There are several great ways to learn more about refugees this month, through Journey Home, Kinbrace, First CRC, New Hope, – and disPLACE: Refugee Stories.
Local ministries are preparing for the next wave of refugees, even as they continue to support those who have already arrived.
Welcome the Stranger: Refugees Becoming Neighbours will be held next Wednesday (November 16) at Royal Oak Community Church in Burnaby. (A similar evening took place last November; I wrote about it here.)If you are currently working with refugee communities, either individually or with a team, this evening will further equip you for your work. We want you to come away feeling encouraged and energized.
If you are part of a church or group considering involvement, we believe this workshop will assist you in discerning next steps. Journey Home Community and Kinbrace will be sharing practical opportunities to get involved with refugee families who are already in Canada.
This event is part of a program supported in part by the United Way of the Lower Mainland.
First CRC: Welcome Baskets . . .
First CRC is working closely with their new neighbour, the Welcome Centre of the Immigrant Services Society of BC.
Dena Nicolai is a chaplain and refugee support mobilizer working out of Vancouver First Christian Reformed Church, which is located right beside the new Immigrant Services Society of BC (ISSofBC) building at 10th and Victoria.
Under the Refugees header on the First CRC website, are responses to several FAQs. They point to various opportunities, including an invitation to help with welcome baskets (which Nicolai says are the most urgent need at the moment):
disPLACE: Refugee Stories
disPLACE: Refugee Stories in Their Own Words is a world premiere created by theatre artists at Trinity Western University. The show will weave together real-life experiences of refugees from a variety of cultures – from Mennonite immigrants who fled Europe after World War II to recently arrived Syrian refugees.Director Angela Konrad, chair of theatre at TWU’s School of the Arts, Media + Culture, conceived disPLACE to be presented in the SAMC season as a launch piece for her newly formed company, Dark Glass Theatre.
The school’s leadership readily agreed to partner on the production. Humanitas Anabaptist-Mennonite Centre, which has ties to TWU, is the umbrella organization for Dark Glass Theatre.
Konrad said:
The mandate of Dark Glass Theatre is to tell stories that enable us to see, face-to-face, people we might not otherwise meet. Compelling, personal stories can have a profound impact – decreasing judgment, increasing compassion and fostering empathy.
The show runs from November 22 to December 3.
Jamey McDonald and New Hope Community Services worked with Journey Home and Kinbrace to put on a major event introducing local churches to the world of working with refugees last November.
An interesting story might be a feature on St Gregory’s (Richmond) which has sponsored an astonishing number of Armenian Syrian refugees over the last 18 months.
(http://www.stgregorychurch.ca/)