Posts by worldrelief
Eugene Cho: Video Update from the Middle East
Pastor, author and friend of World Relief Eugene Cho is currently in the Middle East, along with teams from One Day’s Wages and World Relief. The teams are visiting local leaders who are actively involved in welcoming Syrian refugees, helping the displaced resettle and begin to build new lives.
Watch Eugene Cho’s update from the Middle East, recorded a few days ago.
World Relief is honored and grateful that One Day’s Wages is partnering with us to provide education for Syrian refugee children and support schools teaching a Syrian curriculum so kids can continue in their education where they left off.
Learn more about One Day’s Wages, and stay tuned in the coming weeks for more information about how you can get involved.
The Wounds of the Vulnerable
Like many in the United States, the World Relief staff woke this morning to the news of terror attacks in Belgium. The details and footage out of Brussels brought to mind the attacks on Paris just three months ago. We were reminded once again of the deep unrest felt throughout much of our world, and the level of violence and bloodshed that terrorist groups are willing to exact upon innocent civilians. We, like many others, weep and mourn for the losses suffered by our global neighbors in Belgium.
We also mourn the violence in Istanbul and the fear experienced by the general population as they were told to avoid public places even prior to Saturday’s bombing. We mourn for cities like Chicago whereâwhile there hasn’t been an explosion of violence attracting an ongoing stream of media attentionâthere is a steady stream of violence and tension as people are killed on the streets every day, sometimes by the very sector of uniformed people whose responsibility it is to bring safety.
This morning’s news also reminded us that there are thousands of people in regions all around our world who suffer the threat of violence and bloodshed on a near daily basis. This fact does nothing to minimize the horror and tragedy those in Belgium have experienced today. But it does reinforce our deep concern for the vulnerable across the globeâthose for whom poverty, injustice and war have inflicted deep wounds. These are wounds that will not heal on their own, and will likely take years (or even generations) to heal. But if the cycle of poverty, injustice and war continue in these regions, there is little hope the wounds will ever disappear.
Our highest commitment as an organization is to mobilize local churches in the United States and around the world to serve the most vulnerable. This includes empowering churches to meet the immediate needs of their communities, but it also goes far beyond this. Wherever people are vulnerable, we want to empower the local church to break the cycles of poverty, injustice and war that are inflicting and re-inflicting wounds on these communities. We want to stand in solidarity with our vulnerable brothers and sisters, whether they be in Brussels, Baghdad or Birmingham, Alabama.
Just this week, we launched a new initiative to help church leaders in the Middle East serve refugees who are fleeing the genocide against religious minorities. We seek to empower these church leaders to meet the immediate needs of the victims of genocide. But we also seek to empower them to build relationships, provide programs and economically develop their communities in a way that will lead to holistic and systemic change for their entire region. Our hope, our longing prayer, is that God will use the resources of the U.S. Church and the brave efforts of the Middle East Church to write a new history for these vulnerable people. A history where wounds are healed, and where communities who are now only surviving may once again thrive.
Our thoughts and prayersâand our resources and actionsâmust be with the vulnerable around the world. That we might stand for the vulnerable. And that we might play our part in God’s work to address and heal the wounds of the vulnerable.
6 Ways You Can Help Syrian Refugees Today
Youâve read the statistics. Youâve seen the images. And youâve heard the stories of the Syrian refugee crisis. But you havenât known what you can do to help.
You are not alone.
March 16, 2018 marked the seven year anniversary of the initial conflict in Syria that has led to a refugee crisis of historic proportions. The numbers are staggeringâhalf of the population of Syria has fled the country, and 5.6 million people now live as refugees in neighboring countries. Yet recent research shows that individuals and churches are struggling to engage the crisis in a meaningful way.
While the reasons for this lack of engagement vary, one reason is that many people simply donât know how to engage. A problem as complex as the Syrian refugee crisis can be hard to get your head around, let alone know what you can do about it.
Because of this, we at World Relief have tried to provide specific, straight-forward opportunities for each of us to help meet the immediate and long term needs of our Syrian friends and other refugees in the Middle East.
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Help refugees rebuild their lives in the U.S. Join the campaign today.
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Make a one-time donation to our work with refugees in the Middle East and here in the United States. Our partner churches and organizations are already in place, distributing welcome kits to newly displaced refugees, creating child friendly spaces for children displaced by conflict, providing psychosocial counseling to traumatized women and helping refugees arriving to the U.S. become independent and integrated in their new country.
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Watch and listen to four leaders share their unique perspectives about making a difference in the lives of refugees in the U.S. and around the world.
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Volunteer at a World Relief U.S. office. Help us meet the needs of refugees by providing compassionate and holistic care from the moment they arrive at the airport through their journey to self-sufficiency.
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Continue to learn more about the crisis. This list of resources provided by We Welcome Refugees is a great place to start.
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Pray. Download a prayer guide that guides you through a week of daily prayers for refugees.
No single one of us can solve a problem as vast as the Syrian refugee crisis. But every single one of us can do something. Today, may each of us choose to engageâto provide help where help is neededâin some meaningful way.
Half the Sky
The 1MT Kilimanjaro team summited Kilimanjaro on International Women’s Day to honor their sisters who suffer violence in war zones.
Editors Note: What follows is an update about One Million Thumbprints from Stephan Bauman, President at World Relief.
Today at dawn, my wife, Belinda and 13 other climbers, summited Mount Kilimanjaro, the rooftop of Africa, in honor of women worldwide who face violence in conflict zones around the world.
Belinda met Esperance while visiting the Democratic of Congo several years ago. Esperance watched her husband die at the hands of rebels and was violently raped. She would have died if her sisters hadnât rescued her. Across a blank sheet of paper, Esperance had someone write the words: âTell the world.â Then she stamped her thumbprint underneath. Esperance’s thumbprint became Belindaâs mandate: “Violence against women in war is violence against me,” Belinda says.
Esperance’s story gave birth to One Million Thumbprints (1MT), a grassroots movement focused on women whoâve been affected by violence in war zones. 1MT is advocating the UN and other governing bodies to follow through on resolutions and laws passed to protect women in conflict zones and are partnering with proven organizations like World Relief working in countries where women experience violence.
âI realized that no matter where violent conflict occurs, it has the capacity to destroy everything, from the tiniest baby to the infrastructure of an entire society,â says Lynne Hybels, peacemaker, catalyst and visionary of One Million Thumbprints, having pioneered its precursor, Ten For Congo. Lynne summited Kilimanjaro today to raise awareness and invite thousands more to join Esperance’s cause.
Today is International Women’s Day where we honor “half the sky” by remembering the plight of women:
- One out of three women in the world experience violence in their lifetime.
- More than 530,000 women die in childbirth every year even thought the vast majority of these deaths are avoidable with simple and cost-effective health interventions.
- An estimated 100 million to 140 million women and girls undergo female genital mutilation/cutting each year and thousands more are at risk.
The most vulnerable people in the world are hands-down, women. Esperance, Valonia, Lynne, Belinda and millions invite you to join them. Giving our lives to half the sky is absolutely a worthwhile call.
Finding Hope on the Front Lines, Part 2
Editors Note: What follows is an excerpt from another update received from Maggie Konstanski, World Relief’s Disaster Response Manager. (Read Maggie’s first update.) Maggie writes from Iraq, where she is currently working with local leaders to assist families forced from their homes because of the ongoing conflicts in Syria and Iraq.
This week, my heart has been broken 10 times over. As I learn more about the stories and challenges of people I care for deeply, as statistics are transformed into stories of people I have come to love, I feel frustrated that I cannot do more to help. During a training exercise, we were sharing about what strengths existed within their communities and how those strengths were helping the community. Each one shared stories of how the community had surrounded each other, supported one another and sacrificed for each other. They had come from different towns, different backgrounds, and all faced their own share of hardship. They could have retreated within and only looked out for their own interests, and no one would fault them for it.
Instead, as every person in the room shared their own story of displacement, there was one phrase weaved as a common thread in each story: â…and then I said, âhow can I help?ââ
In circumstances that would lead many of us to ask, âHow can someone help me?â this was a group that courageously asked the opposite, responding to the needs that surrounded them using whatever capacities and abilities they had to offer, however humble. Oh what this world could learn from such courage and compassion.
Daily, I find myself asking how I can be more like my colleagues here. How can I be more courageous, more compassionate, and more generous? We so often look for hope in security, wealth and accomplishment, and are angry when these things fail us or when life does not measure up to our expectations. What if instead we looked for hope and joy in how we could serve others? What if our joy was not measured by our achievements, but by how much we had given away, by the number of people we had welcomed into our home?
In Jeremiah 29:7 it says, âWork for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare.â I have always loved this verse, but struggled to comprehend how to put it into practice. People here are teaching me what this verse looks like in practice. In displacement, in towns not their own, they are seeking the peace of the entire communityânot themselves, not their family, not only those that share their homeland or religion, but of the entire community. At times, this means forgiveness and loving those that turned their back on your suffering. It takes great sacrifice to seek not your own welfare, but the welfare of others, especially when your own welfare is in such great jeopardy.
Those who have seen the destructive power of hate and experienced dehumanizing discrimination know that peace is only found in recognizing the inherent value in our shared humanity. I pray that we will see each other as God sees us: equal in value, created in Godâs image, sharing an equal inheritance in Godâs grace. If we truly saw people this way, then surely indifference would be impossible.
Finding Hope on the Front Lines
Editors Note: What follows is an update recently received from Maggie Konstanski, World Relief’s Disaster Response Manager. Maggie writes from Iraq, where she is currently working with local leaders to assist families forced from their homes because of the ongoing conflicts in Syria and Iraq.
Since last May, this is my fourth month here in Iraq, and I am enjoying being able to come back to friendships and appreciating the comfort of familiarity. Local shop owners know me and are happy to see me, friendships are strengthening and my love for this place grows.
Some things have changed even since my last trip here. The frontline has been pushed back in some places, opening access to some locations and creating new opportunities. There are new tensions, howeverânew groups being targeted by violence, with civilian communities caught in the crossfire.
Another change is the temperature. Many homes here are built to stay cool in the hot summers, which means they are incredibly cold in the winter. The key to staying warm is to have four walls, a sturdy roof and a heater, luxuries that many of the displaced do not have. It breaks my heart to know that many of my friends are cold through the night, while I enjoy a warm, dry and comfortable night of sleep. These are the disparities that are so hard to comprehend. Honestly, the more I learn, the less I understand.
It is hard to explain, but even though my heart aches over these disparities and the injustice and horrors of conflict, I keep coming back to hope. While the realities of war and conflict are devastating, and the losses many, it is in these same places that I see courage, hope and love on a scale I could never have imagined. I get to spend my days with people who have lost much and suffered deeply, yet daily choose to serve others and build towards the future. I am surrounded by peacemakers. Their courage astounds me.
This week I had the privilege of training a group of local trainers who will train others in facilitating child-friendly spaces, running support groups for youth and providing psychosocial support to their communities. If the love, generosity and courage that I have seen in these people and so many others is any indication, then I believe we can pray for peace and healing with great hope. It is hard sometimes to not despair, but I now can count some of the most courageous people I have ever met as friends, sisters and brothers. What a privilege.
What Will You Leave Behind?
For almost two thousand years, Christians of many denominations have observed the season of Lent, beginning with the observance of Ash Wednesday. While the exact practices of Lent vary from one individual to another, one common practice has been to fast, or give up something, between Ash Wednesday and Easter. By abstaining from a vice, a specific indulgence or luxury, those who follow Christ give up something we would otherwise rely upon, letting our hunger for that thing drive us towards deeper dependence on God as we prepare for the redemption we celebrate on Easter Sunday.
In a sense, we who fast in some way during Lent leave something behind for a period of time. We know that at some point we may return to that thing. But for 40 days or so, we do not take it with us, do not rely upon it in the same way we otherwise would.
As is the case with many of the practices (like Lent) that our early church fathers and mothers introduced, the work God might do in us during throughout this season will look different for each of us. Thereâs no exhaustive list of what God does when we leave something behind, letting its importance to us diminish, allowing room for the Holy Spirit to increase Godâs importance and form us spiritually.
And yet this year there is perhaps a particular quality to our practice of leaving something behind. Since last Easter, the Church has been moved by the stories of millions in the Middle East forced to leave behind almost all that they own. As bullets and bombs that were once miles away suddenly advanced to the streets where they lived, they fled for safety. Fleeing in the middle of the night, they took next to nothing with them, leaving behind homes, cars, family photos, precious heirlooms and more.
This lenten season, as we leave behind things of varying importance to us, perhaps the Holy Spirit will introduce yet another way in which we are spiritually formed. Perhaps God might give us a subtle yet profound reminder of our brothers and sisters forced to leave behind their very lives, a reminder that moves us to new levels of compassion. And perhaps we might even practiceâin some small wayâthe spirit of dependency our refugee friends practice on a daily basis, a practice that would lead us throughout Lent and beyond to experience true justice with ourselves, with our neighbor and with God.
World Relief Restructures
â ANNOUNCEMENT â
Date: 28 January 2016
World Relief Restructures Leadership Team to Seize New Opportunities and Strengthen its Impact
For more than 70 years World Relief has empowered the local church to serve millions in some of the hardest place in the world. Over the past five years, World Relief has stepped out in significant ways. The organization developed a standardized philosophy, curriculum and set of tools to significantly increase and measure its global impact. It expanded its footprint to the Middle East and Europe, positioning the organization to take an important leadership in the current refugee crisis. It launched The Justice Conference, a global movement seeking to meaningfully combine faith and action. And it extended its refugee resettlement program, adding six offices (for a total of 27) throughout the United States. World Relief remains a preferred choice among churches, donors and partners.
Anticipating the next five years, World Relief desires to extend its impact and influence, preparing itself to both learn and unlearn, while envisioning a new wave of growth. But the world in which it operates is changing. âWorld Reliefâs mission has never been more important nor more relevant. Yet our context has never been more challenging. The roles and priorities of the Church, governments, and individuals, as well as the nature of relief, development and philanthropy have significantly changed. But World Reliefâs calling has not,â said Stephan Bauman, President and CEO.
World Relief desires to build on its position that both catalyzes Church engagement and empowers churches and church networks as never before to serve the most vulnerable. In order to realize this vision, the organization is splitting the role of President and CEO into two distinct roles. Our CEO will be responsible for the overall effectiveness of the organization in pursuit of its mission. Our President will be responsible for taking World Reliefâs mission to the next level of relevance, impact and engagement with individual stakeholders, partners, and policymakers to advocate, educate and act on behalf of the most vulnerable.
Effective February 1, 2016, Stephan Bauman, World Reliefâs current President and CEO, will continue as President while former Board member, Tim Breene, will assume the role of Chief Executive Officer.
As President and CEO, Stephan led the organization towards greater clarity and execution of its mission, overhauled its strategy, increased private revenue and expanded its footprint in the Middle East, Europe and the U.S. Prior to becoming CEO in 2011, Stephan served as World Reliefâs Senior Vice President of Programs where he directed International and U.S. programming. He joined World Relief in 2005 as the Country Director in Rwanda.
Tim Breene served on the Board of World Relief from 2010 to 2015 and has been acting as interim CMO since last September. He brings a wealth of relevant experience to his new role as CEO of World Relief. Timâs business career spanned nearly 40 years with organizations like McKinsey, where he was a Partner, and Accenture where, in over a decade of different global leadership roles, he acted variously as Group Chief, Executive Business Consulting, Chief Strategy and Corporate Development Officer and Founder and Chief Executive of Accenture Interactive.
Tim and his wife Michelle had their introduction to World Relief through their home church, Grace Chapel, in Boston, MA, a long time World Relief partner in Malawi, Haiti, India, and global refugee work. Through their involvement at Grace Chapel the Breeneâs have traveled to World Reliefâs work in various parts of the world.
Tim and Michele have a wealth of international experience including working with Christian leaders in the majority world.
Tim is also the co-author of Jumping the S-Curve published by Harvard Publishing as well as several Harvard Business Review articles. He serves on the Board of Trustees of Gordon College in Wenham Massachusetts.
Together, as President and CEO, Stephan Bauman and Tim Breene, will embrace an agenda to build on World Reliefâs distinct commitment to the Church as the essential vehicle for individual and community transformation while creating a more robust and sustainable engine to power its mission, influence and impact. âI couldnât be more honored to partner with Tim Breene, the Board, our partners, and my colleagues as we look to the future together,â said Stephan Bauman.
âBy restructuring our leadership, we believe we are positioning the organization for significant impact in the future. While we are proud of the progress and impact we have made in the last few years, in order to experience a new horizon of growth, we must invest in our systems and overall economic model to extend our promise to the most vulnerable, our partners and staff. The partnership between Stephan and Tim is critical to our success,â said Steve Moore, Chairman of the Board.
âMaking World Relief a magnet for all who wish to see renewal and restoration brought to âthe least of theseâ requires an organization that not only calls on people but also makes the most of their gifts and passion with a commitment to learning, excellence and teamwork,â said CEO, Tim Breene.
Contact: Jenny Yang // jyang@wr.org // 443.527.8363
How do we foster generosity in the next generation?
In this season of giving, how do we foster generosity when so much of the modern Christmas experience through the eyes of a child is about getting?
We talked with Joanne Graffam about raising cheerful givers. As a mother of four and grandmother of kids ranging from ages three to 14, Joanne and her husband Alan have taught their children and grandchildren to live by 2 Corinthians 9:7, proclaiming âEach of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.â
Reflecting on her upbringing, Joanne shared how her parents taught her what it meant to give. And when she married the son of Dr. Everett Graffam, Executive Director of World Relief until his retirement in 1978, her interest in giving to World Relief was sparked through the stories Dr. Graffam frequently shared about the needs of the people in the many places he visited. Alan and Joanne have passed along these lessons to their four children through conversations at home and mission trips to Paraguay, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Russia and around the U.S.
One simple way the Graffams foster generosity in their family is through a holiday tradition. At Thanksgiving each of their children and grandchildren chose a gift from World Reliefâs Catalog of Hope. There is much joy in seeing how each one, young and old, chose a gift that reflects their interests and whatâs been laid on their heart. At Christmas, each child and grandchild will receive a card provided by World Relief that explains how the chosen gift will make an impact through World Reliefâs work in the area of either health and child development, economic development, disaster response, refugee and immigration services or peace building.
This straightforward tradition practiced by the Graffam family is rooted in the true meaning of Christmas and allows the power of generosity to be experienced on a tangible level both by both the giver and the receiver. Because of people like the Graffams over 3.5 million people across the globe have been served by World Relief in 2015. And because of younger people being intentionally shaped by the Graffamsâand all of you similar parents and grandparents out thereâWorld Relief will continue making an impact for good across the globe for years to come.
And by the way, itâs never too late to start teaching your children or grandchildren about the power of generosity.
How can we empower the vulnerable in a holistic way?
In every passing moment, children are orphaned by disease, women are widowed by violence, families are devastated by natural disasters and refugees are fleeing their homeland due to persecution. These stories of the vulnerable can be heartbreaking. Here at World Relief, we work with local churches to holistically serve communities.
This Christmas season we are challenging 1000 people to join World Relief by giving $100 to help support needs of the most vulnerable:
Your gift helps support our 5 key initiatives across the globe:
- Health and Child Development
- Peace Building Programs
- Refugee and Immigration Services
- Disaster Response Initiatives
- Economic Development
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You have the chance to make a difference now.
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