Churches welcome Syrian refugees

CHURCHES are offering to take in 500 refugees as part of efforts to resettle Christian refugees in the UK.

Canon Dr Chris Sugden of the Oxford Centre for Religion and Public Life, is asking church members to welcome refugees into their homes.

Alan Lee at Barnabas Fund, who is co-ordinating the database of churches signing up to the refugee rehousing scheme, told The Church of England Newspaper of the ‘tremendous outpouring’ from churches in response to the resettling initiative.

“We have a backlog of people who have been offering support before the initiative went out. We haven’t been able to get through all the responses. One church said they can take in 500 people,” he commented.

Calls for a response to the refugee crisis, which has seen thousands displaced from their homes, intensified last week after a picture of a young refugee boy washed ashore dominated the front pages worldwide.

Rallying a response from churches, Chris Sugden said: “In Iceland, the Government offered initially 50 places for refugees.

A Facebook page was set up and in two days 11,000 places were offered in people’s homes. The Government then made more offers available.”

The database will be presented to the Government and heads of the Church of England, in a bid to strengthen UK engagement with the humanitarian crisis.

Commenting on the ongoing migrant crisis, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev Justin Welby, called the humanitarian situation a ‘wicked crisis’.

“My prayers are with those under immense pressure to develop an equitable response,” he said.

Prime Minister David Cameron issued a response to the refugee crisis, as neighbouring EU countries relaxed their asylum controls for migrant entry.

In a House of Commons statement on Monday, Cameron cited the Archbishop of Canterbury’s statement as he announced plans to accept 20,000 refugees from Syria by 2020.

Chief Executive of The Children’s Society, Matthew Reed, called the Prime Minister’s announcement ‘long overdue’.

“The Government must give serious thought to what happens when these visas expire, as it is crucial their long-term needs are addressed. Many of these children will be here on their own or orphaned with no links to family in Syria,” he said.

In his statement, the Archbishop commended George Osborne’s redirection of the UK’s aid budget to help councils house refugees and urged a continued, humanitarian and practical response.

“We cannot turn our backs on this crisis. We must respond with compassion. But we must also not be naïve in claiming to have the answers to end it. It requires a pan-European response – which means a commitment to serious-minded diplomatic and political debate, but not at the expense of practical action that meets the immediate needs of those most in need of our help,” he said.

General Bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the UK, His Grace Bishop Angaelos, issued a statement calling the picture of the young boy lying on a Turkish beach a ‘gruesome optic’, which may have ‘desensitised some’.

He said that ‘ caution must be exercised’ while ‘radical elements’ are ‘seeking to destabalise’, though adding ‘ that caution should not mean a blanket rejection of the vast majority of those coming who are genuinely seeking safety for themselves and their families.’

The Bishop chided the media for its ‘abrasive rhetoric’ lending itself to the ‘constant dehumanising of people’.

Archbishop John Sentamu described himself as ‘ a former Sanctuary seeker’ from former President Idi Amin’s Uganda.

“This is not hypothetical rhetoric. I have lived and experienced those virtues time and again during my 41 years.

“This spirit of openness, generosity and welcome is something we have seen before as a nation.

“The begrudging grant of an entry visa is not the same as a warm embrace. As a nation we must not only welcome more people but we should also be more welcoming as a people. My own life is testimony that this country is more than able to do both,” he said.

The Bishop of Manchester, the Rt Rev David Walker, said ‘charities and churches in the UK’ are standing with ‘their counterparts in Germany.

Writing in The Times he said: “Charities and churches in the UK stand as ready as their counterparts in Germany and elsewhere to play a proper part in helping assimilate an equitable and realistic number of refugees into Britain. We did so with past crises in Vietnam and Uganda; we can do it again. We call on political leaders of all persuasions to seize the moment, and work with us so that Britain once again becomes a haven for those for whom life has become a hell.”

General Director of the Evangelical Alliance, Steve Clifford issued a statement saying that while many may not agree on the best solution, the gravity of the situation ‘demands our attention.’

The Evangelical Alliance wrote to all churches urging a fivefold response, to pray, give funds, open shelters, act and write to MPs for increased support for refugees.

“The Church is passionate about helping those in greatest need, and this is an opportunity to put that passion into action. We also want to pray for wisdom and compassion as the government takes decisions about welcoming refugees into the UK, as well as addressing the significant underlying challenges across the globe,” said Clifford.

In a statement, the Bishop of Ely, the Rt Rev Stephen Conway, said we have a ‘responsibility to share the burden’ of European countries taking in refugees.

“Britain must participate fully in a European welcome for those who are vulnerable and fleeing violence and oppression,” he said.