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Global migration presents an opportunity for us to follow Jesus’ call to love the oppressed and marginalised. But where to start? How do we love migrants? Here are 5 simple ways that you can start loving migrants in your community today:
- Be a good friend and share your life: be available, listen, share hospitality and even accommodation. Come together for social activities, invite to or attend family celebrations. Chat frequently to help improve language skills and don’t be afraid to gently correct common mistakes.
- Pray for and with them: for their current needs, healing from trauma and for restoration of hope. Don’t hide your faith but avoid insensitively overwhelming them with conversations about faith. Be natural.
- Connect them with appropriate services which might help: don’t try to do everything yourself, but help them to make the most of what is on offer and from the experience of others who have gone before.
- Avoid developing a dependent culture: try not to do or give everything too freely, but rather encourage them to do everything they can for themselves whilst being supportive. Be generous, but be circumspect about providing support that could not be maintained if you were to stop providing it.
- Introduce them to and involve them in your community: experience of a loving Christian community can do amazing things for an individual, and provides more pointers to the good news of the Gospel than a single friend.