Visiting Clarkston, Georgia was not only an eye opening experience, but a heart opening one as well. After our morning introduction to Global Frontier Missions and their work training and equipping missionary candidates for cross-cultural ministry, we headed to the local office of World Relief, a non-profit organization which provides humanitarian aid, disaster and emergency relief through assistance programs to victims of poverty, disease, hunger, war, disasters and persecution.
Among other things, World Relief is a designated refugee resettlement agency contracted with the U.S. State Department to provide transition services to refugees who are resettled in the U.S. There are around 9 of these resettlement agencies working to ensure that newly resettled refugees have basic needs such as safe housing, clothing, transportation, employment, education, language assistance and other needs as they assimilate into a new (and foreign) culture.
David Nelson is the Church Mobilization Manager for the World Relief Atlanta office and after spending just a few minutes with him, I can tell that he’s fully committed to the mission of “empowering the local church to serve the most vulnerable.” His desire to meet the immediate felt as well as spiritual needs of the refugees is matched by his desire to see the church be the Church to the Clarkston refugee community. In case you were wondering how the refugee resettlement actually works, David explained.
The journey to the U.S. begins when a refugee family living in one of the camps set up by the United Nations High Commission on Refugees is selected to be resettled to a new host country. It’s noteworthy that the family doesn’t know or have any say on which country they’ll end up in, but let’s assume it’s Clarkston. The family will pack up their belongings which may be nothing more than the bag they fled with and the clothes on their back, board a plane and head to a new country to try and rebuild their lives.
As a part of the U.S. refugee resettlement program, the family will be allocated $1,125 on arrival for each member. They are also supposed to be provided with at least one part time job. While they don’t have to pay back this initial amount for living expenses, they do have to pay back the government for their plane tickets, which can be a substantial expense for larger families.
Clarkston’s World Relief office is notified of the incoming refugee family and one of the 6 case managers will get their file and be responsible for preparing for their arrival. In addition to the case management team and David’s church mobilization role, World Relief also has an employment department, an education specialist and an immigration legal services office that is available to assist the refugees when they arrive.
The case manager will begin making preparations for the family’s arrival by setting up housing, working with local industry to find a part time job and assisting with financial management. World Relief will work with the refugee for 3 to 6 months, assisting with basic transitional needs such as transportation, enrolling in ESL classes and connecting the family with community leaders and programs.
Refugees have legal status as such when they arrive and can apply for a green card after 1 year. They can apply for citizenship in 5. Clarkston is a fairly transitional community with many refugees relocating after 18-24 months to other areas of the country where they may have extended family or where larger ethnic populations are established. That presents a strategic opportunity for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as these individuals and families are likely to disperse to other areas of the country and resettle in other communities. In addition, refugees who become U.S. citizens have the freedom to travel back and forth to their home countries freely, amplifying their influence.
I asked David what’s the biggest challenge to his work mobilizing the local church, to which he replied, “Education.” It’s a sad fact that many churches are so insulated from the needs of the refugee community – not to mention many other needs! – that they are totally unaware of opportunities to serve the vulnerable.
Scripture is full of exhortations to love and welcome the foreigner, sojourner and stranger. After all, aren’t Christians all spiritually sojourners in a foreign land ourselves? And practical examples abound in the bible where our heroes of the Christian faith, men like Abraham, Moses, David, Elijah and even Jesus and his family, lived as strangers in foreign lands, fleeing from tyrannical governments intent on doing them harm. Serving the vulnerable and those is physical and spiritual need is at the heart of what it means practically to follow Christ. Church mobilization at World Relief is all about education, exposure and experience serving the vulnerable.
Of course, with the political climate being what it is, the topic of terrorism came up as well as the fear that terrorists will infiltrate the U.S. by masquerading as immigrants. I wanted to hear David’s opinion on that since World Relief case managers are on the front line of transitioning refugees into the local community.
“Don’t confuse refugee resettlement with immigration. They are 2 different things.” We tend to throw around the term refugee as a catch all phrase, especially in the politically charged climate of today, but there’s a very specific definition of refugees as it relates to the individuals and families that are being resettled in places like Clarkston, Georgia. According to both international and U.S. law, a refugee is an individual who
- has fled his or her country of origin
- because of a credible fear of persecution
- on account of their race, religion, political opinion, national origin, or social group.
This definition of a refugee does not include those who flee their homes but stay within the boundaries of their country, who are classified as “Internally Displaced Persons.” It also doesn’t include illegal immigrants or asylum seekers. When we’re talking about refugee resettlement, we need to be sure to define our terms!
Over 3 million refugees have been resettled in the U.S. as part of the refugee resettlement program over the past 30 years and there has never been a documented terrorist incident. Of course, the past is no guarantee of the future, but as David explained, if terrorists want to get into the U.S., there are a lot of other ways than through the refugee resettlement program. The fiancé visa and student visa programs were a case in point.
In fact, David argued, because of the rigorous pre-screening process not only by the United Nations, but also by the State Department, FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, the refugee resettlement program should serve as the model that other agencies use to bring people into this country.
At the end of the day, regardless of the political wrangling, refugees will continue to be resettled in Clarkston and other cities around the U.S. And as a result, the Church has a clear responsibility to be there when they come, ministering to their needs, welcoming them into our communities and demonstrating the love of Jesus Christ in both word and deed! And that’s exactly what our next stop was doing.
One last thing…
Also, I ran across a couple of books that you might enjoy. The first is called Running for My Life and is the amazing journey of one of Sudan’s lost boys, Lopez Lomong, from the killing fields of Sudan to the Olympic games. This has been a favorite story in my family. The next one is The Arrival, an imaginative artistic journey through the eyes of an immigrant. This might just be the most beautiful book I’ve ever seen.