Rev Dr Krish Kandiah has been honoured by the European Evangelical Alliance at its General Assembly in Prague for his work with Christian charity Home for Good.
The assembly is the Alliance's yearly gathering and attracts around 100 representatives from evangelical organisations across the continent.
Kandiah, a Baptist minister, founded Home for Good – now an independent charity – with the Evangelical Alliance, Care for the Family and the Churches' Child Protection Advisory Service.
He was given the Hope Award, granted once a year to a person or organisation for outstanding service in a specific area of Christian work.
Home for Good has been involved in the refugee crisis in Europe, reaching out to the most vulnerable refugees – unaccompanied minors.
Past recipients of the award have been the Greek Evangelical Alliance for its work in refugee relief and Peter Magnusson from Sweden for his outstanding work among young immigrants.
Kandiah said: 'In recent years it has been incredibly humbling to watch Christians across Western Europe leading the way in welcoming refugees and unaccompanied asylum seeking children. Equally I have been a guest in several countries in Eastern Europe where Christians are generously welcoming vulnerable children into their families from orphanages.
'In light of this it was a great privilege to address the leaders of Evangelical Alliances across the whole of Europe as we gathered in Prague. I believe God is passionately concerned about the needs of vulnerable children, and the mandate to get involved is writ large in our Scripture.
'It has been a privilege to help lead the amazing team at Home for Good as we do our best to find loving homes for children in our national care system and beyond. I am so pleased the work is being recognised and I pray it would be increasingly normal for Christians across Europe to foster and adopt children.'
