At our 198th Commencement, on Thursday, May 13th one of our graduating students was awarded the Anglican Communion Prize. The annual award goes to a student who has “shown an outstanding commitment to discerning the mission of God through World Anglicanism.” This year’s Prize recipient was the Rev. Vijayathasan Daniel Jeyaruban
Over the course of his ministry, Rev. Jeyaruban has served many different cultural and religious communities. In his home country of Sri Lanka, he served both Christian and Hindu students, and worked as the Regional Coordinator for the Christian Student Movement to foster reconciliation between Tamil and Sinhala Christians. In Jaffna he took part in inter-religious meetings as the District Secretariat insisting on peace education to stem the violence that continued after the end of the civil war in 2009. He has lived and worked in Norway where he was trained as a peacemaker with young people from 52 other nations. In Canada he has spoken in mainline and evangelical churches and with the Toronto Tamil Youth Group. Here at VTS, not only did he serve as the President of the International Students Association, but he shared his love of God, his story and his gifts daily, both warmly and humbly, with all whom he encountered.
Rev. Jeyaruban has, as he writes, “seen the richness of God in other cultures in many ways and how God of all acts across differences,” allowing him to understand both interfaith and intercultural relationships. He believes that every opportunity he has encountered has been given by God to “expand [his] networks all over the world [in order] to participate in the mission of God and understand[s] the richness of God’s grace across all cultures.”
Thank you, Daniel, for such dedication to God’s mission for peace and understanding in our broken world. You are richly deserving of the 2021 Anglican Communion Prize.