Churches, voluntary organisations and the local council in Sheffield have come together to declare the city a place of welcome for asylum seekers and refugees. They aim to improve policy coordination and to challenge public misperceptions.

Dr Rowan Williams has described as ‘heartbreaking and harrowing’ a meeting in Syria with refugees from Iraq. While UK media and politicians complain about asylum seekers, Syria has had to absorb more than a million Iraqi victims of war and oppression, he learned.

Delegates at the Third European Ecumenical Assembly in Sibiu, Romania, concluded their weeklong gathering on 9 September 2007 with a call to the churches of Europe to deepen their support for migrants and other victimised minority groups.

Fredrick Nzwili looks at recent global and regional initiatives by the churches to confront the complex political and humanitarian issues underlying current crises around migration - especially in the South.