Heath and Mariko Meikle
Heath and Mariko live and work on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, an inner-city neighborhood with high rates of addiction, homelessness and related social issues. Heath serves as an urban chaplain, leading regular Bible studies, cooking community meals, and serving in a variety of capacities. A large part of their ministry is simply walking alongside community members in their daily lives and helping them deal with basic needs like housing and medical concerns.
Heath and Mariko also serve at the church they helped to plant, and are in the process of planting a new Urban Chapel with the specific aim of reaching the most marginalized people of Vancouver with the life-giving hope of the gospel of Jesus.
The Meikles worked for several years in Athens, Greece, both with refugee ministries and as church planters. After they had helped to plant a church in downtown Athens, God brought them back to Canada, where Heath & Mariko realized that church planting was a huge need in their home country as well. They have a heart for urban centres and marginalized people groups, which fits well with their current situation. Their prayer is for the light of the gospel to dispel the spiritual darkness that they see in Vancouver.