After a mapping exercise conducted in 2015-2016 to see the response of EBF member bodies to the refugee crisis, it is time for an updated view. The EBF Commission on Migration is launching a mapping survey to better learn the ways EBF member bodies are currently working with and alongside forcibly displaced peoples across the EBF region. The Commission on Migration hopes to use the results of this survey to strengthen the network of Baptist responses to displacement, gather together resources for best practices, and assess the needs of our member bodies and their churches.
The Commission asks for union leaders, refugee ministry coordinators, and involved pastors to fill out the survey on behalf of their union or ministry. Because of the vast nature of work around the area of migration, this survey is limited to recording the work with and alongside forcibly displaced peoples (this includes refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced peoples, and economic migrants). Should someone be unable to fill out the survey due to a written language barrier, it is also possible to share information via Zoom interview.
Recently leaders from 16 different EBF contexts met in a Network Conversation to introduce the mapping exercise and share updates of how Baptists continue to respond to the needs of displaced peoples across the EBF. The landscape of displaced peoples in the EBF region continues to shift and change. EBF remains faithful in its commitment to love the stranger among them. The Commission on Migration is called to support and empower the good witness of Baptists in this area.
Survey responses are requested by June 30, 2021. The results of the report are intended to be shared at the EBF Council meeting in Amsterdam, September 22-25. The link to the survey can be found here.
Please send any questions to migration@ebf.org.
See also EBF 2018 Lviv Resolution on the Continuing Challenge of Migration EBF 2015 Sofia Resolution on the Migrant Crisis in Europe and the Middle East
Photo: Syrian refugees receiving food aid from the Turkish Baptists.