Advocate – WorldRelief

Whatever the changes to policy, our call and our commitment to putting love in action remain the same. We will still stand.

Will you stand with us?

One crucial way to stand with us today is by speaking up to your elected officials.

Congress has the power to act and often make key decisions that affect vulnerable people around the world and in the United States. When you speak up and contact your elected officials, they are more likely to understand and support positions that would help people we care about.

Take Action Today

Urge Humanitarian Assistance in Ukraine & Protection for Ukrainian Displaced Persons

In the last decade alone, World Relief has resettled 7,300 Ukrainians — that’s nearly 40 percent of all Ukrainian refugees resettled to the U.S. We are ready to support the resettlement of Ukrainian refugees to the United States, however, the primary response to the crisis in Ukraine is meeting the immediate needs of those displaced and those affected by conflict who remain in Ukraine. The United States must lead a global response in supporting the Ukrainian people.

Continue reading and contact your 2 Senators and 1 Representative HERE.

URGENT ACTION: Support the Afghan Adjustment Act

URGENT ACTION: Tell Congress to Support the Afghan Adjustment Act

Background: Over 70,000 Afghans were evacuated to the United States in the summer of 2021. These individuals included translators who helped U.S. troops, women rights activists, religious minorities, and others who were fleeing violence and persecution and were resettled in communities across the United States.

We are advocating for the Afghan Adjustment Act so Afghans who were evacuated will be able to adjust status in the United States. The United States has historically done this for other populations including Cubans, Southeast Asians and Iraqis and we must do it again for Afghans.

Restore Refugee Resettlement

Urge President Biden to Restore the Refugee Resettlement Program

Members of Congress have oversight over what happens with the proposal of the refugee program after it is submitted from the State department and they are responsible for appropriating funding. Their job is to represent the views of their constituents. Let your Representative and Senators know that you support raising the refugee ceiling set by the Presidential Determination to 125,000 and to strengthen the U.S.'s role in aiding vulnerable people fleeing violence and persecution.

Make sure to personalize in text brackets.

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End Gender-Based Violence

Urge Congress to support the Safe from the Start Act and End Gender-Based Violence

In humanitarian emergencies, conflict settings, and natural disasters, women and girls are at the highest risk for violence. One in five refugee or displaced women experiences sexual violence, and living in a conflict-affected area increases the risk of intimate partner violence by 50%.
These numbers display the known presence of violence against women and girls. However, crisis response does not effectively work to prevent gender-based violence, support those who have been affected, or empower women to be a part of the solution. If we seek to protect the most vulnerable, that means we must end gender-based violence in every form, including in humanitarian crises and conflict.

The Safe from the Start Act put forward in the House takes measures to ensure that humanitarian actors have the tools necessary to effectively combat gender-based violence. The Act prioritizes the safety of women and girls from the start by improving the preparedness of organizations involved in aid and providing access to life-saving, wholistic assistance that addresses the physical, psychological, and social consequences of gender-based violence.

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Asylum Seekers and Separated Families

Advocate for Asylum-Seekers and Families At the Border

Many families from Central America and other parts of the world are attempting to cross the U.S. border to seek asylum. However due to the COVID19 pandemic, the border has been effectively closed, shutting off the opportunity for many individuals, including unaccompanied children fleeing persecution, to find protection in the United States. Several recent policies have meant that parents are often forced to make unnecessary, harmful decisions to keep their families detained indefinitely or face separation from their children and many individuals who could qualify for asylum are being returned to dangerous situations.

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Convening a Christian conscience on behalf of the vulnerable is a core call of World Relief and an integral way that we empower local churches to serve and stand with the vulnerable. We consider it an essential task to engage the American church and remind leaders and congregations alike that our Christian faith should compel us to seek justice and mercy for the vulnerable and suffering.In increasingly divisive times, we are proud of our leading role as a thoughtful voice in the U.S. evangelical community.

World Relief intercedes on behalf of those who are suffering, in poverty or without protection, in order to influence those in positions of power who can save lives. We seek to not only defend and speak up on behalf of the vulnerable, but with and alongside them.Our commitment to advocate on behalf of the poor and oppressed is based on biblical truths and on the example of Jesus. We believe that such advocacy is an important witness to a watching world about the character of Jesus.

To that end, the World Relief Advocacy Team seeks to:

Address structural inequality & violence
Increase awareness
Build a movement for justice
Deepen empathy and understanding
Catalyze engagement

"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute."

— Proverbs 31:8

Our Team

Matthew Soerens
U.S. Director of Church Mobilization for World Relief

Matthew Soerens is the US Director of Church Mobilization for World Relief, where he helps evangelical churches to understand the realities of refugees and immigration and to respond in ways guided by biblical values. He also serves as the National Coordinator for the Evangelical Immigration Table, a coalition that advocates for immigration reforms consistent with biblical values.

Matthew previously served as a Department of Justice-accredited legal counselor at World Relief’s local office in Wheaton, Illinois and, before that, with World Relief’s partner organization in Managua, Nicaragua. He’s also the co-author of Seeking Refuge: On the Shores of the Global Refugee Crisis (Moody Publishers, 2016).

Jenny Yang
SVP of Advocacy and Policy at World Relief

Jenny Yang is the Senior Vice President of Advocacy and Policy at World Relief where she provides oversight for all advocacy initiatives and policy positions for the organization and leads the organization’s public relations efforts. In this position, she coordinates and leads the marketing, programs, and strategic engagement division teams on media relations, public engagement and brand elevation strategies. She also represents the organization’s advocacy priorities to the U.S. government and leads mobilization efforts for churches on advocacy campaigns. She has worked over a decade in refugee protection, immigration policy, and human rights and was on an active deployment roster for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Previous to World Relief, she worked at one of the largest political consulting companies in Maryland. Jenny is co-author of “Welcoming the Stranger: Justice, Compassion and Truth in the Immigration Debate" and contributing author to three other books. Jenny was named one of the “50 Women to Watch” by Christianity Today.