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The next is a joint letter in honor of World Refugee Day from Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).
“The alien who resides with you shall be to you because the citizen amongst you; you shall love the alien as your self, for you have been aliens within the land of Egypt: I’m the Lord your God.”
—Leviticus 19:34
This 12 months we mark World Refugee Day, on June 20, conscious that welcoming refugees and asylum-seekers is extra vital than ever. Midway by means of 2022, the United Nations Excessive Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) raised its estimate of the variety of displaced folks world wide, from 89.3 on the finish of 2021 to 103 million. Households flee their properties for a lot of causes: battle (as we’ve seen in Sudan and the Russia-Ukraine Struggle), persecution, human rights violations, rising violence towards and exclusion of Indigenous and African-descent communities, and pure disasters intensified by Earth’s local weather disaster. Prolonged durations of displacement in camps put on on the uprooted, affecting their well being, entry to schooling, and monetary safety. We should reside out the calling of our religion by in search of justice, peace and safety for our refugee and migrant siblings.
America has been a world chief in refugee resettlement, welcoming folks of various spiritual traditions and racial and ethnic backgrounds. But we are able to nonetheless do extra to set a optimistic instance on the earth; final 12 months, with an annual ceiling of 125,000 refugees, the U.S. welcomed solely 25,465. God’s intention, revealed by means of Scripture, is that every one folks could have life abundantly and expertise well-being. All of us need our households to develop up in the very best surroundings in order that they may flourish. God’s energy permits us to rise above worry and exclusion and to like as God loves.
Since World Struggle II, Lutherans in the US have responded to God’s name by main resettlement efforts, working hand in hand with the US Refugee Admissions Program, and welcoming those that search security and safety. Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS) — the biggest faith-based nonprofit in the US devoted to serving immigrants, asylum-seekers and refugees — has welcomed greater than 500,000 refugees and asylum-seekers since 1939, working alongside devoted Lutheran congregations and associates to make sure their resettlement in communities throughout the US. Our advocacy is knowledgeable by the information that we’re all kids of God, with inherent dignity given by our Creator. We work tirelessly to make sure that policymakers nationwide set up insurance policies that acknowledge and affirm these rules.
The ELCA works carefully with LIRS, Lutheran World Federation and different ecumenical companions to study and bear witness to the transformative energy of welcome. It helps initiatives that profit immigrants and refugees, and it empowers communities to welcome newcomers. With its AMMPARO technique (Accompanying Migrant Minors with Safety, Advocacy, Illustration, and Alternatives), the church has adopted a holistic, built-in solution to accompany individuals who have been compelled to flee their communities, strolling alongside them of their international locations of origin, in transit, of their vacation spot international locations, and once they should return. Welcoming and sanctuary congregations take part in resettling refugees, sponsoring asylum-seekers and advocating for refugees of their native communities.
ELCA social statements and resolutions affirm the church’s assist for a beneficiant coverage of welcoming refugees and immigrants. Because the social assertion For Peace in God’s World (1995) explains, “the Church serves when it holds energy accountable, advocates justice, stands with those that are poor and susceptible, supplies sanctuary, and meets human want.”
In honor of World Refugee Day on June 20, the ELCA and LIRS advocacy networks invite their members to a nationwide day of advocacy, supposed to construct urgency for sturdy assist for refugees, immigrants, asylum seekers. Contributors will have interaction their elected representatives on the federal degree, in individual and over the cellphone. LIRS and ELCA stay dedicated to uplifting the voices and tales of individuals affected, a lot of whom will assist lead our efforts on Capitol Hill. We urge all to be taught extra about refugee admissions in the US, be part of LIRS’s 125 Watch marketing campaign, accompany migrants by means of AMMPARO, and advocate by means of prayer and motion for our neighbors in want.
We pray that you’ll be part of us in welcoming all who search refuge in the US.
With nice hope,
The Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton
Presiding Bishop
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Krish O’Mara Vignarajah
President and CEO
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service
Obtain a PDF model of the letter.
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