at Mesa Global, Mark and the early team began shaping a training designed not just to inform, but to equip. They considered what it feels like to enter an entirely new environment—new rhythms, new expectations, unfamiliar ways of life—and asked: What does it look like for a church to respond with intentional, relational welcome?
What does it look like to make space at the table?
At its core, WIN is simple. It helps churches move toward people—not just through programs or resources, but through open homes, shared meals, consistent presence, and genuine friendship. It invites believers to practice hospitality in ways that are intentional, repeatable, and rooted in relationship—creating spaces where new neighbors are not just welcomed, but known.
The first WIN training took place at Mesa Global’s home office in Charlotte in 2022. It was small. It was local. But it was never meant to stay that way.
Since then, the training has been shared and reshared—twice in Philadelphia, once in San Francisco, and once in Tulsa. Each time, churches gather not just to receive information, but to learn from one another—sharing stories, challenges, and practices already taking shape around their own tables and in their communities.
In that sense, WIN has become more than a training. It has become a shared learning process.
At every gathering, something is passed on. Not just content, but perspective. Not just strategy, but posture. People leave not only with ideas, but with something they can carry back to their churches—something they can begin to practice, adapt, and share again, one table at a time.
This is how multiplication happens.
It begins with something simple enough to share—an idea, a model, a way of engaging others. From there, it moves from one church to another, from one leader to another. Over time, what began as a single insight becomes a shared practice—spreading from table to table, community to community.
Welcoming International Neighbors reflects how Mesa Global approaches training as a whole. We respond to needs as we see them. We create tools meant to be shared, not held. And as churches step in and begin practicing these rhythms, we continue learning together—refining and strengthening what’s being passed on.
Because in the end, the goal isn’t just to host more trainings.
It’s to see more churches equipped, more leaders engaged, and more communities shaped by the kind of biblical hospitality that opens homes, fills tables, and can be learned, practiced, and multiplied.
