The world is facing an unprecedented global refugee crisis.
Millions are fleeing the impacts of war and persecution.
And although we may not be able to help all refugees - God calls us all to help those we can.
Australia’s new community sponsorship programme is a unique opportunity to demonstrate the tangible love of Jesus by helping refugees find a home in local communities across Australia.
The Welcome Home Project provides a pathway for you and your church to get involved.
ENDORSEMENTS
“The refugee crisis in our world is still unprecedented. I know that we can’t help all refugees. But I do know that all Christians are called to help. That is why I am so excited to be commending to you The Welcome Home Project.”
Rev. Tim Costello Director of Micah & Patron of the NAYBA Board
"I warmly and enthusiastically commend to you The Welcome Home Project as a way of demonstrating the love of Christ with our sleeves rolled up. What is wonderful about it is not simply providing needs but building relationships. It’s not just about giving to people but knowing them. It’s a small way to make a huge difference."
Bishop Peter Lin Anglican Bishop of South Western Sydney
The Welcome Home Project is a wonderful initiative empowering Christians to extend the hand of welcome and support to refugees seeking to find stability, solace and a new life in Australia. The project will help Christians demonstrate our commitment to Christ’s teachings of mercy and the inherent dignity of every human being, by providing practical help to these families and individuals seeking to plant roots in a new land. I hope many Churches and Christians hop on board as we work together to build communities of hope and unity.
Gershon Nimbalker National Director of Common Grace
"'Welcome home' – words that warm every heart when they are delivered with love and accompanied by action. They are words that those who’ve ‘come across the seas’ long to hear. Jesus told his followers to welcome the stranger. This is why ACL is so pleased to support The Welcome Home Project."
Wendy Francis Acting CEO of the Australian Christian Lobby
I will never forget in the 1980’s my parents sharing their lives in welcoming Vietnamese refugees. Our family was blessed in immeasurable ways. For those of us who, in and through Jesus Christ, have experienced the life-transforming welcome of God, extending hospitality to others – especially the ‘stranger’, honours God as we bless others. As we do, strangers become friends, and together our lives are enriched.
I cannot commend The Welcome Home Project highly enough.
Stu Cameron CEO of Wesley Mission
The people of the nations add such value to our nation, and to our lives. As Christians, we should have arms wide open and hearts wide open for refugees in particular. This is love in action. We do the things that Jesus did, for the reason that he did them. What a magnificent opportunity The Welcome Home Project provides to embrace and welcome some beautiful brothers and sisters from across the world.
Miriam Gluyas Australian Territorial Commander of The Salvation Army
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Paul Barlett
Our Biblical mandate
We may not be able to help all refugees - but God calls us all to help those we can.
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Canada as a model
Community refugee sponsorship was first started in Canada over 40 years ago as the result of advocacy from faith groups. Since that time over 325,000 refugees have been settled through the programme. Faith communities have continued to do the bulk of the heavy lifting, with 90 out of 120 community sponsorship organisations in Canada today being faith-based.
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Now it's Australia's turn
In December 2021, the Australian government announced the Community Refugee Integration and Settlement Pilot (CRISP). The programme allows groups of volunteers to sponsor and settle refugees in their community, providing 12 months of practical hands-on support to a refugee household from their date of arrival in Australia.
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Community Refugee Sponsorship Australia (CRSA)
Community Refugee Sponsorship Australia (CRSA) is the organisation responsible for community sponsorship in Australia– and runs the CRISP program.
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HOW IT WORKS
Our Process
The Welcome Home Project provides a pathway to engage with community sponsorship of refugees through CRSA
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Stage 1: Get informed
Download the Catalyst Guide and attend an information session
Stage 2: Get prepared
Start forming a group and help your church get involved
Stage 3: Get going
Start the process with CRSA by filling in an intention to apply form
To get started, click the below button and fill out your details. You’ll receive the Catalyst Guide by email with the all the next steps.
Carrie Unser reflects on what she’s learning while taking part in the community refugee sponsorship program and putting justice for refugees into action.
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CASE STUDY
Story of the Goulburn Group, NSW
Watch the full interview with John and Ian from Goulburn, NSW. Their group were one of the first to sponsor a family through the CRISP program.
WATCH THE INTERVIEW
THE CATALYST GUIDE INCLUDES
Background Information
Key background information on community refugee sponsorship.
Theological Underpinning
Explore the key Biblical principles that underpin welcoming refugees.
Whole congregation framework
Learn how you can take your whole congregation on the journey with you.
Next Steps
Find out how you can learn more in an info session or sign up to get started with CRSA.
Catalyst Guide developed by Naomi Chua of Embrace Sanctuary with support from NAYBA
Download the Catalyst Guide
The Catalyst Guide will help you through the first stage of the process. It includes background information on community refugee sponsorship, key Biblical principles that underpin welcoming refugees, and advice on taking your whole church community on the journey with you.
The story of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is a story of God’s chosen people being displaced continuously, vulnerable, relying on God, constantly on the move in search of refuge and a new home – from the first couple Adam and Eve, Noah and his family, Abraham and Sarah and the many families that followed including Jesus’ own, the Israelite nations at various points of their history and the early Church itself.
Within all these journeys for a new world, God’s people were reminded never to forget their identity – particularly to be a blessing to others – whatever hardships, opposition and even deaths were faced. So it should be no surprise that the Bible is full of passages commanding and encouraging God’s people to focus on and care for the vulnerable, those without resources, whatever race or nationality they are, with harsh penalties for ignoring these, for not seeing Jesus in them and rejecting what God has said is righteous.
Read the full Theological Underpinning of The Welcome Home Project in the Catalyst Guide. Download it here.
Canada As a model
Canada’s success in community sponsorship has laid the blueprint for the community sponsorship of refugees worldwide. The popularity of community sponsorship in Canada has meant that more than half of the Syrian refugees resettled in Canada were through community sponsorship, and in 2022, the Canadian government resettled twice as many refugees as the government itself. With over 100 million refugees in the world today, community sponsorship provides a practical way for people to get involved and play their part. For an overview of Community Sponsorship in Canada, we recommend the episode of Malcom Gladwell’s podcast: ‘I Was a Stranger and You Welcome Me’.
Now it is Australia's turn
The CRISP programme was brought in under the Liberal led government in 2021 and is strongly supported by the current Labour led government.
The CRISP program enables groups of everyday Australians (including those in regional communities) to welcome refugees into their local area from ‘day one’ of their Australian journey and provide them with practical resettlement and integration support, in line with other community sponsorship programs operating successfully around the world.
Community Refugee Sponsorship Australia (CRSA)
CRSA an independent Australian charity leading civil society efforts to establish community sponsorship of refugees as a common practice throughout Australia, to benefit refugees and Australian communities alike. Initially launched as a joint initiative of a group of leading Australian charities and nonprofits, Community Refugee Sponsorship Australia (CRSA) is now an independent charity organisation with a vision to play a leading role in encouraging, developing and supporting the implementation of a community-led refugee support program in Australia.
The Welcome Home Project provides a pathway to engage with community sponsorship of refugees through CRSA.
Story of Gold Coast Group, QLD
Sometimes in my tiny corner of the world, surrounded by messy kids and a messy house, the idea of placing my feet in the footprints of Jesus’ and doing something – anything - seems totally out of reach.
I remember the first time I heard The Bible Project articulate Jesus’ message of justice. How leaning into the idea of redemption also requires me to act on the idea of justice. That the idea of justice requires me to love my neighbour, and that this means more than shouting a friendly hello over the fence, but to “courageously make other people’s problems, my problems” *. Yikes. Confronting. Unsettling.
When the opportunity to sign-up to the Community Refugee Integration and Settlement Pilot (CRISP) Program came to us as a group, I honestly thought we’d do the sensible thing and say no.
It seemed like too much. There was the paperwork, the dreaded fundraising, the nightmare otherwise known as the rental market, the demand of logistics – making other peoples’ problems my own seemed like a distant memory.
I am very lucky that other group members could see the potential rather than the problems, and courageously and with a deep prayer of surrender and faith, signed us up. And soon, in a moment of simultaneous sheer joy and absolute open-mouth shock we received an email that said we’d been matched with a family. A family of nine who had been living in a refugee camp for the past 12 years. They now had a home.
Their arrival date hurtled towards us, and the fun turned into frustration as we swam against a tidal wave of disappointment in finding accommodation and further setbacks for our family. But God had gone before, and things fell into place.
Our family arrived, settled into their new house, and have begun connecting with their new community. They are joining playgroups. Starting school. It is all new, challenging, and each day comes with a fresh hurdle. As we aim to preserve and honour their culture while supporting them to dive into everyday life in Australia—it is not easy—the learning trajectory of our group is off the charts. Each conversation challenges our assumptions about what it means to be displaced, and how the dignity of this beautiful, resilient family must remain at the centre. This is our attempt at making other peoples’ problems our own. To stand alongside this family and assure them: you have a home. You are welcome here.
One of our group members made a profound reflection, that at the start of this journey we would call our family our refugee friends. But recently, she’d made a conscious effort to simply call them ‘friends’. It felt right. We aren’t us and them anymore. We are neighbours. God calls us His heirs. No matter where we are born, no matter what our day-to-day looks like, we are made in His image. And He bestowed upon us the ultimate symbol of dignity in His act of reconciliation.
As I discover more groups and churches around Australia becoming involved in welcoming families through the CRISP program, delight fills my heart. Here is our collective church owning our mandate to welcome the stranger (Mt 25: 31-40). That stands with the vulnerable. That breaks down walls. That places emphasis on being active in their community. That does justice.My house is messier than before. Because now my kids’ favourite game is pretending we’re going to visit our new friends. They do laps around our house yanking things out of cupboards and cramming them into bags – food, blankets, books - anything they can find, replaying the chaos and busyness of those last few days before our family arrived.
During the game, my eldest rushes up to me, looks me straight in the eyes and exclaims excitedly, “Mum, there’s so much more to do!”.