Caring for Refugees: A Declaration of Evangelical Response

More than 100 evangelical leaders gathered today at the Billy Graham Center for Evangelism (BGCE) at Wheaton College to discuss how American Christians can best respond to the current refugee crisis. Convened by the BGCE and the college's Humanitarian Disaster Institute, organizers of the GC2 Summit released the following statement:

Impacting nearly 60 million people, the global refugee emergency is a humanitarian crisis of unprecedented size. Never have so many people been recorded as being displaced, put in danger, and sent on the move. In Syria alone, more than 13 million children and their parents need humanitarian aid. Nearly 4.4 million have been forced to flee to neighboring countries for safety.

Moments like these are when Christians cannot remain silent and still. In light of this crisis, we commit ourselves and our churches to actively care for and minister to global refugees with mercy and compassion, both here and abroad, based on God’s compelling concern for all people in need and especially refugees.

In light of these concerns, we affirm the following:

Refugees possess the image of God and, as such, are infinitely valuable to God and to us.

We are commanded to love our neighbor, and it is our privilege to love refugees.

As Christians, we must care sacrificially for the refugee, the foreigner, and the stranger.

We will motivate and prepare our churches and movements to care for refugees.

We will not be motivated by fear but by love for God and others.

Christians are called to grace-filled and humble speech about this issue.

In light of these Christian principles, we cannot allow voices of fear to dominate. Instead, we commit to actions of love and compassion for refugees who have been admitted into our nation(s) in refugee status.

We acknowledge that there are genuine security concerns and encourage governments to be stewards of safety, but we also observe that choosing to come to North America as refugees would be among the least effective ways for those who intend to do us harm.

So, as governments oversee matters of security, we will care for the hurting, calling Christians to embrace refugees through their denomination, congregation, or other nonprofits by providing for immediate and long-term needs, such as housing, food, clothing, employment, English-language classes, and schooling for children.

We distinguish that the refugees fleeing this violence are not our enemies; they are victims. We call for Christians to support ministries showing the love of Jesus to the most vulnerable, those in desperate need, and the hurting. This is what Jesus did; he came to the hurting and brought peace to those in despair.

Critical moments like these are opportunities for us to be like Jesus, showing and sharing his love to the hurting and the vulnerable in the midst of this global crisis. Thus we declare that we care, we are responding because our allegiance is to Jesus, and we seek to be more like him, emulating his compassionate care for the most vulnerable.

Signatories:

Ed Stetzer, Executive Director of LifeWay Research

Rich Stearns, President of World Vision

Stephan Bauman, President & CEO of World Relief

Jo Anne Lyon, General Superintendent of The Wesleyan Church

Frank Page, CEO of the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention

Alton Garrison, Assistant General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God

Jamie Aten, Director of the Humanitarian Disaster Institute

Sue Elworth, Vice President of Development, Marketing & Communications of the Willow Creek Association

Paul Ericksen, Interim Executive Director of The Billy Graham Center for Evangelism

Jenny Yang, Vice President of Advocacy & Policy of World Relief

Amanda Bowman, Director of Church Mobilization of World Vision

Micah Fries, Vice President of LifeWay Research

*Organizations are for identification purposes only.

For theological foundations and footnotes, click here. GC2 invites others to sign the declaration and learn more about its January 20 summit.

Additional signatories:

Kimberly	Reisman	West Lafayette	Indiana	Executive Director	World Methodist Evangelism
David	Crabb	Minneapolis	MN	Co-founder	The Gospel Fund
Matthew	Soerens	Aurora	IL	U.S. Director of Church Mobilization	World Relief
Joshua	Turansky	Orange	CA	Pastor	Calvary Chapel
Soong-Chan	Rah	Chicago	Il	Professor	North Park Theological Seminary
Keelan	Cook	Wake Forest	NC	Urban Resource Coordinator	Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary
Beth	Cossin	Fishers	IN	Director	Wesleyan Justice Network, Wesleyan Church
Randy	Littlefield	Wichita	Kansas	Assoc Suppperintendent Multiplication Ministries	Evangelical Friends Church
Matt	Bennett	Oklahoma City	Oklahoma	Director	People to People Ministries
Nicholas	Kersten	Milton	WI	Director of Education & History	Seventh Day Baptist General Conference of US & Canada
Tony	Burrell	Hammond	IN	Executive Director	The Welcome Network
Todd	Unzicker	Durham	NC	Pastor of Missions	The Summit Church
Ron	Hamilton	Woodbury	MN	Conference Minister	CCCC
Laura	Truax	Chicago	Il	Senior pastor	LaSalle Street Church
Alejandro	Mandes	Minneapolis	MN	National Director of Immigrant Mission	The Evangelical Free Church of America
Chris	McElwee	West Chicago	IL	Pastor of Local Impact	Wheaton Bible Church
Sarah	Blumenshine	Boston	MA	Co-Director, Greater Boston Refugee Ministry	Emmanuel Gospel Center
Tom	De Vries	Grand Rapids	MIchigan	General Secretary	Reformed Church in America
roger	hernandez	lawrenceville	ga	Director	Seventh-day Adventist
Scott	Olson	Elgin	Illinois	President & CEO	International Teams
Bill	Schuit	Denville	NJ	Global Ministries Director	Liebenzell USA
Steve	Jones	Fort Wayne	In	President	The Missionary Church
Matt	McCormick	Fort-Liberte	Haiti	Partner	Paulos Group
Paul	Nethercott	Carol Stream	Illinois	Missionary-Filmmaker	TEAM
Peter	Howard	Washington DC	DC	Senior Director, Emergency Response	Food for the Hungry
Stephen	Offutt	Wilmore	Ky	Professor of Development Studies	Asbury Theological Seminary
David	Drury	Indianapolis	IN	chief of staff	The Wesleyan Church
Roger	Sandberg	Portland	Oregon	Director of Emergency Relief & Global Security	Medical Teams International
Duane	Brown	Wilmore	KY	Senior Director Church Ministry	The Mission Society
Paco	Amador	Chicago	IL	Pastor	New Life Community Church
JR	Rozko	Elgin	IL	Co-Director	Missio Alliance
Phil	Linton	Northville	MIchigan	World Outreach Director	Evangelical Presbyterian Church
Levi	Velasco	Wheaton	IL	President	Global Intercultural Services
Steve	Haas	Tacoma	WA	Chief Catalyst	World Vision
Diane	Velasco	Wheaton	IL	Mrs.	Global Intercultural Services – GLINTS
Nicole	Watts	Syracuse	NY	Executive Director	Hopeprint
Scott	Gustafson	Grand Rapids	MI	Middle East Director	Purpose Global Strategies
Brian	Stiller	Toronto	Ontario Canada	Global Ambassador	World Evangekcal Alliance
Mariam	Varghese	Pompano beach	Fl	VP of Ministry Operations	OneHope
Earl	James	New Brunswick	NJ	Coordinator for Missional Mosaic	Reformed Church in America
Rick	Kingham	Bedford	TX	President	The Center For Glocal Leadership
Mike	Young	Rockford	IL	Regional VP	Kids around the world
Sam	George	Vernon Hills	IL	Executive Director	Parivar International
Bob	Bouwer	Dyer	Indiana	Sr Pastor	Faith Church (RCA)
Vernon	Brewer	Forest	VA	President	World Help
Noel	Yeatts	Forest	VA	Vice President	World Help
AJ	Thomas	Bangor	ME	Rev.	Pathway Wesleyan Church
Brian	Kaylor	Jefferson City	Missouri	Generational Engagement Team Leader	Churchnet
Michael	Wear	Reston	VA	Founder	Public Square Strategies LLC
Darien	Gabriel	Summerville	Sc	Pastor	Grace christian fellowship
Edward	Smither	Columbia	SC	Professor and Dean	Columbia International University
Jonathan	Opgenorth	Orange City	Iowa	Senior Pastor	Trinity Reformed Church
Robert	Hocutt Jr	Greensboro	NC	Program Coordinator	The 5:14 Initiative
Matthew	Terrill	Boston	MA	N/A	Aletheia Church
Tim	McGhee	Powell	Tennessee	Elder for Missions	First Baptist Church, Powell
Tom	Albinson	Minneapolis	MN	President	International Association for Refugees (IAFR)
Josh	Branum	Clarksville	Tennessee	Associate Pastor of Missions	Living Hope Baptist Church
Paul	Fries	Richland Center	Wisconsin	President	Minnesota-Wisconsin Baptist Convention
Ginny	Thompson	Austin	Texas	N/A	N/A
Rob	Clements	Orono	ON	Director	Clements Publishing Group Inc.
Joel	Richardson	Author, Speaker, Film-maker	JoelsTrumpet.com
David	Atwell	Indianapolis	Indiana	Editor	Redeeming Culture
Timothy	Chan	Newark	California	Elder	IMprint Church of Fremont
Brantley	Gasaway	Lewisburg	PA	Associate Professor	Bucknell University
Matt	Stacy	Atlanta	Georgia	Lead Planter	Tapestry Church