WEA Appoints Tom Albinson as Ambassador for Refugees and Displaced People

New York, NY – January 22, 2013

The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) is pleased to announce the appointment of Tom Albinson as WEA Ambassador for Refugees and Displaced People. In this new role, Albinson will strengthen WEA’s engagement with refugees, raise awareness of the reality of forcibly replaced people as well as represent the WEA at the UNHCR.

"The WEA has had a long history of advocating for refugees and displaced people. The needs today are monumental and of crisis proportions," Dr. Tunnicliffe, Secretary General of the WEA, said. "With the appointment of Tom Albinson as our Ambassador we are taking our engagement to a whole new level as we seek to live out the biblical mandate to care for the most vulnerable in our societies."

"Tom comes with a long-proven track record of compassionate care, promoting biblical justice and collaborative action in serving refugees.  I am delighted to make this important appointment," he added.

Albinson has served refugees full-time since 1981. In 2009, he founded International Association for Refugees (IAFR). Prior to his work with IAFR, Albinson served with the Slavic Gospel Association (1981 – 1992) and with International Teams (1992 – 2009). Tom has pioneered several refugee ministry initiatives and has supervised refugee ministries in Africa, Australia, Europe, the Middle East and North America.

In 2001, Albinson helped establish the Refugee Highway Partnership, a WEA Global Partner and growing international network of Christians serving forcibly displaced people.

As Ambassador for Refugees and Displaced People, Albinson will inform WEA’s constituency about refugee related issues, raise awareness through the World Refugee Sunday, and explore ways of strengthening the collaboration among WEA’s network for the welfare of refugees.

He will also serve as WEA representative to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) – who have made a policy decision to work more closely with faith-based organizations to better meet the needs of refugees globally.

"One in every 160 people alive today is forcibly displaced," Albinson says. "This global refugee crisis impacts nearly every nation on earth, some as refugee-producing countries, others as refugee-hosting countries, and still others as countries of asylum or resettlement for refugees."

"It is encouraging that the UN and various humanitarian agencies want to collaborate with the WEA and other faith-based organizations, including local churches, to better protect the welfare of refugees worldwide," he adds.

Upon his appointment as Ambassador, Albinson said: "I am privileged to serve with the WEA to help Christ-followers more actively implement durable solutions as we embrace our divine calling to love refugees as we love ourselves (Lev. 19:34)."

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Over two billion Christians in the world today are represented by three world church bodies. The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) is one of those, serving and representing more than 600 million evangelicals. Launched in 1846 to unite evangelicals worldwide, the WEA continues to be a dynamic movement with 7 regional and 129 national Evangelical Alliances, and over 150 member organizations. WEA's mission is to speak as a trusted voice, to equip members and leaders for global impact and to connect its members and others for common action in the furtherance of God’s reign. For more info e-mail at [email protected] or go to Worldea.org.