Recent changes in U.S. federal refugee support have directly affected several Christian Reformed churches engaged in refugee resettlement. As the government has suspended the refugee admission program and funding for those already admitted, congregational ministries helping to resettle refugees have been put on an uncertain hold.
Bev Stephenson of Intersection Ministries, a Spanish- and English-speaking congregation in Holland, Mich., notes that they have been co-sponsoring refugee families for about 18 years beginning with a number of families from Cuba and more recently with families from Afghanistan and Venezuela. “We have utilized the funding that was allocated for each refugee by the federal government,” Stephenson said, while also taking up “offerings to assist our refugee families through our Intersection Ministries Helping Fund.”
She’s concerned for families they’ve been working with who haven’t yet made it to the U.S.: one in hiding in Afghanistan following the U.S. military’s pull out from the country; and family of church members from Venezuela are still waiting to be reunited.
“There are refugee families throughout the nation who have found themselves in difficult circumstances when their refugee resettlement assistance was suddenly cut off,” Stephenson said.
Noreen Vander Wal of Grace Fellowship CRC in Pella, Iowa, is part of a six-member ecumenical group (including Lutheran, Catholic, CRC, and Reformed Church in America) that formed last fall. In early January the U.S. Welcome Corps program matched them with an Afghan family of six. “We were awaiting a travel date for them when the Jan. 20 executive order halted all refugee travel. We were very sad that their opportunity to resettle in the U.S. was lost, as was our opportunity to welcome them,” Vander Wal said.
Still committed to helping refugees and having learned that all funding for recently resettled refugees had also been frozen, Vander Wal said, “The group of six offered their funds to other area resettlement agencies to provide any needed rent assistance, transportation, caseworkers, job training, and more. The Iowa Bureau of Refugee Services in Des Moines introduced us to a family from Venezuela who was facing some very challenging circumstances. Their 9-year-old son, who has since died, had a serious medical event after arriving in the U.S., and they were in need of ongoing support.” The Pella group is continuing that support.
On Sunday, March 2, First CRC of Grand Rapids blessed the Congolese/Rwandan family they have sponsored for the past year and a half on to a new chapter in their lives. The family moved out of the church’s former parsonage to a home of their own. Steve Timmermans, chair of First Church’s immigration/refugee committee, described how the church had helped the large family acclimate to the local culture and language—some to obtain driver’s licenses, the children to enroll in school and to obtain degrees, the adults to find jobs, and one young man to be welcomed as a member of the congregation. The congregation will continue to walk alongside the family as they take on home ownership. The congregation is prepared to open the former parsonage to another refugee family. However, according to the Jan. 20 executive order, the United States Refugee Admission program won’t resume unless the president, in consultation with the secretary of homeland security and the secretary of state, determines “that resumption of the USRAP is in the interests of the United States.”
Decades of Welcome
World Renew’s first U.S. resettlement ministry began in the 1960s, reaching out to Cuban refugees with the Good Samaritan Center. In 1979 Canadian CRCs, through World Renew, began resettling thousands of refugees from Vietnam. According to Thrive staff who provide resources and support for CRC congregations in the area of immigration and refugee resettlement, 8-10% of CRC churches in the U.S. and close to 40% of CRC churches in Canada have been involved in refugee resettlement efforts either currently or in the past.
Related: Thrive's Feb. 17 U.S. Immigration Guidance for Churches &Ministry Leaders; A Jan. 30 blog post from Carol Bremer-Bennett, World Renew's executive director, U.S.
Over the years, the U.S. State Department has welcomed refugees to the U.S. by connecting them to local organizations or agencies, such as Bethany Christian Services, that facilitated connections with sponsoring congregations to help new arrivals integrate into local communities. As recently as 2023, the CRCNA partnered with Exodus World Service to facilitate sponsor and refugee matchups through the Welcome Corps, founded that year. The Jan. 20 executive order, “Realigning the United States Refugee Admissions Program,” halted that service. In the midst of this, Exodus still believes “the church can be a beacon of hope during uncertain times for those seeking safety and belonging,” the Service’s mobilization manager Carissa Zaffiro wrote in the CRCNA Do Justice blog March 21.
In a Feb. 5 Prayer and Call to Action on Immigration the CRCNA, citing the denomination’s positions on immigration and migration, and conclusions of a 2010 synodical study (Acts of Synod 2010, pp. 875-79), reminded and encouraged Christian Reformed congregations “to welcome, love, and enfold immigrants, refugees, and migrants in our churches, and to advocate for comprehensive immigration reform, increased opportunities for immigrants to gain legal status, and dignified treatment of those detained because of their lack of status.”
CRC congregations minister to people affected by the order to suspend refugee admission and another Jan. 20 executive order to enforce U.S. immigration laws. Thrive staff wrote in Feb. 17 guidance to churches, published on The Network, “Christian Reformed congregations have reported significant declines in attendance and participation, as some members live in fear of detention or deportation. Pastors and ministry leaders are grappling with how best to shepherd their congregations through this season of uncertainty and change.”
In some cases programs have shifted. The Feb. 5 prayer call from the denomination noted “street evangelism programs (that) have been canceled.” Vander Wal said, “My congregation, Grace Fellowship (in Pella, Iowa), has become more active in tutoring English Language Learners.” And Stephenson suggested an effort could be made for refugees already in the U.S. who might have lost their federal assistance: “If groups of Christians across our nation can be the hands and feet of Christ to refugee families that now feel afraid and isolated, what a difference that could make!”
About the Author
Anita Ensing Beem is a freelance news correspondent for The Banner. Retired director of education and outreach at North Hills CRC in Troy, Mich., she now resides in Grand Rapids, Mich., and is a member of First CRC.