World Relief Celebrates World Refugee Day, Calls for a Renewed Imagination for Refugees

Global Christian humanitarian organization and refugee resettlement agency invites church to “Believe in More”

Contact: Lauren Rasmussen, media@wr.org, 802.310.4255

BALTIMORE, Md. – Today, World Relief joins advocates, practitioners and refugees in celebrating the contributions and lamenting the ongoing suffering of refugees around the world. In the U.S. as World Refugee Day falls during the celebration of the U.S.’s 250th Anniversary, World Relief is calling on the church to believe in more and embrace a renewed imagination for refugees in the U.S., drawing on the U.S.’s long and storied history of immigration.

Founded after World War II when a Boston-based church gathered resources for the post-war refugee crisis, World Relief has been supporting refugees in the U.S. and abroad for 82 years. The Refugee Act of 1980 codified the internationally-recognized definition of a refugee – someone who has had to leave their country of origin due to a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership with a particular group – and laid out the U.S.’s commitment to provide haven to some of the most vulnerable displaced people in the world every year. Since the Refugee Act was codified, World Relief has resettled nearly 325,000 refugees and other vulnerable immigrants who legally qualify for refugee resettlement support. In the last year, the number of refugees admitted to the U.S. has plummeted to a historic low, narrowing to focus on one country of origin and cutting off a lifeline for thousands of individuals and families who have suffered unspeakable persecution and violence.

“No one chooses the life of a refugee,” commented Myal Greene, president and CEO of World Relief. “Whether someone is running from persecution on account of race, religion or another factor, being severed from one’s home and everything one holds dear is excruciating. The refugees we are privileged to walk alongside, in partnership with local churches both in the United States and around the world, embody unimaginable courage and resilience. Many also hold incredible hope. To flee from is also to flee towards something better, toward safety, toward freedom and toward a better future for themselves and their families.”

For World Refugee Day this year, World Relief offices are gathering across the country to honor the refugees in their midst, through educational evenings, prayer services, soccer tournaments, festivals and other gatherings. Additionally, hundreds of advocates across the country have signed up for a virtual advocacy week, preparing to meet with the offices of their U.S. Senators and Representatives and petition them to champion an increased refugee resettlement ceiling for Fiscal Year 2027, as well as to ensure that U.S. humanitarian investments reach the most vulnerable around the world.

“As we mark the United States’ 250th birthday this year, we celebrate a nation that has been blessed time and again by the contributions of those who fled persecution and hardship in other nations and found safety, freedom and opportunity here,” commented Matthew Soerens, vice president of advocacy and policy at World Relief. “World Refugee Day is an opportunity to celebrate that legacy in the U.S., and it is also a time to recommit ourselves to policies reflective of the principle that all human beings, regardless of their country of origin, are ‘endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.’ We call the church in the U.S. to be partners in believing in more for refugees and for the communities coming alongside them.”

To learn more about World Relief’s World Refugee Day activities and ways to get involved, visit worldrelief.org.