Refugee part of family of eight Liberians
In 1949, when the Disciples began resettling refugees from Europe in cooperation with Church World Service, it was thought that once everyone was resettled, the program would end. However, the world has continued to produce refugees. Today, 57 years later, the Refugee and Immigration Ministries program located in Disciples Home Missions (DHM) and supported by Week of Compassion, has resettled 30,000 refugees.
The 30,000th refugee is part of a family of eight Liberians resettled by Amherst (N.Y.) Community Church—a combined Disciples/UCC congregation. The family arrived in June from Ghana where they had been living in a refugee camp since fleeing their homeland in 1996.
"What can we do for this family? We can do what Christ asks us to do. We can help them with the transition as they get started with their lives in a new country. It is a hands-on task that can involve the entire congregation—the children, the young adults, the middle-aged adults and the seniors in your congregation. Everyone can help refugees and no one needs to travel thousands of miles to do it," said Jean Haller, member of Amherst's Outreach Committee and head of the congregation's resettlement ministry.
Read more about the family of the 30,000th refugee. |
| Refugee and Immigration Ministries |
To learn more about how your congregation can sponsor a refugee or how you can advocate for refugees, contact Jennifer Riggs at (317) 713-2643 or (888) 346-2631.
Visit the RIM Web site to learn more about its work.
Updates on RIM issues
About four times a year, DHM‘s Refugee and Immigration Ministries program staff post updates on the DHM Web site about what is happening on refugee and immigration issues and sends an e-mail message to persons who have asked to be alerted when these updates are posted. See past updates and sign up to receive e-mail notifications when new updates are posted on the RIM Web site.
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