Showing Tag: " community" (Show all posts)

What Can One Church Do?

Posted by John K on Monday, April 2, 2018, In : Response 
As 2017 came to an end, I sensed that I should schedule time early in 2018 with The Sanctuary, a church-run ministry for refugees in Newport, Wales. Kaylee and I first visited last summer and the director, Mark, participates in our MUM Network. My goal was to be a help, but also to witness what one church can do as they go about their day-to-day work with refugees.


I arrived in Newport after my overnight flight and three-hour bus ride from London. Mark met me at the bus stop and we walked the ...
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Hope and Community for Refugee Youth

Posted by John K on Friday, March 30, 2018, In : Unaccompanied Refugee Youth 


Last month, during my week volunteering with our MUM network partner, The Sanctuary, in Newport, South Wales, I had opportunities to work with a variety of youth – who are in this case all boys. These young guys come to the center after arriving in Wales – many under 18, with no or limited English, and having traveled without family across many miles and sometimes many years. At times helping them is quite serious work, as they try to learn language, access services or prepare for their a...
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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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