Start with Welcome - by Bri Stensrud (Paperback)

About the Book

Welcoming immigrants and refugees has become wildly controversial, and yet this isn't just a political issue--it's a biblical one. In Start with Welcome, Bri Stensrud answers your most frequently asked questions with thoughtful, honest answers from the starting point of compassion. Engaging this issue starts with one word: welcome.

Book Synopsis

Asking the hard questions about immigration in light of Jesus' call to love our neighbors as ourselves.

You've seen the headlines. You've watched the TV footage. People around the world are in dire situations and on the move. Current estimates suggest over 100 million people are forcibly displaced from their homes and seeking refuge in other countries. It seems as if everyone wants to come to the U.S., and if we're honest, that gives many of us pause.

We wonder how it would impact our culture and communities if we showed welcome to the world, and many of us wonder how to separate the political rhetoric and talking points on present day immigration from what the Bible really has to say about immigrants and strangers.

Start with Welcome dives into the whole narrative of Scripture to better understand what God calls us to do concerning immigrants and refugees. Bri Stensrud will guide you through pressing questions that will ignite your compassion and leave you curious about our calling as followers of Christ--questions like:

• Is Immigration a Pro-Life Issue?
• What does the Bible say about Immigrants?
• Who is Welcome here?
• What does Christlike Welcome look like?

You have questions. You have fears. But you also have compassion.

So, let's start there.

Bri Stensrud welcomes you into the conversation--a conversation that's more urgent now than ever. It all starts with one word: Welcome.

Review Quotes

An inspiring call to embrace our immigrant neighbors with love, compassion, and understanding, Start with Welcome provides a more balanced and compassionate perspective on this critical conversation from a biblical perspective.--YONATHAN MOYA, founder and executive director, Border Perspective

Bri Stensrud courageously decided some years ago that-- because immigration is not just a political issue but also a biblical issue impacting people fearfully and wonderfully made in God's image--she needed to engage. I'm so grateful she did.--MATTHEW SOERENS, vice president of advocacy and policy, World Relief

Bri Stensrud is an inspiring leader who responded to what she was seeing in the world around her, reading in her Bible, and discerning from the Holy Spirit. I hope her response will inspire readers to consider how God might be calling them to respond.--MICHAEL WEAR, founder, president, and CEO, The Center for Christianity and Public Life, and author of The Spirit of Our Politics

Evil wants nothing more than to divide us and shift our posture from Jesus- like to worldly. I'm grateful for leaders like Bri, who is willing both to stand in the trenches of unity and also to hold out her hand and invite us all to do the same-- as Jesus would.--TONI COLLIER, podcaster and author of Brave Enough to Be Broken

If you are curious what Scripture teaches about how to care for the immigrant and refugee in an incredibly complex world, there is no better place to start than this book.--SHARON HODDE MILLER, author of The Cost of Control

In a time and with a topic marked by hot-headed arguments or cold-shouldered dismissals, Bri Stensrud has given us a work of remarkable warmth--a warmth of compassion for people created in God's image, and a warmth of regard for you the reader to be dignified with thoughtful research on complex issues and thought- provoking explorations of Scripture. Start this journey of welcome with her and discover the radical warmth of Christ's hospitality.--WALTER KIM, president, National Association of Evangelicals

Start with Welcome combines biblical orthodoxy with practical counsel on how we can follow Jesus in seeing those whom the world often wants to make invisible.--RUSSELL MOORE, editor in chief, Christianity Today

There is something life-changing about creating welcome for people. Start with Welcome attaches biblical confidence to our compassion and helps us get closer to those who have so much God-given potential.--JESSICA HONEGGER, founder, Noonday Collection