Don't be a stranger

Name
Rev Arlington Trotman

Place of residence

North London

Country of origin

Barbados

Occupation

Moderator of Churches' Commission for Migrants in Europe

Rev Arlington Trotman serves as Moderator (Chairman) of Churches' Commission for Migrants in Europe (CCME). CCME is the ecumenical agency on migration and integration, asylum and refugee issues which works to combat racism and discrimination whilst promoting equality in a diverse Europe. Previously Arlington served as Commission Secretary for the Racial Justice Commission for Churches Together in Britain and Ireland. He is a Wesleyan minister and is originally from Barbados.

“It is well documented that, until comparatively recently, the churches reaction to people coming from different parts of the world was quite negative. Having arrived in Britain in 1970, aged 19, I visited a Baptist church, only to be totally shocked when the minister simply asked me the pointed question ‘who invited you?’ pointing me towards the small black church meeting down the road!

When people come to our churches there is a real fundamental, theological responsibility that we have to welcome them by making them feel a part of the community of the church.

Very often people who are moving away from their homelands are unaware of the culture and customs of where they are coming to live. The local community has that power, and it needs to be shared. Not only at the level of the congregation, but at the national administrative level of the churches as well.

The sense that people get that too many people are coming to Britain means that they hold back from welcoming new people, but, people have moved throughout history; and in reality, the idea that Britain is full is absolute nonsense.

Migrants or people seeking asylum are at the mercy of international political, economic systems, persecution and international and civil strife, so they move, and when they move they head for countries where they feel safe. And very often people come to Britain because they feel that they won’t be hounded and persecuted here. That reality is not always what people experience here. Men women and children are regularly deported, taken out of their beds at the rude hours of the night, but these stories are often not told.

The churches in continental Europe and churches in Britain see people movement as a challenge. But people movement is also an opportunity for Christians. Very often the people moving are Christians themselves or they have a religious background. It is an opportunity for people to learn about other cultures, to become familiar with how God’s family around the world live, to become familiar with the conditions of the countries from which people have moved, and indeed to add their skills and gifts to the richness of our lives, culturally and politically.

In many, many ways there are values that people bring that strengthen our own communities here. We should focus much more on the opportunities that migration and asylum bring and not just the problems."