How a small church reached more than 300 refugee children

Bethany Walker
Special to Spur Ottawa

Richard Raya is an Arabic pastor in the east of Ottawa. He pastors a small church of about 30 people, called Jesus Light of the World Arabic Evangelical Church. Although they are a small congregation, the church is having a dramatic impact among new refugee families.

“I have a heart for [refugee] families, especially children,” says Raya.

Raya feels that with love and compassion refugees can assimilate into Canadian culture and he wanted to help. He asked his church to help him create an event to cater to the needs of these families.

They planned a party for January 14, 2017, with songs, storytelling, face painting, and a fun clown who distributed gifts. Raya says the event was total success, with 50 children. The children received gifts and participated in the songs and games, while their parents talked and made new friends.

In fact, it was so successful that the families were interested in when the next event would be. With over 400 refugees living in the Cyrville area, Raya felt another event was necessary. They decided to throw a second party, on January 28, this time with a goal of reaching 300 children.

“Many of the refugees only spoke Arabic, so it was a group that our church could especially reach out to.”

“It was a big dream for a small church, but through the response of friends it has happened,” Raya says.

The party was much bigger than the first, but they had enough gifts for all the children and provided snacks and juice boxes.

Raya says the events would not have been possible without the amazing work of some volunteers. One church member who helped is Souhail Abdul-Samad. He says he was pleased to see how the events turned out and how many hearts they reached in the community.

“Many of the refugees only spoke Arabic, so it was a group that our church could especially reach out to,” says Abdul-Samad.

It took a lot of work for the small church to put on these events, but they are already seeing significant fruit. Many of the families that attended have started regularly attending the church. Raya says about 44 out of the 97 families they connected with have kept in touch.

They also receive regular requests to organize more events and Raya says it is something he would love to do. In fact, they recently teamed up with other churches in Kanata and Riverside to help them impact as many lives as possible. Together, on March 25, they hosted a dinner party with 200 refugee families.