There were various opportunities during the programme to visit the exhibitors’ stalls and stands.
Asylum Link Merseyside
Asylum Link Merseyside, based next to St Anne’s Church in Wavertree, is a safe space for asylum seekers and refugees to meet, relax and find out about the community they have been dropped into. The organisation offers a wide range of services centred on the principles of friendship and welcome. These include access to other agencies delivering refugee services on site, the Merseyside Refugee Support Network MRSN, Merseyside Network for Change (MNfC) and the Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit (GMIAU).
Boaz Trust
The Boaz Trust is a Manchester based charity providing shared accommodation and tailored 1:1 support for people who have become homeless after claiming asylum. It was founded in 2004 to address the needs of the growing numbers of destitute asylum seekers in Greater Manchester whose asylum cases had been refused and who had nowhere to turn to for help. Its accommodation provision has grown to include twenty properties, emergency winter accommodation for men and women, and a hosting scheme. It also offers holistic support to both refused asylum seekers and refugees.
Churches Together in Britain and Ireland
CTBI serves the churches of Britain and Ireland on the shared journey towards full visible unity in Christ. It provides information and guidance to bridge understanding of issues in today’s society and creates ecumenical space for Christians to listen and work together for peace and reconciliation. It develops publications and resources with other organisations and members to offer reflection, prayer and study materials to celebrate Christian events, as well as opportunities to learn and address key issues. It seeks to value the contribution of each church, respectful of relationships at all levels and recognises the diversity and differences within the churches and nations.
Churches’ Refugee Network
The Churches’ Refugee Network (CRN) encourages churches in Britain and Ireland to proactively engage in issues linked to asylum, refugees and migration. The network consists of a growing number of church-related organisations who share a commitment to support and advocate for refugees, both those overseas and those who have come to these islands. The CRN was established because of the importance and value of collaboration, sharing and coordination. CRN is a project of CTBI.
Churches Together in England (CTE)
Churches Together in England is the national ecumenical instrument supporting and encouraging churches from a wide range of traditions to work together in unity. With churches drawn from the Anglican, Catholic, Pentecostal, Charismatic, Orthodox and Lutheran traditions, as well as Free Churches, Quakers and others, it unites one of the broadest range of churches in the whole of Europe.
CTE’s vision is to create the space in which fruitful collaboration and mutual understanding can grow, so that we as churches work more closely together in our great task of sharing in God’s mission and making the gospel of Christ known in our nation.
Its strapline is: One in Christ Jesus, engaged in God’s mission, empowered by the Spirit.
City of Sanctuary
City by city, community by community, we’re building a more welcoming UK for people forced to flee their homes.
Despite hostility and division pushed by politicians and the press, thousands of ordinary people around the country are stepping up to support people seeking sanctuary in our communities.
City of Sanctuary UK coordinates, supports and grows this network of welcome.
Corrymeela
Corrymeela is a movement of people rallied around one inspirational idea: ‘Together is better’.
Every year the organisation welcomes over 8,000 people from all walks of life, to its beautiful Ballycastle home and into its programmes in communities around Northern Ireland.
Corrymeela deeply believes that everyone is welcome, whatever their background, ethnicity, faith, sexuality or nationality. ‘We welcome everyone — because together is better.’
Its programmes include enabling young people to tackle sectarianism and supporting survivors of racism and homophobia, and it works relentlessly to tackle intolerance, hatred and oppression.
Joint Public Issues Team (JPIT)
The Joint Public Issues Team (JPIT) is a partnership between the Baptist Union of Great Britain, the Methodist Church, and the United Reformed Church.
The purpose of JPIT is to help the Churches to work together for peace and justice through listening, learning, praying, speaking and acting on public policy issues.
The work of the team aims to:
- Share the message in words and action that political engagement is integral to Christian discipleship.
- Understand what churches need in order to speak and act prophetically and prayerfully on key issues of justice and peace.
- Equip, energise, affirm, support and resource our churches, at both local and denominational level, in their engagement with politics and public issues.
- Enable our churches to speak together with a distinctively Christian voice in promoting justice and campaigning on public issues.
- Build deeper coalitions and partnerships to further these outcomes locally, regionally, in the nations, and internationally.
Stories of Hope and Home
Stories of Hope and Home is a story-telling project offering asylum seekers and refugees a space to share their stories and others a space to hear them. Their work is to empower those who have been forced to flee and seek refuge to recognise the value of the stories of their humanity, and to create spaces of powerful personal encounter in order to challenge and change perceptions around these issues.
