Did you know that over one hundred churches across the Diocese of London are involved in compassionate ministries to welcome refugees and people seeking asylum? (see our latest map)
The theme for Refugee Week 2024 is ‘Our Home’. Home can be more than one place and finding it can be a journey, as it is for so many people who have had to leave their countries and rebuild their lives.
If you would like to explore how you could host a refugee or asylum seeker, you can join us on Wednesday 19 June online for our lunchtime webinar.
This Refugee Week we celebrate the church communities across the Diocese who offer care and welcome to refugees and those seeking asylum. Churches and chaplaincies are providing material, social or spiritual support in many different ways. Whether hosting a day centre for asylum seekers, English classes, or a meal with a Bible study. Or sponsoring a refugee family to come to the UK, hosting refugees, or visiting those in detention.
We asked some of our clergy what supporting refugees and people seeking asylum has meant for their church community over the past year:
“It’s hard to overstate the positive impact it has had on the life of the church. We have been moved by individual stories, enriched as we’ve learnt from our new friends and deeply encouraged by an openness and desire to know more about Christ. It has also brought us closer to our local community as we work together to practically support refugees and people seeking asylum.”
Clergy, West London Church
Another member of clergy tells us that their work with asylum seekers is in part inspired by Psalm 68:6:
“God sets the solitary in families, he leads out the prisoners with singing.”
Their focus as a church on welcoming the newcomer, and loving people has brought them closer to each other. Recently they were reminded of the second part of the verse – ‘he leads out the prisoners with singing’- when one of the asylum seekers in their community shared that coming to church for the first time and finally being able to sing freely was a special and powerful experience.
This Refugee Week we celebrate and pray especially for refugees in London, and our churches and chaplaincies who have the joy of welcoming them.
If you would like to consider starting something in your church, the Compassionate Communities team would love to hear from you! We have a wealth of resources available on this website, or we can visit your church to see what God is doing, listen, learn and advise.
If you would like to explore how you could host a refugee or asylum seeker through hosting, or becoming a resident landlord, you can join us on Wednesday 19 June at 1 – 2pm online for our lunchtime webinar. You can find more details and sign up here.
If you are doing something which isn’t yet on our map, then please get in touch with Pattie in the Compassionate Communities Team and we can add you!
© Images by Brendan Foster Photography
