Evangelicals came together to help refugees. Your support is helping!

There was one topic on everyone’s mind at the EFC’s annual President’s Day gathering in November 2014. Evangelical leaders from across Canada voiced deep concern for the displacement of millions of Syrian and Iraqi refugees fleeing war and conflict.

Many of these leaders were already taking steps to enlist their individual denominations and churches in Middle Eastern refugee sponsorship. The EFC drew up a joint “Statement of Intent” for Middle Eastern refugee sponsorship to be signed by denominational leaders that communicated to Canadians and the Canadian government our collective commitment to action.

“On that President’s Day, we saw the power of coming together, unified, on an issue of pressing concern,” remembers Bruce J. Clemenger, EFC president. “We were uniting to bless Canada, and in this case a very troubled part of the world, and welcoming our newest Canadian neighbours in the name of Jesus. It was almost two years ago that Clemenger, along with some denominational leaders, visited Chris Alexander, the minister of immigration at the time, to deliver the carefully crafted statement. That was just the beginning.

The EFC went on to help refugee partnerships by facilitating a working group of denominational Sponsorship Agreement Holders. This group includes those directly involved in refugee sponsorship, leaders of refugee-support and resettlement agencies and those who engage with government on this issue.

Canada has now welcomed more than 40,000 refugees from the Middle East. Canadian evangelical churches from coast to coast have begun the difficult but rewarding task of helping Syrian and Iraqi refugees create homes, learn English, find work, and settle their children into schools and communities. Church communities come with a built-in ability to welcome and help stabilize these traumatized families in their new homes, providing resources and support.

“That kind of structure makes church groups a perfect landing spot for traumatized families who have fled war and persecution,” says Clemenger.

We intuitively know, and studies repeatedly show, that this type of refugee settlement experience – of welcome into community by private sponsorship groups – is very different from that of many Government Sponsored Refugees. The relationships established in private sponsorship are likely to continue far beyond the official one-year commitment sponsors make to their refugees.

So how many refugees have been sponsored by Canadian evangelical churches since 2015?

The evangelical denominations that signed the Statement of Intent represent about 5 percent of Canadians. We estimate that the number of refugees sponsored by evangelical churches represents approximately 19% of all Blended Visa office-referred and Privately Sponsored Syrian and Iraqi Refugees who came to Canada between November 2015 and January 2, 2017. Proportionately, that is almost four times as many as our numbers – demonstrating our concern and commitment to help.

Canadian evangelical churches have been a significant part of the Canadian Middle Eastern refugee sponsorship story, helping to provide new homes and lives to many displaced individuals, and providing the important but often overlooked element – a welcoming community.

“It has been amazing to watch how churches have come together and welcomed refugees into their midst,” says Clemenger. “It’s not an easy task. There is a myriad of paperwork to complete, a sometimes-arduous process of being approved as sponsors and then waiting for the family to be approved at the other end. There are significant funds to raise, apartments to find and furnish, and that’s all before the family actually arrives. When they land, we are hearing from churches that is when the real work, and of course the real reward, begins.” For the EFC, the conversation of common concern that began that President’s Day grew into common action and a network of encouragement and support to empower individual churches and denominations as they embarked on the journey of sponsoring refugees, sometimes for the very first time.

What you can do

• Read the Faith Today article “What churches are learning as they sponsor refugees” from the Sept/Oct 2016 issue, available at www.FaithToday.ca/LearningRefugees.
• Because many families have already arrived, ask a local sponsoring church how you can help with the resettlement process by helping to meet practical needs and offering friendship.
• Watch for an upcoming resource and discussion booklet on refugees produced by the EFC. You can check for updates and resources on a variety of topics anytime at www.TheEFC.ca.