Becoming a Place of Sanctuary
October 20, 2023
Becoming a Place of Sanctuary - October 2023
Friday 20th October saw our first training session in collaboration with Sanctuary On Sea aimed at getting places of worship on the pathway to gaining their ’Church / Mosque / Synagogue of Sanctuary’ status. We were delighted to have representatives from One Church, Brighton Unitarians, Emmanuel, St. Wulfran’s, City Gate, St. Mary’s Kemp Town, St. Peter’s, Arabic Evangelical Church - all keen to learn how their congregations can play their part in making Brighton and Hove a real City of Sanctuary.
We heard from Angie Lynn of Sanctuary on Sea on the real needs of migrants, dispelling myths and what faith communities can do to help. The three stages of the process - Learn, Embed and Share - were throroughly detailed, and Ruth Samur of Hove Methodist Church shared the journey that the local Methodist circuit went on to gain their ’Church of Sanctuary Status’ and gave practical tips on how congregations can document their work for the application process.
The morning ended with a shared lunch and conversations about how each group can take the first steps on their City of Sanctuary certification journey. BHFA look forward to walking out the journey towards certification with the attendees and invite other institutions who would like to know how they can get involved to contact us - info@bhfa.org.uk.
