Nagulan Nesiah, Senior Programme Officer, Disaster Resilience, of Episcopal Relief Development (ERD), recently visited five Convocation Refugee Grant Programs (CRGP) in Germany, France and Italy, along with Guilia Bonoldi, the Convocation’s chief welcoming officer, and Socorro Heepe, CRGP program and administrative manager. ERD has been working in partnership with the Convocation since 2023 to provide funding for Anglican congregations across Continental Europe to respond to the needs of refugees in their churches and communities.
The field visit was an opportunity for ERD and CRGP leadership to spend time with local partners, learn from their work, and reflect together on how the grant program continues to respond to the evolving needs of refugees across Europe.
“While each project has distinct interventions meeting contextual needs, all of the projects are focused on a ‘ministry of presence’ where the church is supporting and accompanying participants with pastoral solidarity,” Nesiah said. “The church’s diligent efforts at serving marginalized populations are very inspiring.” As Nesiah noted, each project is specifically designed to provide something the church is uniquely able to do in the context of that congregation and in collaboration with existing community programs.
In Frankfurt, the site visit team was part of the launch of a language integration course that uses music at the Anglican/Episcopal Church of Christ the King. “It was such a simple but powerful way of experiencing how language learning, community-building, and joy can come together in one space,” Heepe noted.
On their stop in Wiesbaden, they visited the Teestube, a project of the Regionale Diakonie Hessen-Nassau (Protestant social service outreach) that has long been an outreach partner of The Church of St. Augustine of Canterbury. The CRGP team was particularly impressed by the breadth of volunteer-led services at the Teestube, where medical doctors and other specialists regularly offer their time to support people in vulnerable situations. The team also visited the Kunstpause Project, which is a direct recipient of a CRGP grant and the subject of the first chapter of the Convocation’s documentary – Welcoming & Walking with Refugees.
A stop in Freiburg included the Landeserstaufnahmeeinrichtung (LEA) – one of the German government’s initial reception centers for refugees and asylum seekers. It opened in 2018 and can accommodate up to 1,500 people but was home to just 290 at the time of the ERD’s team visit. One initiative of the Freiburg Anglican Church’s multifaceted grant program is the “Open Kitchen” where participants from the LEA are invited to the church kitchen to cook their own meals.
Open Kitchen came about when church members realized one of the hardest things for people in the LEA is they are not given the freedom to cook. While the meals provided are nutritious, Fr. Vinod Victor said: “They missed their own foods and spices.” The project began in congregant’s individual kitchens but, using CRGP funds, it has moved to a larger facility and provides ingredients and space for volunteers to cook alongside the refugees and immigrants. “The initiative responds to a simple but important need—creating space for people to prepare their own food, reconnect with familiar tastes, and experience a sense of normalcy and dignity,” Heepe noted.
At the end of his visit, Nesiah said he was impressed with the overall grant program, as well as the individual projects it supports. “Episcopal Relief & Development is very grateful for the committed leadership of this program,” he concluded. Heepe added that the visit highlighted not only the diversity of approaches across the refugee grant program, but also a shared commitment to walking alongside people in difficult circumstances. “In each location, the team encountered a consistent spirit of care, creativity, and presence that continues to shape the Convocation’s work with refugees.”