Posts Tagged ‘Refugees’
In Celebration of Courage and Leadership
Messengers at the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention cast ballots for a resolution during the afternoon session Tuesday, June 14 in St. Louis. Photo by Chris Carter, Copyright © 2016 Baptist Press, Southern Baptist Convention
As we in the United States look towards next week’s celebration of Independence Day, we are mindful of the millions around the world whose daily experience does not include many of the same rights and freedoms we enjoy. As we remember them, we recommit ourselves to standing with these vulnerable people groups. We also celebrate those who are working to bring hope and help to so many vulnerable people.
We are especially grateful in this season for the commitment recently expressed by the Southern Baptist Convention in their resolution to welcome refugees who are resettling in the United States. As the largest denomination in the United States, we know that the effects of their resolution will echo not only throughout their own churches, but throughout countless U.S. churches of many denominations. We are grateful for, and celebrate the moral courage and leadership the Southern Baptist Convention has shown in this area.
We also celebrate the ongoing work of Preemptive Love—an organization of individuals who continue to risk their lives to deliver food and aid to Iraqi families caught in the crossfire of the operation to liberate Fallujah from ISIS control. This week, Preemptive Love team members encountered more danger than at any other time in their organization’s history. We are inspired by their courage to risk everything in order to meet the essential needs of those in and around Fallujah.
Finally, we are grateful for and celebrate each of you. At World Relief, we know that you not only faithfully support our work to stand with the vulnerable around the world, but that you also faithfully stand with the vulnerable in your day to day lives. We remember Jesus’ words that as you serve “the least of these,” you serve Jesus himself. For the many ways in which you work to bring freedom, hope, health and love to the lives of those in your churches, schools, places of work, and neighborhoods—we celebrate your courage and leadership.
Â
When a Story Becomes a Person
[this blog post was written by Kelly Dolan, World Relief’s Content Strategy Manager.]
If you can’t remember anything about World Refugee Day 2015, you’re not alone. If you’re like me, you didn’t even know such a day existed. I mean, we knew (roughly) what a refugee was because we’d occasionally hear a story in the news about those who had been displaced. But that’s all the refugee crisis was for a while—a distant story.
But then one morning last September, our computer and TV screens were filled with the now tragically iconic picture of the lifeless body of three-year-old Alan Kurdi, his body washed up on a Turkish beach. As we learned more about one refugee child, a story in the news suddenly became a person.
This happened before I came to work for World Relief, before I was learning and telling the stories of refugees on an almost daily basis. I’m honestly embarrassed I didn’t know more about the refugee crisis before the photo surfaced.
After all that’s happened this year, more of us are aware of World Refugee Day 2016. And many of us care about refugees in a new way. But now there’s a different kind of story that’s filling our computer and TV screens. It goes like this…
“Refugees are dangerous. They’re violent people. They’re a threat to whatever country takes them in. The only way we can truly protect our country from terrorism is to keep refugees out.”
I’m guessing you’ve heard that story at least once already today. But without being rooted in any facts or personal narrative, that’s all it is—another story. It’s a story based on fear. There are some who want to use recent tragic events to tell us a story that creates fear. It may be a convenient story for their agenda. But it doesn’t make it true.
So today, on World Refugee Day, we want to not only tell you a different story, but to introduce you to a person. Meet Samir, a young man from Syria who has experienced much pain and much suffering, but has also found much hope.
If you’ve been afraid of refugees resettling in your town, our hope is that by meeting Samir, you’ll see your new refugee neighbors a bit differently. We hope it inspires you to meet more refugees. Because when you meet a refugee, a story becomes a person. And it’s much harder to be afraid—and so much easier to extend a loving welcome—when it’s a real person, not just a story in the news.
Also, let’s use today as a reminder to do everything we can to make sure that our new refugee neighbors like Samir don’t see us as just a story. Today, let’s commit to extending ourselves to our refugee neighbors so that as they are in the process of adjusting to a new country, new culture, potentially a new language, and discovering their best contribution to a society far from the place they once called home, we become real people to them as well.
As a story becomes a person for each of us, may God bring hope, healing, and peace to us all.
Want to know exactly how you can help refugees? Here are 6 ways.
Want to support World Relief as we serve refugees? Commit $15/month through Unlock Hope.
The Refugee Crisis is My Problem
[The following blog post was written by Mark Lamb, World Relief’s Church Partnership Director. Mark recently returned from a trip to the Middle East with Eugene Cho and One Day’s Wages.]
Just a few weeks ago, Eugene and I along with a translator, walked a little girl home from one of the schools that One Day’s Wages has been sharing about this week. It was a beautiful, sunny, 75-degree day and this little girl with her pink backpack and her hair in a ponytail reminded me of my two daughters. As we walked, she got turned around and so we wandered through the streets enjoying the day together.
Eventually we got back on course and found our way to her home where we were warmly invited in by her mother and grandmother. It was a small two-room cinderblock apartment which looked like a construction project that hadn’t quite been finished. The ceilings were low and a small 1980s TV was playing in the corner. We sat on the floor around the edges of the room on thin cushions and talked about our hopes for our kids. (There was a future Syrian doctor in the room, we were told.) Even with the stop-start cadence of communicating through translation, it was easy to forget we were talking with refugees. They were people. Parents with hopes for their kids and kids who love to play with their friends at school.
This encounter, along with many others I had over two weeks, has forced me to confront my own apathy. Is this crisis my problem? Is this your problem?
At every turn, it seems like people around the globe are saying, “Not my problem.” Countries around Syria are erecting fences and even shooting refugees who try to cross. The EU is paying Turkey to keep refugees from migrating to Europe. At its highest number, 31 U.S. governors said they would not take Syrian refugees in their states. The Governor of Texas sued a refugee resettlement agency and the Governor of Georgia temporarily refused State services to Syrian refugee families.
At World Relief, we’re a group of Christians striving to follow the example of Jesus, who left the comforts of heaven for the messiness of this world. He entered into our reality, ultimately offering up his life for us. We fail at following his example a lot. You may too. But, we think it’s worth it to step into this situation and say, “This is my problem.”
We’re partnering with One Day’s Wages because both organizations are passionate about saying, “This is my problem.” We invite you to join us. You can give to our joint campaign, but we hope you won’t stop with that. More than giving, we hope you’ll find refugees where you live. We hope you’ll enter into their lives through relationship and advocate on their behalf. I think you’ll find little girls with pink backpacks, future doctors, and moms with high hopes for their kids.
[World Relief provides various opportunities to serve refugees locally across the US through Good Neighbor Teams. Check with your local World Relief office]
The Refugee Crisis is My Problem
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.
6 Ways You Can Help Syrian Refugees Today
You’ve read the statistics. You’ve seen the images. And you’ve heard the stories of the Syrian refugee crisis. But you haven’t 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 staggering—half 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 don’t 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.
-
Help refugees rebuild their lives in the U.S. Join the campaign today.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
Continue to learn more about the crisis. This list of resources provided by We Welcome Refugees is a great place to start.
-
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 engage—to provide help where help is needed—in some meaningful way.
Jenny Yang, World Relief VP of Policy & Advocacy on Refugee Resettlement
So how does this refugee thing work, exactly? In light of the worst refugee crisis since WWII, Canon & Culture welcomes Jenny Yang, World Relief VP of Policy and Advocacy to find out. Jenny provides a thorough view of the refugee process from the point of original displacement to several months beyond initial resettlement.
Who is a refugee and what do they go through to get to the U.S.?
A refugee is someone who has fled one’s home country and cannot return because of a well-founded fear of persecution based on religion, race, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group.
Check out this infographic to learn the steps refugees must go through when immigrating to the United States. Then, learn more about the ways we currently serve refugees in the U.S.
U.S REFUGEE SCREENING PROCESS INFOGRAPHIC
World Relief provides initial resettlement and placement as well as employment, education and legal services for refugees arriving in the United States. Collaborating with local churches and volunteers, World Relief comes alongside vulnerable families as they begin their lives in the U.S. Since 1979, World Relief has helped resettle more than 260,000 refugees from over 80 nations.
Acceptance. Friendship. Hope: Good Neighbor Teams go beyond supplying material needs to refugees
World Relief currently provides refugees with resettlement assistance that includes housing, employment services, micro-enterprise loans and immigration services. But we cannot do it alone. We depend heavily on volunteer and church support, both financially and in practical ways. Churches and small groups around the country are mobilizing into Good Neighbor Teams to serve newly arriving refugee families for a period of six to 12 months—supplying material needs like food, clothing, and transportation, and tangible services like school registration, community orientation, job preparation and English tutoring.
Good Neighbor Teams also recognize the importance of offering even greater gifts to refugee families. By valuing the stories, dreams and contributions of the newcomers, churches and small groups are extending the gifts of friendship, belonging, and acceptance to those who are entering an unfamiliar world.
Life Center North Church in Spokane recognized its vision and mission fit seamlessly into World Relief’s mission to empower the local Church to serve the most vulnerable. The church’s leadership trusted God to catalyze missionally-minded people from among its 1,100-member congregation to form an initial World Relief Good Neighbor Team.
The team, comprised of people of different ages and stages of life, came alongside recent refugees to Spokane, including the 11-member Muslim family from Somalia. Lead Pastor Mark Mead, who led the initial team, said, “We are connected to a mission beyond ourselves as we obey the Great Commission.” He expected the team would be a blessing to refugee families, but he wasn’t expecting the blessings that came to him and his church as a result of serving. In the next year, the church hopes to form six to ten more Good Neighbor Teams.
“We share the mission of Jesus and that is what attracts people to our group,” says Pastor Mead. “Thank you, World Relief for helping mobilize the local church to what moves the heart of God.”
Â
Â
Webinar on The Church and the Refugee | Refugee Crisis
Learn from Gabe Lyons (Q Ideas) as he speaks with Rich Stearns (World Vision U.S., CEO), and Stephan Bauman (World Relief, CEO) about how the church must play a key role in engaging in the current Middle East refugee crisis. This webinar explores core issues behind the headlines surrounding the U.S. refugee program and potential security concerns, and provides perspectives on and presents a clear call to the Church to raise its voice as one this Christmas.
Â
The hallmark of our country is to welcome the persecuted
Jenny Yang, Vice President of Advocacy and Policy at World Relief, joined Suzanne Meridien of Syrian American Council on Hashtag VOA (Voice of America) earlier today to bring clarity on how the Paris Attacks have created an uncertain future for Syrian Refugees in the United States and what we, as Americans and Christians, can do to welcome refugees.“One of the hallmarks of our country is actually to welcome the persecuted.” – Jenny Yang
View the full interview below:
