Showing Tag: " church" (Show all posts)

2018 Goal? Shine On!

Posted by Kaylee K on Tuesday, December 12, 2017, In : Response 

It's been a very difficult year for the youth in Europe who arrived alone, i.e., without parents, seeking asylum. As borders closed, asylum procedures were drawn out, and care was withheld, many lost hope and some resorted to drugs, self harm and even suicide. When our network members share about some of these situations or I read another report of the horrific conditions in some of the camps and shelters, at times I'm brought to tears. However, I also get to hear from the folks we work with ...

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Prayerfully, Together: The Church Can Help Refugee Children

Posted by Kaylee K on Tuesday, September 20, 2016, In : Unaccompanied Refugee Youth 
Nearly 100,000 refugee children are traveling to and across Europe without a parent or guardian. Despite their recognition as the most vulnerable population within the millions of asylum seekers on the Refugee Highway, there has been little coordinated assistance, and many challenges to establishing such assistance, to ensure their safety and care as they travel from their home country to their destination country in Europe.

Several months ago, I felt a very strong leading to research this sit...

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A Vision to Help 100,000 Children

Posted by Kaylee K on Tuesday, August 23, 2016, In : Unaccompanied Refugee Youth 


As we prepare for our work in Europe, we’ve become aware of the dire situation faced by refugee youth as nearly 100,000 travel alone to and through Europe. Our hearts are burdened for these children, some as young as 7, who are alone and scared, and often living in over-filled shelters or on the streets where they are targeted for sex trafficking and slave labor. Because of this, over these last many months we have refined our focus to that of helping the church in Europe to help these chil...

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Projects for the Type-A’s Among Us (Including Me!)

Posted by Kaylee K on Tuesday, March 1, 2016, In : Italy 
While we have found that much of the fruitful work in refugee ministry truly is about relationships not projects, my Type-A personality gets really excited about plans and strategy. So, I was encouraged during our time this past month with potential ministry partners and churches in Italy as we learned about their wonderful blend of heart for the nations and mind for programs to help the foreigners in their midst. Specifically, we anticipate seeing God move resources and people toward several...

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Quotes Worth Pondering

Posted by Kaylee K on Monday, February 15, 2016, In : Response 

Here are some quotes that deserve our consideration, which I gathered during our time at the Refugee Highway Partnership European Roundtable and in our meetings with the Italian Evangelical Alliance and a church in Pescara:
  • “If God put these kind of people here, then the Lord is telling us who our neighbor is.” – Giacomo, our host in Pescara as he talked about helping refugees in Italy.
  • “Building relationships and becoming part of the local community shrinks time to normalcy [for the re...

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Just Shut Up (and listen...)

Posted by Kaylee K on Monday, February 8, 2016, In : Response 
Our realization last week was that to answer God’s call we “just need to show up.” Now that we have (we’ve spent a few days in Rome and are now at the European Refugee Roundtable in Sicily), I’m realizing this week’s lesson is that I have two ears and one mouth for a reason and I need to respect that ratio. John and I have so much to learn and it is necessary to keep our American world view to ourselves while we listen to the perspectives and insights of those native to Europe as ...

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When Children are Being Harmed, We Must Respond

Posted by Kaylee K on Friday, September 18, 2015, In : Response 
My heart is breaking. I just watched a video newscast on what equates to child slavery and trafficking in Italy, which is being fueled by the migrant crisis and the EU’s inability to decide on how to respond. As a human, I cannot tolerate this. As a Christian, I am called to respond.

 
But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the k...

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To Serve or To Be Served?

Posted by Kaylee K on Wednesday, August 12, 2015, In : Faith 
When I joined the online venue to watch John Burke, Lead Pastor at Gateway Church in Austin, TX, share this lesson during a service in May, I thought, "Yes...that's why we're doing this." I don't think I could provide better words to answer why John and I feel so certain of our call to work with International Association for Refugees to serve refugees and asylum seekers who have been persecuted and abused, who had to flee their homes and risk their lives to reach the shores of Europe, and who...
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Share their stories

Posted by Kaylee K on Sunday, October 23, 2011, In : Refugee Stories 

“Share their stories.” This is what I sensed God tell me when I was praying on next steps as I was leaving my last job. “Share their stories” has been repeated several times since. And, as John and I were heading home after 13 days in Italy where we learned about the refugee situation, met with churches and ministries that work with refugees and interacted with refugees there who are in a nearly constant state of limbo, I did not know how I could help or what we were to do next; but, ...


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Blog Authors


John and Kaylee Kolditz Kaylee founded Refugee Connect in 2008. John joined the work in 2011 as we investigated the refugee situation in Europe. But our faith and cross-cultural journeys have been a work-in-progress for many years. Much of this blog reflects that. ************************************************ We met in Austin, TX, while volunteering at a serving event at Gateway Church and have been married since 2002. Marriage, parenting and ministry all require a great deal of intentionality, humility and true reliance on God for strength, wisdom, and grace. It is a journey we are grateful to be on together. Ultimately, what matters to us is building into meaningful relationships in ways that, to the best of our ability and by God's grace, demonstrate the love and hope Jesus freely offers to us all. ************************************************ We bring both business and ministry backgrounds into our current work. John started a business in his 20's and helped build several other businesses. He has also served with churches in a variety of roles including as an assistant pastor, director of community development, and missions board member. Kaylee left her marketing career to become the global missions director for our home church in Austin, TX, then founded a local refugee ministry, and became TEFL certified (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) in order to prepare for our work overseas. We have led short-term teams domestically and internationally, and served with a variety of cross-cultural ministries. In 2008, we sensed a call to build into the church in Europe, which was also around the time when God broke Kaylee’s heart for refugees. Since then, God has continued to weave together this heart for refugees, desire to serve alongside the church, and focus on His call to Europe.

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