Advocate

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

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: Equip Communities to Welcome Afghans

URGENT ACTION: Tell Congress to Equip Our Communities to Welcome Afghans Seeking Safety and Protection

Background: Communities ready to welcome refugees and help them integrate and thrive are preparing to assist 75,000 vulnerable Afghans who have been evacuated from Afghanistan. From August 17 until September 1, approximately 48,000 Afghan evacuees who were in imminent danger arrived in the United States, and we expect tens of thousands more arrivals in the coming weeks. Most of our new Afghan neighbors are entering the United States with “humanitarian parole,” which is temporary immigration relief and does not make them automatically eligible for refugee resettlement services. We need Congress to take action this month to ensure Afghan evacuees receive resettlement and integration services and have the chance to apply for legal permanent residence -- and to ensure that our communities have the resources they need to provide these services. Join us today to ensure that Afghan arrivals can rebuild their lives in safety.

Tell Congress to Enable Our Afghan Allies and Friends to Rebuild Their Lives in Safety

Urge Congress to Create a Just Path to Citizenship for Dreamers and Long-Term Immigrants

Urge Congress to Create a Just Path to Citizenship for Dreamers and Long-Term Immigrants

Now, more than ever, it is essential that Congress enact bipartisan legislative solutions to create a clear path to permanent legal residency and eventual citizenship for long-term immigrants who are rooted, contributing members of our communities, neighborhoods, and congregations. Hundreds of thousands of individuals benefiting from Temporary Protected Status (TPS) have resided lawfully in the United States for more than 20 years. Approximately 1.3 million Dreamers (immigrants brought to the U.S. as children), have resided continuously in the United States since 2007, with many more living here for a decade or longer. Undocumented farmworkers make up about 50% of the agricultural workforce, and a majority of undocumented immigrants overall have resided in the U.S. for over 10 years. Let your Members of Congress know that you support legislation that affirms the long-running contributions of these immigrants by creating an earned path to lawful permanent resident status.

Contact your 2 Senators and 1 Representative.

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.

Learn more and advocate to end gender-based violence

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.

Learn more and advocate

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 also come 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 and 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
Senior V.P of Advocacy & Policy for World Relief

Matthew Soerens is the Senior Vice President of Advocacy & Policy 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 three books: Welcoming the Stranger, Inalienable, and Seeking Refuge: On the Shores of the Global Refugee Crisis (Moody Publishers, 2016).