Would you join us in praying for an urgent need from one of the afghan refugee families we have been serving?

by Jeanette Yep on December 10, 2025

When Pastor Richard Rhodes served as our community outreach pastor, he helped lead our congregation in welcoming three Afghan families resettling in Boston. These families—whose fathers assisted the American government—were eligible to leave Afghanistan when Kabul fell in August 2021. Since their arrival, we’ve formed volunteer teams around each family and have continued to walk with them in love and support.

Recently, the father of one of these families was taken into ICE custody. The family is devastated and afraid. Because these fathers worked alongside Americans, they face severe danger—even the threat of execution—if they are forced to return to Afghanistan.

Please join us in praying for the family whose father is now in detention. This is a frightening and uncertain time for his wife and children. And please continue praying for all our sponsored families as they navigate complex and stressful circumstances.

Here is a suggested prayer:

Lord, we lift before You our Afghan refugee friends—families who came here legally, seeking safety, dignity, and freedom. Now they are facing fear, uncertainty, and the renewed threat of persecution. You see their pain. You know their anxious nights and the danger that looms over them. Cover them with Your protection and quiet their hearts with Your peace.

Guide us as a church with wisdom, compassion, and courage. Show us how to stand with these families in meaningful, sacrificial ways. Empower us to be advocates, encouragers, and faithful friends. Let the love of Christ shine clearly through every prayer we offer, every step we take, and every act of support we give.

Lord, we ask for a breakthrough. Open doors for justice, safety, and lasting solutions that will prevent deportation and protect these precious families from harm. Move the hearts of those in authority and make a way where there seems to be no way.

We trust You to lead, to shelter, and to work powerfully on their behalf. Thank You that You love the vulnerable and call us to love the stranger among us. As we serve them, may they encounter Jesus and discover in You the only true source of lasting hope, peace, and joy.

In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

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About the Author
Jeanette Yep

Jeanette has been serving on our Central Ministry team as the pastor of Missional Partnerships and Multicultural Ministry since 2007. She helps connect our congregation with what God is doing outside the walls of our campuses through our regional and global ministry partners. She coordinates our short-term missions ministry (called Cross-Cultural Learning Experiences or CCLEs), oversees our missions budget with a team of lay leaders, and helps Grace Chapel maintain vibrant, mutual partnerships with 50 regional and global missionaries and mission organizations. In her role as the pastor of multicultural ministry, Jeanette provides leadership to help our church become a more genuinely multiethnic and multicultural congregation.

Prior to coming to Grace Chapel, Jeanette served for three decades with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship on local campuses, in national leadership (where she was the vice president for Multiethnic Ministries) and was involved in training and developing younger leaders globally through the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students.

Jeanette graduated from Mount Holyoke College and Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. She has studied at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and Regent College (Vancouver). She is one of the authors of Following Jesus without Dishonoring Your Parents, a book written specifically for AAPI collegians and young adults.

To relax, Jeanette walks her dog, gardens, has friends over for meals and watches reality TV shows about fishing, pets and chefs.

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