• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Joint Public Issues Team

Churches working for peace and justice

  • Home Page
  • Who We Are
    • Six hopes for society
  • Issues
    • Economy
      • Tax Justice
      • Reset The Debt
      • Living Wage
    • Environment
      • Net Zero In My Neighbourhood
    • Poverty and Inequality
      • The Cost of Living Crisis
      • Universal Credit
      • Truth and Lies
      • Enough
      • Rethink Sanctions
      • Faith in Foodbanks
      • Housing and Homelessness
    • Asylum and Migration
      • Refugees
      • End Hostility
      • The Asylum System
    • Peacemaking
      • The Arms Trade
      • Nuclear Weapons
      • Drones
      • Peacemaking resources
    • Politics and Elections
      • Elections
      • Meet Your MP
      • Art of the Possible
      • Brexit
    • Other Issues
      • International Development
      • Modern Slavery and Exploitation
        • Forced labour in fashion
  • Get Involved
    • JPIT Conference 2022
    • Newsletter
    • Events
    • Walking with Micah
  • Resources
    • Advent
    • 10 Minutes on… podcast
    • Politics in the Pulpit?
    • Stay and Pray
    • Season of Creation
    • Prayers
    • Public Issues Calendar
    • Poetry
    • Small Group Resources
  • Blog

End Hostility

You are here: Home / Issues / Asylum and Migration / End Hostility

“If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill’, and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that?”

James 2:15-16

The ‘hostile environment’ is a web of government policies designed to make life so difficult for people who cannot prove they have the right to live in the UK that they will choose to leave. The hostile environment deliberately inflicts destitution, encourages discrimination, and thrives on distrust. Our four Churches are calling for an end to the hostile environment.

Read our report

Destitution, Discrimination and Distrust:

the web of the hostile environment

The hostile environment is inhumane because it deliberately inflicts destitution. 

The hostile environment is discriminatory, and encourages xenophobia and racial profiling.

The hostile environment builds a culture of suspicion and distrust.

It is time to challenge the hostile environment and to promote a more hospitable environment. We invite churches, church groups and individuals actively to challenge the hostile environment.

Read our full report here

Church Resources

This Bible study on welcoming the stranger aims to help church members engage with some of the biblical ideas around society and immigration.

Welcoming the Stranger Bible Study

This resource is designed for youth groups to explore what we mean by ‘the hostile environment’ and what a Christian response might be:

Hostile Environment youth resource

Here are some poems and prayers you can use in your personal or collective reflection.

Poems

Prayers 

Take Action

We believe the hostile environment should be dismantled. A first step for the Government would be a full and independent review of immigration policy and practice, to examine the damaging effect the policies of the hostile environment are having on the whole of society.

Contact your MP explaining why you think the policies of the hostile environment must be reviewed and dismantled.

This letter could be a helpful starting point for writing to your MP. Conversations with or letters to MPs will be strengthened if you are able to reflect upon your own experience of the hostile environment or the experience of those connected to your church’s community.

Download the letter here

Find out who your MP is 

Creating a Welcoming Environment

JPIT has been campaigning for an end to the ‘hostile environment’ immigration policies which are causing destitution, discrimination and distrust in our society. But how can our churches play a part in creating a more welcoming environment for migrants?

We explored this through a series of blogs and poems, sharing personal experiences of church projects and services, and thinking about what creating a welcoming environment would look like.

Find these resources here:

Read the Blogs

Welcoming Environment Poetry

Tell your Story

It may be that you have been affected by the hostile environment. Or perhaps your church is involved in supporting people through offering help to asylum seekers or recent migrants. Maybe you can share ideas about building a more hospitable environment.

Tell your story. We’d love to hear from you. We will safeguard the confidentiality of any sensitive information. You can email us at: church.society@urc.org.uk

You can get involved in the conversation online using the hashtag #EndHostility

Challenging Ourselves

Take this opportunity to engage in conversations within your church or your community about the hostile environment. What is your experience of hostility and hospitality? How do we balance immigration control and welcoming the stranger? How does language affect how we think? Do
you feel drawn to repent personally or corporately for being complicit in a culture of suspicion or distrust in our society? How can we work to build a hospitable society?

Primary Sidebar

Search

Recent Posts

  • What does Government Support for Asylum Seekers really provide?
  • God with Us – the Refugees of Calais and Dunkirk
  • What are the stories we should tell about the humanitarian crisis at Manston Airport Asylum centre?
  • Afghanistan and the UK – One Year On from the Fall Of Kabul
  • Five things you can do to mark Refugee Week (20-26 June 2022)
  • Nationality and Borders Act 2022
  • Senior Church leaders write to Peers ahead of House of Lords vote on Nationality & Borders Bill
  • Nationality and Borders Bill – What’s next?
  • Nationality and Borders Bill: Update from the House of Commons
  • How can we help Ukraine?

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter

Footer

Follow us

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Quick links

Stay and Pray
Politics in the Pulpit
Faith in Politics podcast
Public Issues Calendar
Useful Links

Our work

About Us
Meet the Team
Join the Team 
Internship
Our Newsletter

Contact us

25 Marylebone Road
London NW1 5JR

Tel: 020 7916 8632

enquiries@jpit.uk

Copyright © 2023 · Showcase Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in