Brunswick Uniting Church has a long history of supporting the rights and well-being of asylum seekers and refugees. The fundamental Christian values of hospitality, justice and compassion are at stake in the way our nation treats those who flee war and persecution, and we feel called to make a strong and public witness to these values.

And of course, we welcome asylum seekers and refugees into our community! We are blessed to share a wide range of cultures and experiences as we walk Jesus’ way together.

Lentara Asylum Seeker Welcome Centre

We host the Asylum Seeker Welcome Centre on our site. Initiated in 2002 by a small group including members of BUC, the ASWC offers a place of welcome, civic engagement and support. Besides offering the building and some financial support to the AWSC, we enjoy all kinds of relationships and interactions with its participants.

Find out more about the Lentara Asylum Seeker Welcome Centre.

Public witness

We are regularly involved in public rallies and other forms of public witness on behalf of asylum seekers and refugees. We make use of our prominent site to share this message with passers-by on Sydney Road, through direct signage and through artistic installations that invite reflection.

Love Makes A Way

Since 2015, some members of BUC have been involved in Love Makes A Way, an ecumenical group using non-violent direct action (in the tradition of Jesus, Gandhi and Martin Luther King) to focus attention on the plight of asylum seekers trying to come to Australia. We now host meetings of LMAW’s inner-north Melbourne group.

Sanctuary

In 2016, responding to the government’s threat to deport 267 asylum seekers back to Nauru and Manus Island after medical treatment in Australia, our church joined others in offering Sanctuary should it be needed. We have remained in contact with the Australian Churches Refugee Taskforce, which is co-ordinating the Sanctuary movement among churches across Australia.