Last week, we marked Refugee Week: a good prompt to remind us that many in our midst, in our churches and neighbourhoods were born in other parts of the world. Whilst some have had to flee their homes and countries, and now carry the label “refugee” or “asylum seeker”, nobody chooses to become a displaced person.
In the kingdom of God, and in our local churches, we recognise that all are made in the image of God, all are part of our community and can contribute, no matter what label we wear and where our earthly home is or was.
That is what this Refugee Week 2025 aims to highlight, with it’s tagline “Community as a Superpower”.
We’re proud that in parish settings across the Diocese, so many churches are doing all they can to support asylum seekers and refugees, whether because they are neighbours locally or as members of their own church community.
One way we remember refugees in our midst is through those who actually host in their home, through our diocesan partnership with Housing Justice’s Hosting Project.
What does “Hosting” mean?
Hosting others in your home is part of the superpower of community! Offering a place of safety is an incredibly powerful way to help transform someone’s journey to settled status in the UK.
Hosting offers a lifeline to people seeking sanctuary and vulnerable migrants who have no safe housing options, many of whom have no recourse to public funds and have no right to work. Without hosting, individuals may otherwise be rough-sleeping or forced into exploitative situations.
This week, Bishop Anderson went to visit one member of his Edmonton clergy, Father Ben Kerridge, who has been hosting with Housing Justice for eight years.
In that time has shared his home with five guests, for a few weeks or a few months at a time. He is currently hosting M, who is originally from Ghana.
Anderson, Ben and his guest M shared lunch and stories; and later Ben shared a little of his experience of hosting with Anderson.
Ben is one of a number of people across the Diocese who are hosting.
Earlier this month Bishop Emma went to visit a different hosting setting in the Kensington Area: a community house for young people, and heard from both host and guests (you can read more about this here).
What does hosting involve?
- The Housing Justice scheme provides Ben initially with careful matching with a guest, who he welcomes for between 3 and 12 months, and offers a spare room.
- During this time, the Housing Justice Hosting team provides support hosts like Ben, including training, regular reviews, and offers opportunities to connect with other hosts.
- The Hosting team also work alongside guests to address the systemic barriers they face, including navigating the UK immigration system, which can be hostile and isolating.
Beyond offering an accommodation solution, hosting strengthens communities.
Hosts and guests often form meaningful and enriching relationships, with opportunities for cultural exchange and mutual learning.
More than anything, hosting is not a project or something you do “to” someone; it’s simply an extension (for those who are able and have a spare room), of a our shared common life and a chance to practice Christian hospitality. It is about ‘entertaining angels without knowing it’ (Hebrews 3 v 12).
As +Anderson reflected after his visit:
“No one chooses to be a refugee. This status is tragically forced upon individuals and communities. They are pushed from their homes, separated from their families, and stripped of their belongings, forced to seek safety far from all they know.
This is a journey started not by choice, but by the actions of others. It’s a vulnerability any of us could one day face. Our Christian faith is built on a long history of providing sanctuary. The bible commands us to show compassion to the stranger, and in the Gospel of Matthew (25:35-36), Jesus tells us that when we welcome the stranger, we welcome him.
This ‘Refugee Week’ let’s move past the term ‘refugee’, see the face of God in those who come to us for protection and build a community of love.”
