The Australian Churches Refugee Taskforce

For broadcast on 2CH Sydney, 7 July 2013.

The increase of boat arrivals of asylum seekers, and the political debate on immigration policy, prompted the establishment of an Australian Churches Refugee Taskforce earlier this year.  It is good to finally have the churches speaking with one voice on this controversial issue.

The Taskforce supports Christians and church leaders who are advocating for or providing sustenance to asylum seekers and refugees.  There’s a website, acrt.com.au, with a directory of services and initiatives provided by churches, congregations and church agencies to help people who seek shelter on our shores – whether by air or sea.

Christians in Australia are working hard, often behind the scenes, to advocate for just and humane policies on immigration and asylum seekers.  It is a vitally important Christian humanitarian work, largely by ordinary people in local churches, who have a heart for displaced people and a desire to serve them with Christian compassion and grace.

I’m Rod Benson for the NSW Council of Churches.