About Us

Mission Statement: Assisting and equipping Christians to express God’s love in practical and informed ways to asylum seekers and refugees in the UK.

To achieve the mission statement the Enabling Christians in Serving Refugees (ECSR) group seeks to provide:

• A focal point to access information and resources to be better equipped to serve asylum seekers and refugees;

• Provide support and encouragement between likeminded Christians;

• To improve co-ordination around the country between Christians and churches who support asylum seekers and refugees in their communities. 

The ECSR group has developed in response to feedback from Christians across the UK who are working on either a voluntary or professional basis with asylum seekers and refugees. Many have expressed a desire to be linked up with each other to share learning, receive support, while also being able to access appropriate Christian resources. These needs have been identified through a range of sources which have included:

• Evaluation form feedback from an Asylum Seeker & Refugee Awareness Day event organised by the Baptist Union, Salvation Army and Tearfund on the 8th September 2001;

• Popularity of Refugee Befriending Packs produced by Tearfund and the Baptist Union;

• Expressions regularly received by the Christian organisations involved in the initiation of the ECSR from local churches and Christians across the UK involved in asylum seeker and refugee support;

• Consultation event on the 28th February 2002 with local and national Christians, organisations and other voluntary agencies supporting asylum seekers and refugees in various capacities.

Since the consultation event in February 2002 a working group of representatives has met every two months to shape the mission statement for the ECSR group and put together the content for this website. The organisations involved in this working group include:

• Action in Communities, Penge

• Baptist Union

• International Teams

• Salvation Army

• Shaftesbury Society

• Tearfund

• Vineyard Church

• Church of England Archbishops’ Council Committee for Minority Ethnic Anglican Concerns

• Phoenix Community Care

• Individual consultants

It is anticipated that funding will be accessed to develop the ECSR group further as a network. A Project Co-ordinator will be appointed shortly to link up different regional initiatives taking place across the UK and to organise training events. In addition a database exists for anyone who is keen to be a part of this group and kept informed of developments. It is intended that the database will be administered by the Project Co-ordinator, providing in part where people agree, a tool to link up Christians and churches in different parts of the country where the asylum seekers they have had contact with may be being dispersed to. It is hoped that the next stage of development for this website will be to enable it to become interactive and updated as appropriate by members across the UK.

If you would like to become a member of Enabling Christians in Serving Refugees please do complete the brief form on the Contact Us page. We will keep you informed of developments to ECSR as they happen. In addition, if you are interested in playing an active role in developing the Enabling Christians in Serving Refugees group we are very keen to hear from you. Please inform us by emailing us at: info@ecsr.org.uk

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