*Sydney airport
Immigration is a prominent and integral aspect of our global society, yet it remains a deeply contentious and polarising issue.
Countries are struggling to manage their borders as people take dangerous and irregular paths to cross them. Many believe that immigration needs to be reduced or restricted, leading to protests and counter-protests in various nations. Concerns are also rising about the rapid cultural and societal changes immigration can bring.
Recent conflicts in Afghanistan and Syria, along with ongoing crises in Ukraine and Gaza, have resulted in a surge of migration from these regions, as well as from various countries across Africa and Asia. According to the UNHCR, over 117 million people worldwide are forcibly displaced and seek safer places just to survive.
We could agree that some concerns about immigration are valid. However, our experience has led us to believe that the core issue is not immigration itself, but rather the challenges immigrants face in integrating into their new societies. There is often confusion between assimilation and integration, and many Australians feel that multiculturalism is failing.
Recent concerns have emerged regarding the influence of foreign nations within Australian diaspora communities. There is growing anxiety that these external influences might foster extremist ideological sympathies among some immigrant communities. There is also a broader worry about how the arrival of immigrants from various conflict zones might bring with them ideologies that are at odds with Australian values.
The rising tensions surrounding immigration are generating fear and division within communities. This presents a significant opportunity for the Australian Church to make a meaningful impact.
The Church can play a crucial role in bridging divides by actively supporting and welcoming new immigrants. By engaging directly with immigrant communities, the Church can help to alleviate fears and build understanding. Its involvement can demonstrate that the real challenge is not immigration itself, but rather the process of integration.
As Galatians 3:28 says, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
In Christ, there should be no divisions based on ethnicity, social status, or gender. The Church has the potential to demonstrate unity and inclusion, helping to bridge divides and support immigrants in new communities. If the church engages with and supports newly arrived refugees and asylum seekers, it can prove that the real crisis lies in integration, not immigration.
Philoi Global supports local churches through Churches in Cultural Transition (CCT) training :
Churches in Cultural Transition (CCT) is a Training process designed for host community churches to support the integration of displaced Christians. Many of these Christians come from backgrounds where traditional church buildings and programmes are nonexistent, attending church could be life-threatening, or their cultural expressions of faith and worship differ from Western traditional church practices. CCT helps host churches understand and address these sensitivities, ensuring that both the church and the refugees can flourish and thrive in their spiritual and communal lives.
If you’re interested in CCT Training, which is designed to help your church support the integration of displaced Christians, please reach out to us via the ‘Contact Us’ button above. We’d be delighted to discuss this further with you.
WAYS YOU CAN HELP:
$75 can provide a refugee family with emergency food rations, covering their basic needs.
$50 can fund a month’s worth of school fees or supply a school pack for a refugee child.
$150 can assist a refugee family with rent or cover medical expenses.
$9,000 can support a refugee family’s resettlement application or cover flights to a safer location in their home country.
Reach out to us for more information or any questions you may have. To give, click here.