Who We Are

We Choose Welcome is a grassroots community seeking to mobilize and equip women of faith to build and cultivate a welcome movement from their tables at home to the halls of Congress. We hope to empower our community to take action for the vulnerable in both our personal lives and through advocating for just immigration policies.

We are here to provide educational resources, action tools, and a supportive community for those seeking to take the next step in their advocacy for immigrants and refugees. 

Follow us on Instagram and Facebook to stay connected, or reach out to our team to learn more.

What We Believe

  • We are called to treat and talk about immigrants and refugees with love and care as people made in the image of God. 

  • We believe in creating a culture of welcome toward our immigrant and refugee neighbors, guided by our faith and biblical principles of hospitality and compassion.  

  • Practicing compassion and hospitality does not mean we are advocates for illegal immigration or open border policies. Rather, we seek to advocate for the humane treatment of those coming to our country while amending our immigration policies to create more effective and safe ways for immigration to the U.S. 

  • We believe in safe and secure borders, thorough vetting, and the dignified treatment of these vulnerable populations.

  • We believe in cultivating spaces where women grow together to be encouraged, educated, and equipped to serve, advocate, and engage in respectful dialogue with their own communities and others as they seek to create more welcoming spaces for their immigrant and refugee neighbors.  

  • We need bipartisan legislative solutions on immigration that uphold human dignity and support the interests of the American people. Our nation’s immigration laws should: 

    • Respect the rule of law.  

    • Protect the unity of the immediate family. 

    • Commit to safety and security on the border and in our communities. 

    • Show compassion to immigrants by allowing them an opportunity to earn lawful status and citizenship. 

    • Provide migrants the opportunity to lawfully contribute to our economy

How it started

Did you know that the We Choose Welcome community began with a blog post? In 2015, author Ann Voskamp wrote about the Syrian refugee crisis and lit a fire among Christian women. Lamenting the death of 3-year old Alan Kurdi, Voskamp called followers of Jesus to not look away from this tragedy. Soon after publishing the post, Voskamp concluded from the overwhelming response that there was an urgent need for the church to be more informed about the biblical call to welcome. 

We Welcome Refugees was originally created as a website for people to learn more about refugees and how they could help. As the community continued to grow and expand to social media, Tess Clarke stepped in as Director, bringing insight from her years of experience in serving among the refugee community in Dallas, Texas. When the political environment began to heat up around not just refugees, but also asylum seekers, Dreamers, and other immigrants, Tess saw the importance of expanding both the vision and the team. She believed it was necessary to choose welcome for those who don’t meet the legal definition of refugees, but still face injustice and a need for safety. So in 2021, We Welcome Refugees officially became We Welcome (and We Choose Welcome in 2024) to reflect a more expansive vision of welcoming the stranger. In 2021 Tess also expanded the team to engage across the country and grow the welcome movement.

We Choose Welcome has partnered with other organizations over the years to spread the message of welcome: originally with World Relief and The Justice Conference, and now with the National Immigration Forum. We are passionate about welcome, and we invite you to join us in this movement.