Home
News and Features
Events
Church Resources
About URC Scotland
• Synod
• Committees
• Area Councils
Local churches
• North Scotland
• South Scotland
• East Scotland
• West Scotland
Ministers and pastors
Women's Union
Youth: FURY
Scottish College
Sannox Christian Centre
Links
Synod of Scotland
United Reformed Church
340 Cathedral Street
Glasgow G1 2BX
tel: 0141 332 7667
fax: 0141 332 8463
email:
Church Youth Visit Wrecked by Visa Refusal
Eight young people from West Bengal refused visas for visit to West Midlands
Posted on Jun 16, 2008
Date: Monday 16th June 2008
Release: Immediate
A visit to the West Midlands by young churchgoers from India is in tatters, because most of the visiting group have been refused visas. Eight young people from West Bengal are due to stay with families from churches in the West Midlands area of the United Reformed Church, in return for hospitality given last year. Only two have so far been granted visitor’s visas, and time is fast running out.
One of the organisers, Ruth Maxey, said ‘Our local young people are devastated. It is a fantastic opportunity lost, not only for the group coming, but for those hosting them. Last summer, I remember one of our local youngsters speaking of the pride with which their host family showed their daughter’s passport. It was a dream to come to the UK and visit the Church here, a dream which has now been shattered’.
The church has enlisted the support of local MPs to put pressure on the British authorities in India. Clare Short (Birmingham, Ladywood), Paul Farrelly (Newcastle-under-Lyme), Andrew Mitchell (Sutton Coldfield), and Lorely Burt (Solihull) are all involved.
The visiting young people were due to stay in Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Newcastle-under-Lyme and Gloucester.
The West Midlands area of the United Reformed Church, which extends from Birmingham to the Welsh border, has had a partnership since 2002 with the Church of North India and particularly the Diocese of Durgapur, in West Bengal. Last summer, twelve West Midlands young people, in their teens and early twenties, spent two weeks in Durgapur. They painted children’s cots in a rural hospital and helped in a child development centre which caters for slum children. They came back saying the families who hosted them had little to give, but the generosity had been overwhelming.
According to Ruth Maxey, the reason given for refusal of visas is that the visitors do not have sufficient financial backing. But she says this is ‘nonsense’ because the United Reformed Church is underwriting the cost. There is little time for a change of heart; the group from West Bengal are due to arrive on June 24th. Further information from co–organisers Ruth Maxey tel. 0779 190 1468 or Chris Burgham tel. 01743 or 246320 or 0797 678 8543.
The United Reformed Church
Through a series of unions over the past 35 years, the United Reformed Church has brought together English Presbyterians, English, Welsh and Scottish Congregationalists and members of the Churches of Christ. Nearly one hundred thousand people make up 1600 congregations, with more than 700 ministers, paid and unpaid.
Although one of the smaller mainstream denominations in Britain, the United Reformed Church plays a dynamic and challenging part in the country’s Christian life. It seeks to work with Christians of all traditions, believing that all God’s people should be one. It is committed to theological and
cultural diversity.
Worldwide, more than 70 million Christians are members of the Reformed family of churches, the largest Protestant tradition. We call ourselves Reformed because our churches began to emerge with reform movements in the sixteenth century.
