Part of God’s plan for the Church is to bring hope and healing to the world. How can we practically play a role in the development and restoration of communities around the world, particularly those in extreme crisis?

In Today’s Conversation podcast, NAE President Walter Kim sits down with Myal Greene, World Relief’s new president and CEO. They discuss the situations in Haiti and Afghanistan, and especially the opportunity for Christians to show the love of Christ with refugees.

Myal also shares:

  • What inspires and sustains his ministry with the vulnerable and those facing injustice;
  • The opportunity and responsibility of Christians to meet refugees with welcome;
  • How World Relief empowers the local church in crises around the world; and
  • A word of encouragement and hope as we navigate challenging times.

Read a Portion of the Transcript

Walter: With the evolving situation in Afghanistan, it’s clear there is a humanitarian disaster that will have long-term impacts. What do you see World Relief’s role in bringing assistance not only to this tragic situation in Afghanistan, but its impact here in the states as well?

Myal: This is one of those crises that will be a truly memorable moment for all of us who live through this season in this time. The images coming out of Afghanistan are heartbreaking. They’re really on historic proportions in terms of a refugee crisis just in a matter of days. The U.S. is preparing to welcome refugees — a large number that hasn’t been since at the end of the Vietnam War. So really, it’s a question for us in this country and for the church in this country to consider how are we engaging in this great crisis of the time? I think there’s always a valuable question for the Church which is: “When the world is going through difficulties, how do we choose to respond?”

I see this as the pivotal moment for us to ask the question, “Who is our neighbor?” Jesus asked that question in his ministry in relation to: Who is the person that helped? What I would be interested to see is: Who are these Afghans that have come to this country, and who do they think their neighbor is? Who are the ones they see offering care and love and assistance and welcome? And is that the Church, or is that someone else in society?

That for us should really be our motivation. We as the Church, how do we open our arms to people who are going through the worst days of their life, experiencing some of the most horrible acts of evil and sin against them that people could even imagine? They are coming to a new country that’s a foreign land. They don’t speak the language many of them. They don’t know the culture. Are they met with hostility or are they met with welcome? I think that for us is really the great opportunity to consider.

Romans 12:21 says to repay evil with good, and for me that’s a verse I’ve gravitated to a lot in these days when these individuals are fleeing Afghanistan, fleeing evil and fleeing the most difficult circumstances. We can’t fight the Taliban in our suburban neighborhood, but we can show these people love and welcome and care. So how do we go against those works that the devil has meant to harm and hurt people and use them for good? Put our hands of love around people and welcome them and make them part of our society and really, hopefully, display who Jesus is to them in these interactions that we have with them.

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Today’s Conversation is brought to you by Brotherhood Mutual.

Myal Greene

Myal Greene is president and CEO of World Relief. Prior to this position, he was the World Relief Rwanda country director and then transitioned to Africa regional director, followed by the Developing Countries unit director. Greene also served as senior vice president of International Programs. In 2007, he led the development of a new church-based programming model in Rwanda that grew from a small pilot program with 150 churches to a global model that has now reached over 5,000 churches across nine countries. He holds a finance degree from Lehigh University, a global leadership master’s degree from Fuller Theological Seminary and is pursuing his Ph.D. in organizational leadership from Eastern University.

Walter Kim

Walter Kim became the president of the National Association of Evangelicals in January 2020. He previously served as a pastor at Boston’s historic Park Street Church and at churches in Vancouver, Canada and Charlottesville, Virginia, as well as a campus chaplain at Yale University. He preaches, writes and engages in collaborative leadership to connect the Bible to the intellectual and cultural issues of the day. He regularly teaches in conferences and classrooms; addresses faith concerns with elected officials and public institutions; and provides theological and cultural commentary to leading news outlets. He serves on the boards of Christianity Today and World Relief and consults with a wide range of organizations. Kim received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, his M.Div. from Regent College in Vancouver, and his B.A. from Northwestern University.