More churches needed to care for migrants, says Archbishop Jensen

Some of Sydney’s key players in migrant and refugee settlement were treated to an extraordinary tribute to the care churches provide new migrants at the opening of the $1.7 million joint Anglicare and Cabramatta Anglican Church facility on July 31.

Just four weeks off the plane from the Congo, the Malula family, including three of ten children, presented a song of praise to Jesus in gratitude to the welcome they have received in Australia.

An audience of nearly 300 - including Federal Liberal Senator Marise Payne and NSW Labor Minister Reba Meagher – was rocked by joyous African rhythms and Mr Malula’s indescribably powerful voice.

Anglicare Migrant Services Manager, Xuyen Tang, said the opening was really a celebration of Anglicare’s ‘commitment to the many diverse communities and people that we serve’.

She said that Anglicare Migrant Services ‘endeavoured to practice justice with passion and have sought always to treat people of all backgrounds regardless of race and beliefs with integrity, compassion and equity’.

“We shall continue to do so,” she said.

In his keynote speech, Dr Jensen argued that the challenge for Australians is ‘not to be hostile to these precious newcomers’ or even ‘indifferent’ but ‘to be genuinely welcoming’, adding that the local church was the best place for that to happen.

“Migrants may need all sorts if things like jobs and accommodation and language help. But the delivery of this assistance is done best by people, people who care. It is not just a job, but a ministry of service which is needed; an act of love and genuine friendship. For after all, it is friends who will help the newcomer not lose his or her bearings, but to be incorporated – in their own terms – without losing part of themselves – into fellowships of love and concern,” he said.

Dr Jensen said that in a society that values ‘individualism and personal autonomy’, Sydney Diocese’s strategy to plant more churches ‘is going to be absolutely vital for the good health of our nation’.

“In a nation which is still committed to welcoming thousands of migrants, it is essential that we have the human resources to meet them and care for them and to incorporate them. We cannot pay for this; we are not talking about professionals; we are talking about volunteers and people trained to be outward looking carers of others,” he said.

Teaching from the gospel story of Jesus’s feeding of the five thousand, he encouraged Christians to take up the challenge of caring for migrants.

“Some people think that God is all about the spiritual part of life and has not got much to do with ordinary human needs like hunger and thirst. Jesus saw a hungry crowd of people who had come to hear him, and he feeds them. It is a constant reminder that he and his followers have an abiding interest in this world and the needs of this world, even the really basic ones, like food and shelter and family and companionship,” Dr Jensen said.

He concluded by pointing to the story of a Vietnamese refugee couple which he said demonstrates the impact when God ‘uses ordinary human beings to meet the basic needs of the ordinary people who are extraordinary and precious because they are migrants and strangers in our midst’.

The full text of Archbishop Jensen’s speech can be read here >>