Listening and Seeing as Part of Our Discipleship Journey | JUL 2025
One Part of the Body Meets Another Part of the Body
What does it look like when one part of the body of Christ meets another part of the body of Christ? What does it look like for the eye to meet the hand or the head to meet the feet?
Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. – 1 Corinthians 12:12-14
This is what happened this month when the Junior Youth and the Refugee teams intersected in a time of shared experiences, stories, and listening. Through the PREMIX summer urban missions experience led by a team of PREMIX program leaders, over 35 junior youth from grades 6 to 8 visited two of The Peoples House refugee ministry homes.
Prompted by the PREMIX learning themes of “Listening” and “Loving and Seeing”, The Peoples House team shared how the refugee ministry vision first started, how vision moved into action with the opening of homes as shelter to welcome newly arrived refugee claimants in Toronto and how these homes are a direct response to the Biblical call of ancient times to “welcome the stranger” (Matthew 25:35), which still stands as a call to Christ followers today in our current, globally connected times.
Listening and Seeing as Part of Our Discipleship Journey
While often discipleship is seen as the “doing” in following Jesus, what the Refugee ministry team appreciated was the posture of “listening” and “seeing” that the PREMIX group brought to their visit. Jesus demonstrated this in his ministry with his disciples by asking questions to hear what people might say, prompting transformation in their hearts, and seeing the vulnerable and being moved with compassion. Like Jesus’s disciples who learned by being with, observing, listening and asking Jesus questions, PREMIX youth were present in the Refugee ministry homes with open hearts, eyes and ears to listen to deeply personal sharings from current and past residents of the homes, leading further to thoughtful, curious questions seeking to understand the realities and challenges of people seeking refuge and protection in Canada.
Visiting the homes gave the youth new insight into the realities of refugees, for many, their first time hearing firsthand the story of a person displaced in a way that put a personal face on global statistics about refugees. Other youth shared how the visit helped them develop eyes of compassion instead of comparison, and were inspired by the power of a group of Christians coming together to support others. Many PREMIX youth knew of The Peoples House refugee ministry but didn’t understand the fullness of the ministry – by being in the homes and meeting people it tangibly showed how The Peoples Church is engaging in God’s global mission within the local community, prompting deeper reflection on how as youth they can engage in the Biblical call to “welcome” even in small ways in their normal spaces and circles. Youth processed their reflections together through creative art, painting a range of abstract to detailed pieces that highlighted the themes of listening, loving, and seeing, as well as compassion and peace-making. Through the PREMIX youth intersecting with The Peoples House refugee ministry, we experienced the “foot meeting the hand” and “the ear meeting the eye” in the journey of discipleship together, where all parts are unique yet mutually encouraging one another as one Body.
Join us in praying for…
- the youth, that the seeds planted will bear abundant fruit.
- the residents, that they will perseverance in face of the loss and challenges they face.
- the homes, to continue being safe spaces of healing and hope.