I supported the small but lively Nether Green Methodist congregation in Sheffield as they engaged with the Church of Sanctuary process. This involved a consideration of their good work of including in their worship and witness people seeking sanctuary, and those with refugee status who have revitalised the life of the congregation. The congregation devoted several Sunday services to the theme of sanctuary as developed in my book Hospitality and Sanctuary for All. From the book they used biblical reflections, stories, prayers and suggested hymns. The heart of the process was the congregation working together to learn about their new members by listening to their stories, supporting them as they navigate the quagmire of legislation and policies, providing welcome and protective hospitality, and doing all this with pride as part of their Christian discipleship. The church was awarded ‘Church of Sanctuary’ status in February 2025.
Refugee Week and Sanctuary Sunday 2024 included the news that Norwich Cathedral has received the Church of Sanctuary recognition. The Cathedral has an ongoing ethos of welcome and works closely with Norwich City of Sanctuary and local charities working alongside refugees and people seeking sanctuary in Norwich. For example, the Cathedral works with refugee families through the local Hope in Action project, and supports work with those who find themselves without a home to call their own. The work of the Cathedral with the charity English + is another good example of how an organisation can support refugees and people seeking sanctuary welcoming them into the Cathedral community on a regular basis.
There are simple guidelines and criteria for the Church of Sanctuary process and application. A growing number of churches have undertaken this process, and are now certified as Church of Sanctuary. These include a group of five churches of different denominations in Lichfield who worked together ecumenically in this work; the Brighton and Hove Methodist Circuit; Six Ways Baptist Church, Erdington, Birmingham; Nailsea Methodist Church; St Chads Church, Bristol; Dublin Central Mission; Victoria Hall Methodist Church, Sheffield; Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin; Derby Cathedral and Chester Cathedral. The number is growing, and there are now too many to mention in one article. And there are many more engaged with the process, like St Andrews United Reform Church in Sheffield.
I continue to work with Churches Together in Britain and Ireland, City of Sanctuary, and ecumenically with church partners to develop and promote Church of Sanctuary, encouraging Churches of all denominations to build cultures of welcome and hospitality and sanctuary for vulnerable people, especially people seeking sanctuary and those who are refugees.
The challenge is to go beyond welcome to take steps to build protective hospitality in ways that are mutually enriching, and to support churches to stand up, speak up and speak out for truth and justice in immigration policy and practice. We all have a voice and a part to play. The vision is to have churches working together, congregations working together, building a movement that speaks truth to power alongside those who feel powerless. The most repeated biblical ethical command is to “also love the stranger as yourself”, see the image of God in those who are different.
We can engage with local sanctuary initiatives, and link up with the City of Sanctuary network and movement. I would like to see every University becoming a University of Sanctuary, every Church becoming a Church of Sanctuary, every Mosque, Gurdwara, Mandir, Synagogue and Vihara becoming a Faith Place of Sanctuary.
A third of our universities are now Universities of Sanctuary. There are many Local Authorities of sanctuary. There are hundreds of Schools of Sanctuary with fifty in Birmingham alone, there are Libraries, Theatres, Maternity Wards, Gardens of Sanctuary.
What about Churches of Sanctuary? A Churches Together in Britain and Ireland conference on Church of Sanctuary was held in Carrs Lane Church Centre, Birmingham last June. It brought together many local organisations working in partnership with refugees, including Churches Together in England. Speakers included Bishop Rose Hudson Wilkins, Bishop Mike Royal, Professor Robert Beckford, Dr Nicola Brady, Dr Jayme Reaves and myself. People with lived refugee experience shared in the planning stages, and in the voices heard at the conference. The conference endorsed and gave a strong push to the Church of Sanctuary work and movement.
A movement is built on the strength of working together around a common cause and idea. It is composed of shared enterprise and collective action in which people work together for justice and the fulness of life. The lead here is taken by people at grassroots level who act for social change, and that’s you and me.
We can imagine a Church of Sanctuary movement around many local church members and congregations wanting to extend and express hospitality and sanctuary to people suffering the vileness of hatred and hostility.
The growing support for initiatives like City of Sanctuary, networking with refugee organisations, universities, schools, libraries, churches and faith centres across all faiths, shows that the majority of people in Britain and Ireland are opposed to hatred and hostility. We want to learn and live by facts not fiction, and support building cultures of welcome and hospitality for people fleeing danger to their lives seeking safety. This reflects a desire to build the sanctuary network, and calls for safe routes for people fleeing danger to their lives. Congregations can help to grow and build this work and network by taking up the Church of Sanctuary process.
Church of Sanctuary is not a campaigning political movement, but it supports people in political advocacy and engaging with MPs. It is a biblically inspired initiative, it is about being prophetic, challenging hostility with hospitality. This can mean we become political, and this is in keeping with the style of biblical prophets, speaking truth to power with passion and compassion, seeking justice.
Church of Sanctuary is not about opening up buildings for people to live in. It is about building communities of hospitality and sanctuary. Human warmth and welcome are the sanctuary we all hold and bring into relationships.
The Church of Sanctuary networks and movement is a constructive contribution to open, honest and informed conversations on immigration, challenging racist rhetoric and behaviour. It includes repentance of our complicity with hurtful immigration policies and practice; to work with government to building fair and humane policies; to work at and uphold justice based biblical theology; to strengthen our resolve to teach and preach on inclusion and sanctuary; and to grow our commitment to build cultures of welcome, protective hospitality and sanctuary.
Inderjit Bhogal
This is an updated version of the article first published in the Methodist Recorder.