Holistic care centered around the love of Christ.
Our mission is to mobilize the church to come alongside refugees and asylum seekers with practical, emotional, and relational support.
How We Help
Practical Support
More Than Welcome provides practical support such as help finding housing, jobs, transportation, and resources to refugees and asylum-seekers in Austin.
Language & Learning
More Than Welcome provides ESL classes multiple times per week and other cultural orientation classes.
Relational & Emotional Care
More Than Welcome helps families heal through a Family Friendship program, story healing and trauma-informed care, and social integration resources.
Spiritual Support
More Than Welcome invites our friends to learn more about Jesus through Discovery Bible Studies and other discipleship groups and resources.
What Makes Us Different
Focused on short-term help and long-term hope
- ✓We serve both refugees & asylum seekers, who face different legal paths
- ✓We offer long-term care — not bound by government timelines and focused on relationship building
- ✓We mobilize local churches for sustainable community integration
- ✓Our care is holistic and rooted in the love of Christ
- ✓We are funded by donors & churches, not government contracts
“It’s been my absolute joy to spend the last two plus years with our family friendship match from Syria. We’ve shared countless meals and laughs and tears with one another where a genuine friendship, love, and deep sense of trust has grown. She calls me one of her “daughters.” The Lord has used this friendship to soften my heart into realizing how much we actually have in common and how our need for Christ the Savior is the thread binding us all together. He has surely been our ever-present help in times of trouble and our everlasting joy!”
— Current Family Friendship Match
Real Stories of Impact
Lives changed by love
A refugee family served
More Than Welcome has walked alongside a family of 7 from Afghanistan since June of 2024. They came on a Special Immigrant Visa in 2023 fleeing for safety because the dad had worked with the U.S. government. In December of 2024, one of the daughters suffered a traumatic burn to her face and chest that required her to spend many months in a San Antonio burn hospital. The father had lost his job and had to go back and forth to San Antonio to be with his daughter. This left the family without a source of income for several months. A volunteer with More Than Welcome started a GoFundMe for the family that raised over $10,000. What a huge praise! We also had volunteers helping the family with groceries and picking up food from local food banks. And another volunteer couple helped drive them back and forth to San Antonio for ongoing appointments. With this support, we saw God sustain this family through a very difficult time. After 5 months, the daughter was able to come home to Austin to continue healing. More Than Welcome helped the father get a job in an assisted living facility to begin supporting his family again. The wife is participating in our ESL classes and we are sending a volunteer to her home to do some individual instruction. The kids have been able to participate in our Summer Camp and other community gatherings. It has been a joy to see how God and His Church have loved and supported this family during a very hard season.
A volunteer group from a church
For the past two summers, our team at One Day Closer has had the privilege of serving alongside More Than Welcome at their Refugee Summer Camp, and each year we have left inspired by the incredible community that is created there.
From the moment we arrived, it was clear that More Than Welcome is about so much more than camp activities—it is about creating a place where every individual is seen, valued, celebrated, and truly belongs. Watching camp participants build friendships, gain valuable life skills and confidence, and experience unconditional acceptance has been a powerful reminder of why this mission matters.
One of the moments that stood out most to our team was our time with the students at Family Camp. It was such a gift to see the same students day after day and, for some, week after week. That consistency gave us the opportunity to build trust and genuine relationships with them. By the end of the week, students began opening up, asking deeper questions, and sharing parts of their stories that were often difficult and deeply personal. What a rare and beautiful opportunity it was to serve people from different nations- not simply by meeting a need, but by getting to know them, loving them, and becoming their friends. This captured so perfectly the joy and purpose that make More Than Welcome so special.
Another unforgettable experience was driving a family to camp each day. So often, we look for big or extraordinary ways to serve the nations, but this reminded us that sometimes ministry can be as simple as offering a ride. By using the resources we already had, we were able to bless a family in a very practical way. It was a meaningful reminder that small acts of service, kindness, and connection can make a lasting difference in someone’s life.
Serving at More Than Welcome has also strengthened our own team. Working together, building relationships with families, and witnessing the dedication of the staff and volunteers has deeply encouraged us to live out our own mission of serving others with compassion, dignity, and love.
We are grateful to partner with an organization that is creating opportunities for individuals from all backgrounds and cultures to experience community, belonging, and unforgettable memories. It has been an honor to be a small part of what More Than Welcome is doing, and we look forward to continuing this partnership for years to come.
– Kristi Bllingsley
The One Day Closer Team
