The call to welcome the stranger has never been more urgent. Right now, the world is facing the largest displacement crisis in recorded history — according to the U.N., more than 122 million people have been forced to flee their homes due to conflict, persecution and disaster.
In FY24, World Relief’s U.S. offices and affiliates responded to this global crisis by resettling more refugees and Special Immigrant Visa holders, such as Afghans who assisted the U.S. military, than ever before. Across the country, 12,328 people were welcomed into new communities and offered safe housing, warm meals and the support needed to rebuild their lives.
To help us accomplish this, we launched innovative programs that expanded resettlement opportunities to more welcoming communities. Through our virtual Reception & Placement (R&P) program, we provided remote case management to 537 refugees reuniting with family and integrating into communities beyond our physical office locations.
We also partnered with the Welcome Corps, a new U.S. federal program allowing groups of private citizens to sponsor resettling refugees. We trained and supported 32 Welcome Corps Private Sponsor teams across the U.S. as part of our Good Neighbor Team (GNT) program. In all, we launched 165 GNTs through the Welcome Corps and our U.S. offices to walk alongside newly arrived refugees and immigrants. By using the tools and technology available to us, we rose to meet this historic moment with a historic movement of welcome. But World Relief’s story of refugee resettlement isn’t just about numbers — it’s about people. It’s a story about what happens when followers of Jesus embrace their calling to be the church, showing love and welcome to those in need.
A Legacy of Church-Led Welcome
For over 40 years, we have partnered with the church to welcome refugees. It all began when Evelyn and Grady Mangham, former missionaries in Vietnam, mobilized churches to open their homes, provide jobs and build community with families displaced by the Vietnam War. In a single year, these churches welcomed over 10,000 refugees.
By 1979, this church-led movement grew into World Relief’s U.S. refugee resettlement program. Under Grady’s leadership, we partnered with the U.S. State Department, becoming the first evangelical organization authorized to resettle refugees.
Since then, more than 500,000 refugees and other immigrants have been welcomed through our offices and our network of churches and volunteers across the country. Families like the Ibrahims, who arrived in Western New York in 2024 and were greeted at the airport by a GNT from Perinton Presbyterian Church.
A Community of Care of Prayer
GNTs are teams of volunteers, often from a local church, who commit to walking alongside new refugee arrivals during their first six months in the U.S. They help their new neighbors navigate the community and are their first friends in unfamiliar surroundings.
The Perinton GNT was eager to help the Ibrahim family feel at home, but when they first met, they assured them they didn’t want to overwhelm them either. Byamungu Ibrahim, the father, looked at them and said, “It’s no bother. You’re my family now.”
In the weeks that followed the Ibrahim family’s arrival, their GNT became more than just welcoming faces — they became a lifeline. When Jowa, the mother of the family, needed transportation to her first prenatal check-up in the U.S., GNT volunteer Diana drove her to the appointment. There, doctors discovered complications and rushed her in for an emergency C-section.
Immediately, the GNT team began to pray. “They had only been here three weeks, but we felt an intense care and an urgent need to pray,” one team member shared.
After receiving care at the hospital, the family welcomed a healthy baby boy. They named him Mark, after one of their GNT members. “They have a strong faith, and I think it helps them weather this,”Mark said.“We share that with them, too.”
The Church’s Mission Continues
With a new U.S. presidential administration in office, we know the future will hold challenges for refugees hoping to find safety in the U.S. and for the communities that hope to welcome them. But we also know this: We will continue to answer God’s call to welcome the stranger in partnership with the church, no matter what.
We began welcoming refugees because faithful Christ followers like the Mangham’s and local churches — thousands of them! — opened their arms to those fleeing persecution and suffering. By God’s grace, we will continue this legacy of welcome for the next 40 years and beyond.
But it’s not a mission we can accomplish alone. We need people like you. People who don’t want to just do church, but who want to be the church, opening their arms with love to the stranger. World Relief’s story of refugee resettlement began with the church, and it will continue alongside the church.
Whether welcoming record numbers of new arrivals like we did in FY24 or deepening our care for refugees who are already rebuilding their lives in neighborhoods across the U.S., we will continue to innovate and serve alongside local churches and partners who are committed to the work of welcoming well.
Thank you for standing with us in this critical time so that, together, we can keep writing our story of welcome. We can’t wait to see how God uses you in this next chapter.