Over 65 million people or one in every 113 today are forcibly displaced, making it what the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) has called the biggest refugee crisis the world has ever seen.
The WEA said the numbers represent the tragic result of an increasing number of protracted conflicts but at the same time an opportunity for churches to step in and "seek the welfare of the stranger."
Every year on the Sunday before and after World Refugee Day on June 20, the WEA calls on churches to observe World Refugee Sunday with a worship service and prayer focused on displaced people around the world and in their own neighborhoods.
This year worship services will be held on June 18 and 25, with their lead verses inspired by Isaiah 16:4, which instructs the Israelites to provide shelter to the Maobites.
The verse was chosen because it reflects the horrific humanitarian situation stemming from conflicts in Syria, Yemen and South Sudan, to name just a few places.
"World Refugee Sunday gives us an opportunity to learn about the realities and needs of refugees, to pray for them and with them, and to consider how we can practically engage with refugees," said Bishop Efraim Tendero, Secretary General of the WEA.
Despite ongoing tensions around the sudden influx of refugees in a number of European countries, the global scale of the refugee crisis shows a different picture. According to UNHCR statistics, of the 65.3 million forcibly displaced people, the majority are in the Middle East and Africa (68%) and only 6% are hosted by Europe.
And while the mainstream media largely focuses on dramatic images from the conflicts and the polarizing rhetoric of politicians, churches on the ground are helping to provide for the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of displaced people.
"God has given us a mandate to love the alien as we love ourselves (Leviticus 19:34). I am encouraged to see a growing number of churches worldwide leaning into this divine calling to actively seeking the welfare of refugees by offering both practical assistance and a supportive community. God has always called His people to be a blessing to the nations. The Church is now facing a great opportunity to do just that," said Tom Albinson, President of the International Association for Refugees and WEA Ambassador for Refugees and Displaced People.
To support churches in their efforts on behalf of refugees, the WEA and Refugee Highway Partnership have prepared online resources that can be used around World Refugee Sunday available here.
Resources range from videos of refugee testimonies, refugee facts and statistics, and a map featuring the most frequent migration routes, to stories of refugees in the Bible and Sunday school material. Using the social media hashtags #WorldRefugeeSunday and #RefugeeHighway, churches can also share their ideas, activities and prayers online to raise awareness and inspire others to join in.
Concerned that churches not be limited to focusing on refugees on just one day of the year, Commissioner Christine MacMillan, head of the WEA's Refugee Task Force, called on Christians to extend their commitment beyond World Refugee Sunday.
"We as Christians are often overheard to be saying: 'I go to church.' Finding ourselves in church on World Refugee Sunday, may have us contemplating 'church going' as only a starting point. When some 65 million people wake up every day, what would we overhear them saying? Factors indicate their experience could be summarized as: 'I am going further away from my home as place, security and community.' So where do our journeys intercept? For too many their journeys are unending and so for the Church may a named Sunday become an unending determination to welcome strangers as friends coming home."
