'Don't be a stranger to migrants,' churches told

|PIC1|From Tongan rugby players in Wales to a Vietnamese boat person turned doctor in Norfolk, migrants’ stories will be featured through a special photographic exhibition challenging Christians to show Christmas spirit to strangers.

The Evangelical Alliance’s annual Temple Address event will be taking place on 27 November, with the Archbishop of York as the guest speaker.

The evening, which will be attended by MPs, senior media figures, religious leaders and experts working in the field of migration, will also mark the launch of the Alliance’s ‘Don’t be a Stranger’ campaign and photographic exhibition.

The exhibition, and accompanying booklet and website, showcases the excellent work Christians in the UK are carrying out with migrants and people seeking asylum.

"Jesus doesn’t ask us just to love those we would naturally share Christmas dinner with,” says Dr R David Muir, Executive Director, Public Policy for the Evangelical Alliance.

“Instead, he challenges us to re-evaluate who our neighbours are and to welcome those we consider to be strangers.

“Our campaign seeks to commend those who are already doing this and to call on others to follow their example. Inviting someone you don’t know to your home for a meal is a great way to build community, and we call on everyone – no matter your background – to give this a try this Christmas.”

Dr Muir is inviting members of the public to illustrate this by sending pictures and stories of friendships to add to the exhibition, which will tour the UK as part of the ‘Don’t be a Stranger’ campaign.

The Rev Arlington Trotman is Moderator of the Churches’ Commission for Migrants in Europe, the ecumenical agency on migration and integration, asylum and refugee issues. He himself is a migrant, having arrived in Britain from Barbados in 1970.

“One of the things individual Christians can do is just say hello, just get to meet the person who might appear to be a stranger,” he said.

“When people come in to your churches, there is a fundamentally theological responsibility we have – not just to welcome by saying that word but actually making people feel part and parcel of the community.

“People who are migrants make substantial contributions to the economic, religious, political and cultural life in Britain and Ireland.”

The migrants featured in the exhibition speak poignantly about being assisted by local churches. The Reverend Irfan John and his family were granted asylum in May 2006 after fleeing persecution in Pakistan. He lives in Cardiff and is employed by the Methodist Church in Wales to work with ethnic minority congregations.

“We have been welcomed very warmly by the church,” he said.

“I believe that due to problems with language it is sometimes difficult, but as Christians we all know one language, the language of love.”

The Evangelical Alliance is an “Alltogether” movement of Christian organisations, churches and individuals uniting to change society. The Alliance works together on strategic issues of national importance, while also promoting and supporting one another’s work.

On the web: www.nostrangers.org.uk