Asylum seekers are coming to your church. Here are 6 ways to help them

The numbers of asylum seekers turning to churches for help is rising fast, says Rev Dr Malcolm Patten. Here’s how church leaders can wisely help them find or continue in their Christian faith

Nobody could fail to be horrified at the chemical attack on a mother and her two children on January 31 in London. The accused, Abdul Shokoor Ezedi, who was granted asylum in 2020 on the basis of his conversion to Christianity, is still being sought by police. Meanwhile, former Home Secretary, Suella Braverman has pointed to church leaders, accusing them of aiding bogus asylum claims on an “industrial scale”.

Those of us who work with asylum seekers know all too well the concerns that such people may attempt to game the system. But there is another side to the story. Asylum seekers from countries such as Afghanistan and Iran are fleeing regimes in which they have faced oppression and, though people of faith, are rejecting the extreme form of Islam which they have suffered under.