Moving Beyond Welcoming: the Implications of Churches in the United States Welcoming Refugees

Abstract

This paper explores the relationship American churches can have with incoming and resettled refugees. Since the United States resettles the highest amount of refugees in the world, this influx should push churches to remember and practice the biblical notion of welcoming the stranger. By using the refugee resettlement agency World Relief in Seattle, Washington mission statement to “empower the local church to serve the most vulnerable” this paper questions the role of American churches in refugees’ lives. This also paper pushes churches to recognize that welcoming refugees is not the sole purpose of the church. By welcoming refugees churches are transformed to be more of the presence of Christ to refugees, their community, and the American society. The goal of this paper asks what refugees can teach churches about social injustice issues affecting various immigrant groups and how being a disciple of Christ helps to answer these issues.