New Welcome Home
It all began when a small community group in Willingdon Church became aware that refugee claimant families were arriving with no one to welcome them, ending up homeless and isolated. The fellowship group knew they must act.
In late 2005, Journey Home Community became an official, grassroots organization with a very low budget. That year they assisted four refugee families in the best way they could.
We are now on track to help between 250-300 individuals this year and are launching a new Welcome Homes community house in Burnaby, through our partner, Willingdon Church. This large six-bedroom home will house two large families at a time.
When Willingdon Church came into possession of this property, they knew they wanted to use it purposefully. Looking at the pressing needs of the city, they asked themselves a crucial question: “Could this house become a refuge for those in need?”
John Best, the Pastor of Global Ministry, International Language Ministries, and Online Services at Willingdon Church, realized that partnering with Journey Home Community was an obvious choice. Recognizing that it would take years for Willingdon to acquire the necessary knowledge and expertise to successfully run a refugee house themselves, why not collaborate with a team that was already doing it? Familiar with our Olivet Welcome Homes, he saw them as the perfect model for how to use the Willingdon house.
John is excited about the potential of relationships forming between the residents and members of Willingdon Church. He knows that it would be easier for Willingdon to just get the house up and running and not engage any further. But he also sees that the church is uniquely positioned to welcome people from all over the world, for there are over 70 nationalities represented in their congregation. Thus, building transformative relationships with refugees residing in the Willingdon House is an extension of what Willingdon already does. As John stated, “This is a unique and natural next step.”
Willingdon Church plans to create a caring community for newly arrived refugee claimant families who will be living at this house, through establishing group opportunities of service. John would also like to see community dinners happen, like those at our other Welcome Homes, as well as finding times for Life Groups from the church to engage relationally.
John recently showed the house to a group of women who meet regularly at the church to make quilts. On that visit, they left a quilt on each bed. Then later that week, eight of the women returned to deep clean the house to make sure it was ready to welcome families.
After 18 years, the partnership between Willingdon Church and Journey Home has grown stronger, the spark burning brighter.
Over the years, through our Welcome Homes initiative – our flagship and traditional program of housing, settlement support, and relational care – we had the capacity to provide housing to 90-95 homeless refugee claimants each year.
With the addition of Meanwhile Spaces, we doubled our capacity in 2022, with 184 individuals supported with housing. With the opening of this new house, we can now say “Yes” to even more refugee claimants families.
