William Temple Foundation

From Strangers to Neighbours: Asylum Seekers, Refugees, and the Christian Call to Hospitality in the UK

Hospitality Vulnerability and Resilience. The foundation has recently launched an online course to help people of faith to engage reflectively with community work among asylum seekers, refugees, and other migrant communities. This blog reflects on some of the issues covered in the course.

Immigration, asylum seekers, and small boats continue to make the headlines. Opinion polls suggest that immigration, especially the trafficking of people across the Channel is one of the most salient issues for the electorate. No one would deny that uncontrolled immigration, and the concentration of new arrivals in particular localities leads to tensions and issues around resources ( housing, schools, health service etc.), and over integration and learning English. However, it is possible to make the case that over the last half century these have been tackled successfully and many people would argue diversity has enriched our society. 

Sadly, the narrative has been fuelled by misinformation, in the right wing media, amplified by social media and populist politicians. The public has fallen for the nativist narrative. Two thirds believe immigration is rising, when there has been a substantial fall, and most overestimate the numbers of people involved. In reality Government statistics show, that of 81600 long term visas issued, asylum claimants (110.00) represent a small proportion of immigrants, and with small boat arrivals at 46,000, over half of claimants are people already here on other types of visas. Undoubtedly there are asylum claimants who have little or no valid reasons to support their claim, who are using the (dysfunctional and chaotic) asylum process as a way of extending their stay in the UK following the expiration of student or work visas. There will also be a proportion of claimants who are in reality economic migrants, although the fact that over 60% are eventually found by the Home Office to have a well grounded fear of persecution or oppression in their home country suggests the numbers are small.  

The politics around the issue are toxic, and intertwined with racism, Islamophobia, English (and now Christian) nationalism and the understandable discontent of working class people in “left behind” communities. In 2024 there were violent disturbances following the murders in Southport, falsely attributed to a Muslim asylum seeker, and in 2025 there were demonstrations outside hotels where asylum seekers were being housed, generally in miserable conditions. In the summer and autumn of 2025 a campaign to fly the flag led to union jacks and St Georges flags festooning lamposts in many parts of England. Reform under the leadership of millionaire racist Nigel Farage, advocating extreme policies hinting at Powellite style repatriation of long standing legal immigrants, appeared to be polling high, especially among white working class men. The toxic narratives were further enflamed by propaganda flowing from across the Atlantic, endorsed by the White House and the plutocrat who controls the social media channel X.

The Labour government rather than standing up to the racist narratives has followed populist policies of tightening immigration control and enforcement of rules about overstaying and illegal employment. They have suspended family reunion processes and made the routes to permanent settlement and citizenship more lengthy and more difficult. Income thresholds for bringing dependents and spouses into the UK have been significantly raised. They are making slow progress at reducing immigration numbers, and closing asylum hotels, but have neither sorted out the chaotic and slow bureaucratic system in the Home Office, nor convinced the public they are achieving their aims, nor provided an effective deterrent that convinces people wishing to enter the UK to turn back. In fact the harsher regime may have reduced the number of overseas students applying to UK universities, and the number of foreign doctors, and health and care staff willing to apply for, or extend contracts, jobs in Britain. The result is an institutional crisis in Higher Education, and a staffing crisis in the NHS.

Similar issues around immigration have fostered a rise in populist and nativist political movements across Europe, and in other countries such as Australia and the Gulf states. Perhaps the most frightening example is the USA under the democratically elected neo fascist MAGA regime of Trump. For people of faith the Christian nationalist underpinnings of this abhorrent politics present a profound theological challenge.

To satisfy my own curiosity I asked Chat GPT to produce a blog by artificial intelligence about a Christian approach to asylum seekers and refugees in the UK.  These bullet points summarise what it said, and I hope we can all agree with most of it.

• Radical hospitality and welcome is the norm and a spiritual issue for Christians
• In 2024, more than 120 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced due to conflict, famine, or persecution.
• The UK receives a lot of asylum seekers: many find themselves facing new challenges: navigating a complex asylum system
• They come from countries such as Afghanistan, Syria, Ukraine, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo—places where violence and instability have made ordinary life impossible.
• Thousands of refugees and asylum seekers are currently living in temporary accommodation such as hotels or hostels. These environments are often isolating, and individuals may remain in them for months or even years while waiting for decisions on their asylum claims
• The UK Church has a unique opportunity to respond with practical hospitality.
• Hospitality is not an optional add‑on to Christian life—it is woven into the very fabric of Scripture.  Hospitality was not merely about offering food or shelter; it was about recognising the image of God in every person and creating space for them to be seen, known, and loved.
• A network of Welcome Churches help in navigating the complexities of building a new life in the UK. Without community, the journey from survival to flourishing becomes even harder.
• Despite the challenges, churches across the UK are stepping into this space with creativity, compassion, and courage. A recent report from Theos Think Tank highlights the “distinct and crucial role” churches play in helping refugees integrate into British society. 
• Some churches are becoming official “Churches of Sanctuary,” part of the wider City of Sanctuary network, which encourages congregations to stand in solidarity with those seeking refuge and to challenge injustice wherever they see it.
• Christian hospitality is not simply social work. It is a spiritual discipline that shapes both the giver and the receiver.
• Hospitality also disrupts fear. In a cultural climate where refugees are often portrayed as threats, 
• Moreover, hospitality is transformative. Many churches report that their communities have been enriched by the presence of refugees. 

Personally I have been involved now for over 50 years, starting with community work and informal English classes for East African Asian refugees who arrived in East London in the early 1970s. Through the 1980s and 1990s community work included campaigns offering support and sanctuary for people threatened unjustly with deportation. In the last decade with Preston City of Sanctuary  (see history document) and churches offering support and community English classes. I and most of the Christians, Muslims and people of other faiths, and none take this approach for granted. 

However, faced with the current hostile environment, this feels somewhat out of date.  A much graver crisis is upon us. The international toxic politics needs a political and a profoundly theological response. We must become combative, fearless and prophetic in what we say, write, and do to oppose the harsh narratives and policies that dehumanise our brothers and sisters. In the USA Christians are divided, but some are taking a stance against the heresy of Christian nationalism and even putting their bodies in the way of the armed terroism of ICE and the Federal government, in order to protect the strangers who have become their neighbours. Pope Leo is providing a significant lead in this battle and sanctuary type resistance has a long history in the USA 

In the UK we may yet be able to affect the outcome and bend the arc of history towards justice by democratic means. . Krish Kandiah leads the way with many graciously but pointed Christian critiques of the right wing narratives about sanctuary seekers in various media channels.

Today we must always be aware of the dangers of fascism and racism, and should a populist and racist movement ever come to power in the UK, the Church, Christians, other people of faith, and all progressive democrats will face a profound political and theological crisis, a Kairos moment. What will we then do?