Global Refuge Annual Report: 2024

Global Refuge, formerly known as Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, continues its longstanding mission of providing sanctuary and support to refugees and immigrants. In 2023, through the dedication of partners and Lutheran communities, Global Refuge successfully reunited over 17,000 children with their families or placed them in loving foster homes, welcomed 11,200+ refugees from diverse global regions, and assisted 11,700+ individuals seeking safety from Central America and beyond. View their full annual report here and their synod letter here.

Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service is becoming Global Refuge

Global Refuge emerges from the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, embodying a renewed commitment to global compassion and support for displaced individuals. Maintaining its core mission and Lutheran heritage, Global Refuge stands as a beacon of hope and sanctuary, embracing all regardless of origin or faith. Learn more at globalrefuge.org.

ELCA-LIRS World Refugee Day letter from Bishop Eaton and Krish O'Mara Vignarajah

In honor of World Refugee Day on June 20, the ELCA and LIRS advocacy networks invite their members to a national day of advocacy, intended to build urgency for robust support for refugees, immigrants, asylum seekers. We urge all to learn more about refugee admissions in the United States, join LIRS's 125 Watch campaign, accompany migrants through AMMPARO, and advocate through prayer and action for our neighbors in need.

2023 Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service report

Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service shares their annual report in this PDF. A crucial example of LIRS's expansion is the work taking place within the Grand Canyon Synod, where, through a partnership with Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest, asylum seekers and humanitarian parolees are receiving protection-centered and trauma-informed case management services through LIRS’s Welcome Center initiative.

June 20, 2022: World Refugee Day 2022

With so many lives in danger, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) call Lutherans on this World Refugee Day, June 20, to continue to honor our legacy of generous and compassionate welcome and advocacy for those who seek refuge and safety, including those who have resettled in the United States.

LIRS: Russian invasion of Ukraine could trigger refugee crisis

Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, President and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS), writes: “The humanitarian implications of a full Russian invasion must be a central consideration in the U.S. and international response. Thousands could lose their lives, and millions more could lose the only home they have ever known. The U.S. and its allies must prepare to respond to the very real possibility of a mass exodus of Ukrainian refugees. Protecting the displaced cannot merely be an afterthought.”

Read the full statement in this post or on LIRS.org.

Welcome of Afghan newcomers

Support from ELCA members and congregations has swelled with an outpouring of concern, prayers and offers of assistance to our Afghan neighbors. As ELCA and through Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS), we can continue to offer our support.

Read an overview at ELCA.org of what’s been happening, how Lutherans are stepping up to provide accompaniment, and where you can engage further by advocating for legal protections for new arrivals.

ELCA, NewsBrian FlatgardNovember 9, 2021Immigration and Refugees, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS)Comment

Former US presidents, religious leaders & LIRS launch organization to aid Afghan evacuees

Three former presidents and first ladies have joined with religious leaders, faith-based refugee resettlement agencies (including Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service) to support a new national organization with the goal of making it easier to help Afghan evacuees arriving in the United States.

Welcome.US launched 9/14/2021 to provide a single point of entry for Americans to donate to frontline organizations, host arriving families through Airbnb and find other ways to help Afghans as they rebuild their lives in the U.S. after fleeing the Taliban. Read the article from Religion News Service here.

Refugee organizations say they’re seeing a surge of donations for Afghans

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service president and CEO Krish O’Mara Vignarajah said. “The outpouring of support we’ve seen … feels unprecedented and awe-inspiring. It feels like a unique moment.”

In a typical week, LIRS would see maybe a dozen people sign up to volunteer. In the past three weeks, 45,000 people signed up. And LIRS has partnerships lined up with Airbnb for housing, Uber for transportation and Walmart for gift cards.

Resources to help Afghan allies and refugees

With a surge of interest in how we can help Afghan allies and refugees, we offer two resources: Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest (LSS-SW) and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS).

Afghan Allies need food, housing assistance, clothing, and other basic needs. You can give to the LIRS Afghan Allies Fund and help allies as they await official services available to them.

LSS-SW has an Afghanistan Interest Form for those interested in helping. You’ll receive updates as the situation changes. They provide FAQs on their site, which we reprint in this post.

Situation Report: Afghanistan Crisis

The United States has withdrawn from a decades long war in Afghanistan. Under a special immigrant program, the U.S. has been evacuating thousands of Afghans who served alongside Americans.

Lutheran Disaster Response is reaching out to synods, congregations and affiliates that are taking an active role in welcoming Afghan families.

A Cup of Generosity: Not just about money

Generosity is not just about our money. It is an attitude. It is a way of viewing the world. I was sitting watching the news and bemoaning the fate of the Afghans who had supported the US and their possible fate. Like for most people it brought me memories of the fall of South Vietnam and the plight of those who had aided the US.

Bishop Eaton: Supporting Afghanistan

For nearly a century, Lutherans have been helping to resettle those fleeing harm. As we pray for Afghanistan, we are called to support those arriving in the U.S. by becoming a part of the long welcome for these families.

Support LIRS’ Neighbors in Need: Afghan Allies fund, which will provide food, housing assistance, clothing, and other basic needs for our Afghan friends as they await the official services available to them by visiting LIRS.org/HelpNow.

ELCA & LIRS: World Refugee Day letter

With so many lives in danger, we will continue to honor the Lutheran legacy of generous and compassionate welcome for those who seek refuge in our communities. How would we respond if the refugee on our doorstep were Jesus himself? As Jesus taught, “Just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me” (Matthew 25:40).

ELCA leaders call on Congress to pass U.S. Citizenship Act

The Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), has joined more than 500 ELCA rostered ministers and the CEOs of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS) and Lutheran Services in America (LSA) in calling on Congress to support the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021. In a March 4 letter, the leaders urge lawmakers to work collaboratively to advance legislation "around a long overdue solution that reflects our shared values as a nation."

Join the ELCA-LIRS Letter in support of the US Citizenship Act of 2021

All ELCA rostered faith leaders are invited to join a letter, drafted by the ELCA and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS), which will be sent to members of Congress in support of the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021.

View the letter and more info in this post, or visit this page to sign on to the letter. Deadline to sign on is Friday, February 26, 2021.

ELCA, News, LettersBrian FlatgardFebruary 23, 2021Immigration and Refugees, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS), AdvocacyComment

SOFIA: A spiritual home for future leaders

In this week’s Story of Faith in Action (SOFIA), we explore Lutheran Campus Ministry Chapel at West Virginia University, where pastor Tony Setley explains how he draws students in, and shares the story of rent-free homes for people discerning calls to ministry.

SOFIA: A new lens for generosity

In this week’s Story of Faith in Action (SOFIA), we explore The Generosity Project.

Sometimes stewardship is misunderstood, equated simply with giving money rather than sharing time, spirit and love. Linda Staats is trying to change that with The Generosity Project, a stewardship resource funded in part by Mission Support.

SOFIA: Courage to be who we are

In this week’s Story of Faith in Action (SOFIA), we follow Ed Ramirez’s journey to find a church, filled with disappointments. Ramirez, who uses the pronouns they/them, wanted a place where they could feel at ease and fully accepted, but nothing they’d encountered in the Los Angeles area fit.

Ramirez’s search led them to Hollywood Lutheran Church, where Joseph Castañeda-Carrera served as pastor.

SOFIA: Connecting cultures at camp

In this week’s Story of Faith in Action (SOFIA), we meet Matt Rusch, director of Outlaw Ranch, who started from scratch in building a family camp connecting cultures.

The idea was to make family camp look like the church in South Dakota, which is both multilingual and racially diverse, he said. "We just jumped into this,” he said. “[There was] no model. We [thought], ‘We know God is in the mix, so somehow it will work out.’”

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