Press Release

World Relief expresses dismay at the Trump Administration’s decision to place a 120 day moratorium on the Refugee Admissions Program, and to indefinitely exclude refugees from many of the world’s most vulnerable populations.

World Relief Vice President of Advocacy and Policy, Jenny Yang, releases the following statement commending the reintroduction of the Iraq and Syria Genocide Emergency Relief and Accountability Act (H.R. 390) co-sponsored by Reps. Smith and Eshoo:

On December 9th, a bipartisan bill, the BRIDGE Act, was introduced in the U.S. Senate, the BRIDGE Act, which would sustain the temporary relief from deportation offered to particular young people through the Department of Homeland Security’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. 

World Relief has worked for decades with the evangelical community to welcome refugees as an expression of our faith. We look forward to working with the incoming administration to express that broad church support for diverse refugees coming into our country, as well as the robust public private partnership that is the cornerstone of the US refugee resettlement program. We also look forward to helping all Americans understand the actual facts amid some popular misinformation, because the United States should be justifiably proud of its long history of bipartisan leadership, compassion, and robust processes when it comes to the refugee resettlement program.

Our hearts and our prayers go out to the families of the victims and as well as the faculty, staff and student body of Ohio State University.

World Relief CEO Tim Breene and President Scott Arbeiter issue the following joint statement:

We congratulate President-elect Donald Trump on his election victory. Since 1944, World Relief has been pleased to work with Democratic and Republican administrations to advance a humanitarian mandate that is at the heart of the American ideal and at the heart of our theology as a Christian organization.

World Relief announced today that its President, Stephan Bauman, has resigned to take up the position of Executive Director at Cornerstone Trust, a foundation based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, seeking to bring transformation to the least accessed and resourced regions of the world. Scott Arbeiter, former Chair of the Board of World Relief and former Lead Pastor at Elmbrook Church in Wisconsin, will assume the role of World Relief’s President, effective August 15, 2016. Scott will serve alongside Tim Breene, World Relief’s CEO.

World Relief Restructures Leadership Team to Seize 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 places 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.

World Relief Opposes H.R. 4038, the American Security Against Foreign Enemies (SAFE) Act. The House of Representatives passed H.R. 4038, the American Security Against Foreign Enemies (SAFE) Act, which would create an extra layer of certification in order for Syrian and Iraqi refugees to come to the United States as refugees in addition to additional reporting requirements. World Relief, the humanitarian arm of the National Association of Evangelicals, is strongly against this legislation and urges the United States to continue to welcome and protect Syrian and Iraqi refugees.