Sanctus St Mark’s

20th June is World Refugee Day – an opportunity for us to pray and offer support for those who have been forced to leave their homes to find safety. Recently, we visited Sanctus St Mark’s, a support group run by a local church for refugees and asylum seekers, and asked Reverend Sally Smith, vicar of St Mark’s Church, to tell us more about the work they’re doing.

When somebody enters the UK and claims asylum, the Home Office disperses them to various cities in the UK. Stoke-on-Trent is one of those dispersal cities, so there’s great need in this community. We found that a lot of the people who were coming to our church were asylum seekers and refugees looking for support, so we decided to open a drop-in centre for them. Sanctus has grown out of that. 

We became quickly aware that the needs were massive and diverse. Some people have been through the most traumatic experiences. They’re far away from their families. There are people escaping from war. We have people with a need to learn English, a need for social support, a need to belong. A need to find a place where they can be welcomed and can become part of a family. I think that as a result, Sanctus has grown into a family.

One story that stands out in my mind is a lady from Syria who came to the drop-in a couple of years ago. She was here with her youngest child.  Through terrible circumstances, her other children were left alone in Bulgaria; they’d run out of food and money, and were at risk from traffickers. She was just desperate.

I couldn’t speak any Arabic, she couldn’t speak any English; but through the help of other asylum seekers, we were able to get her story. Her husband had been tortured and murdered in Syria, and his body dumped on the doorstep of their home for the family to find. They had suffered at the hands of traffickers, agents who they’d paid to get them out of Syria. They’d been separated, and the children had been left alone in Bulgaria while she was here with her youngest child.

She sat in front of me, and the situation was desperate. I thought, ‘What do we do? What can we do?’ Well, I could do one thing. I could send a Facebook message to a friend who was a Methodist minister in Bulgaria…and the miracle just happened. Within minutes, they’d replied back to say, ‘What can we do to help?’ 

One contact led to another, and we got in touch with the church in the town where the children were. They were able to take the children some food and keep an eye on them. Within a few days, I flew out to Bulgaria, found these kids, and took them to a safe place, until we could sort something out. 

It took about a year until I was able to get the kids to the UK. They’re now reunited as a family and have permission to remain in the UK. They’re a Muslim family – a Muslim family who knows that Jesus has helped them. They love Jesus.

I had no idea my ministry would develop this way. It’s completely taken me by surprise! I didn’t plan for it; there was nothing strategic about it. It was what I call organic. Our archdeacon laughingly said, ‘Sally, what you call organic, we just call chaos!’ But it’s a beautiful chaos.