As the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) asks “Who do we want to be as a church in the global community?” a related question was put to PC(USA) staff members and international partners gathering in Kuala Lumpur last month: “How can we collectively discern our calling in the world at this time and how can we support and encourage each other?”
Bringing those “we”s into mutuality through sustained dialogue and collaborative decision making is crucial to moving the church’s ministry efforts around the world into alignment with its principles, including “acknowledging, understanding and repenting its colonial past, its legacy and the recognition that even in our relationships today, with all our talk of partnership, harmful elements linger on.”
Christian leaders in Australia have welcomed a ruling from Australia’s highest court that Australia cannot send asylum seekers to Malaysia, throwing the Australian government’s refugee “swap” plan into disarray.
A full bench of the High Court, in a 6-1 majority decision on Aug. 31, found Immigration Minister Chris Bowen’s declaration of Malaysia as a country to process asylum seekers was “invalid.” This made permanent an Aug. 8 injunction preventing Australia from transferring 800 asylum seekers to Malaysia, in return for Malaysia sending 4,000 registered refugees.
Australia’s Christian leaders are praising a court injunction to prevent asylum seekers being deported as part of the federal government’s “Malaysian solution” to people trafficking. One Melbourne church has offered to care for 13 unaccompanied children.
The government wants to trade 800 asylum seekers who arrived by boat for 4,000 confirmed refugees in Malaysia. The first of the 4,000 refugees arrived in Australia on Aug. 12.
Already, 266 people have sought asylum in Australia in the past 10 days ― 50 of them unaccompanied minors. Melbourne’s Crossway Baptist Church has offered to care for 13 of them. Pastor …