When it comes to ministry among refugees, the leadership of IAFR brings significant experience, perspective and understanding to the table.
Everything we do begins by listening and cultivating a strong relational foundation from which we can collaborate and mutually bless one another.
We consider it a great privilege to be serving forcibly displaced people together with the refugee church.
Tom has been serving refugees full-time since 1981. He served his first 11 years with Slavic Gospel Association and served the following 17 years with International Teams before going on to found IAFR in 2009.
Over the years, Tom has provided leadership and ministry support to teams serving forcibly displaced people in Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Malawi, New Zealand, Sudan, Turkey, the UK, and the USA.
Tom is an active founding member of the Refugee Highway Partnership - a growing international network of churches and Christian agencies serving refugees and forcibly displaced people.
Tom graduated from Taylor University in 1980 with a B.A. in Social Work. He has since studied some theology at Wheaton Graduate School and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He has also taken courses in the Leadership Studies graduate program of Azusa Pacific University. But he has learned most from the forcibly displaced people with whom he has worked over the years.
Tom and his wife met in Austria. They have two children and live in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They were based in Austria from 1981-2003.
Paul has been serving refugees since 1985. He served with Operation Mobilisation (1 year), Slavic Gospel Association (3 years) and International Teams (15 years). He began serving with IAFR in 2010. Paul is an active founding member of the Refugee Highway Partnership in Europe.
Having served as a pastor, Paul's focus has been to help local churches to reach out to refugees in meaningful ways. He has helped empower and activate church-based work among refugees in several places around Europe including, Austria, Italy, France, Germany and the UK.
Paul brings a wholistic approach to refugee issues that is faith-based, person centered and relevant. He has come alongside of a number of refugee leaders over the years to strengthen and support them in their own efforts, including refugee leaders from Croatia, Kosovo, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and several parts of Africa.
Paul is particularly interested in helping refugees to overcome some of the cross-cultural issues they face.
Paul and his family live in northern France. His wife is from Germany. They have raised their three teenage kids in 3 European countries.
IAFR | P.O. Box 47947 | Minneapolis, MN | 55447 | Tel. +1 612.246.4707 | Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.