Refugees

JONATHAN BAYLIS The St. John’s Vancouver Refugee Committee works within the vision of the church as a community of contrast gripped by the gospel of God’s grace. We are guided by God’s commandment to love one another, and will wherever possible seek to invite and include refugees within the family of our church. In 2021, the Refugee Welcome Team and many members of our congregation were involved in supporting refugee claimant families in Greater Vancouver as well as our first sponsored family – the Abdul Satars. We continued with the ongoing planning for future sponsorships including the imminent arrival of Madelyn and Adam whom we look forward to welcoming as our second sponsorship family in the first half of 2022. There are two other sponsorship families living in Africa and the Mideast whom the church has generously committed to; we expect them to arrive in two or three years’ time. Led by Jonathan Baylis, the Refugee Welcome Team continued to expand in 2021, and is now up to 86 members who are involved in a wide variety of ways including prayer, donations, personal support, advocacy, and childcare. Finally, the Refugee Committee continues to support our partners Kinbrace Refugee Housing and Support and Journey Home Community through annual donations.