Befriending Refugees in a Divided Time: One Church Responds

Strangers Becoming Friends

An unknown author once wrote, “A stranger is always a stranger until someone calls them a friend.” In a charged environment where rhetoric concerning immigrants is polarized—and policies are increasingly harsh—Good Neighbor Teams at Rez have been responding to this call to show friendship and welcome.

Several teams were established in the Spring of 2025, with 35–40 people involved. They’ve walked with World Relief refugee families from Venezuela, Afghanistan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

These families often need practical help and support as they adjust to life in a new place. But more than anything, they need to feel a sense of belonging. In seeking to extend this belonging, many volunteers find themselves transformed as well.

A Ministry of Presence

A volunteer named Gerard says his experience has opened his eyes to the complex decisions refugee families must make. For the sake of schooling stability, some of the children in the family he works with stay in one suburb while parents pursue work opportunities elsewhere. “It isn’t about running errands for them,” he says. “It is about being present while they make decisions most of us never have to think about.” 

Another volunteer serving a family from the DRC describes the intense pressure the mother feels. Back home, she was highly capable and multilingual, with a strong professional identity. Here, everything from transportation to basic technology is new. 

“She feels inferior in ways she isn’t used to,” the volunteer shares.“The biggest thing she needs is someone who doesn’t see her as helpless, but as a whole person.”

Other stories highlight the small but meaningful moments of joy that break through seasons of strain. Valerie, on a team supporting an Afghan family, describes how a balloon and a small birthday gift for the family’s little girl turned into an unexpectedly intimate moment. As they celebrated, the mother opened up about their flight from Afghanistan and the losses they carry. Valerie says, “It’s not that we solved anything. It is that she felt safe enough to talk.”

Glimpses of Heaven

Volunteer Tim Davis has served on multiple Good Neighbor Teams and hosted families in his home for weeks or months at a time. He speaks about the lack of margin many families face—multiple jobs, no car, little flexibility—which makes even helpful meetings difficult to schedule. 

But he also shares moments that feel like glimpses of something deeper. One devout Christian family, as they prepared to move into housing of their own, prayed over Tim’s family for an hour—offering blessings and prophetic encouragement.

Another memory stays with him: an Easter meal where a refugee family shared stories of separation and trauma. “It is heartbreaking,” he says. “But sitting around the table together—people from different places, speaking different languages—it feels like a glimpse of Heaven. We cried together.” 

Many immigrants bring a vibrant Christian faith, strengthening churches and communities in bold ways. Others arrive with no exposure to Christianity at all—and encounter it for the first time through ordinary acts of hospitality. 

God’s Story

“God is using global migration patterns to redeem things we might otherwise fear,” says Keith Draper, Regional Director of Church Mobilization for World Relief Chicagoland. “He’s inviting us to participate.” 

That invitation is what Rez’s Good Neighbor Teams are responding to—quietly, consistently, without fanfare. Their stories suggest that while the needs are large, the work often begins simply: calling a stranger a friend and choosing to walk with them from there.

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Your refugee and other immigrant neighbors in Chicagoland need your presence and support more than ever in 2026!

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