At that time, IAFR consisted of three founding board members. I was the only staff person, and we had one ministry location: Dzaleka refugee camp in Malawi.

I founded IAFR because I was searching for an international faith‑based (Christian) agency with a long‑term commitment to serving forcibly displaced people—one that prioritized relational, presence‑based ministry. I couldn’t find one.

The seeds of IAFR were planted in Kenya.

A friend from Kenya, who served with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, saw the same gap. He and his family, together with a friend from Nigeria (married to a Filipina), invited my wife and me on a safari near the foot of Kenya’s highest mountain. As we drove through the park, we dreamed together about what such an agency might look like. The seeds of what became IAFR were planted.

At the time, I had no idea that the number of forcibly displaced people worldwide would triple in the years ahead.

By the end of 2010, IAFR had doubled its staff (from one to two) and tripled its ministry locations—Dzaleka refugee camp, Kakuma refugee camp, and Lille, France.

We serve refugees, resettled refugees, asylum seekers, and internally displaced people (IDP).

Today, on the 17th anniversary of IAFR’s founding, we have 29 deeply committed staff serving in 11 locations across three continents. We walk with people stuck in refugee camps, people on epic journeys in search of asylum, resettled refugees, and people forced to flee their homes but not their country (internally displaced people).

We train people from all over the world who want to serve refugees and asylum seekers.

Our Refugee Church Consultant supports hundreds of refugee‑led churches in camps and across the USA. Our refugee ministry training is in high demand nationwide and globally. And in early 2027, our Director of Training will release a new book—The Faithful Innkeeper—which will further multiply our impact around the world.

In 2018, we helped launch IAFR Canada. They are now doing remarkable work throughout Canada, Africa, Europe, and the Middle East.

The work of IAFR would not be possible without our generous financial partners!

None of this would be possible without our generous financial partners. On behalf of the people we serve, thank you for helping men, women, and children survive and recover from forced displacement.

Join our team of financial partners today!

*The map shows the countries of origin represented by the people our team has served in the past year. You might be surprised to see a red dot on the USA. That is because we serve asylum seekers whose children were born in the US and are therefore US citizens.