Phoenix Refugee Connection
Mission
Phoenix Refugee Connections equips and unites Christians across Phoenix to walk in love with their refugee neighbors toward the fullness of life that God intends. Our goal is to encourage mutual transformation through meaningful relationships between the Church in Phoenix and forcibly displaced peoples.
Vision
To see every refugee resettled to Phoenix embraced as kin by the Body of Christ and thriving physically, socially, spiritually, and in wisdom. (John 15:12, Luke 2:52)
Story
In 2008, a group of friends walking in relationship with their refugee neighbors across the Valley began meeting regularly to share resources, encourage each other, and collaborate toward the common goal of seeing these new neighbors not just survive, but thrive. Led by Bonnie Lloyd, these initial members of the Phoenix Refugee Connections (PRC) network came from several different churches and had a vision to see even more churches embrace our forcibly displaced neighbors, personally living out God’s many commands to welcome the stranger and love our neighbors as ourselves.
In 2015, as refugees became a popular topic of discussion and churches increasingly asked for help navigating these discussions, PRC began offering biblically grounded, fact-based workshops (based on the training of Tucson Refugee Ministry) for education and networking, in addition to consultations for local-church leaders seeking to mobilize their congregations. After five years of active participation in the network and mentorship from Bonnie, Mary Kaech began taking on much of these tasks. Soon, it became clear the network needed more than spare time from volunteers in order to meet the growing local demand. Mary assumed leadership in Dec. 2017, raising financial support in order to focus on building and expanding the impact of PRC.
