More than 130 million people worldwide are forcibly displaced, the majority of whom are women and children, according to the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR. That's roughly 1 in every 70 people worldwide.
World Refugee Sunday is held annually on the Sundays before and after June 20 (UN World Refugee Day) to remember this need and to participate in prayer and action, responding in practical ways to God’s call to "love the stranger as yourself."
New information, resources and useful links are available at the sites listed below. The suggested dates for 2024 are June 16 and 23, but you can hold World Refugee Sunday anytime.
- An international website for World Refugee Sunday with links to materials in many languages is iwas.live
- The World Evangelical Alliance, one of the main supporters of this event, has media releases including links to useful past resource kits: 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018
- Recommended social media hashtags to share about your activities and inspire others to join
- The iwas.live hub for resources is a joint project of RefugeeHighway.net (related to the World Evangelical Alliance) and PhiloiGlobal.org
- To get deeper involved in international refugee work, see the World Evangelical Alliance Migration and Refugee Network
Here are additional resources for sharing from Canadian groups. To add to this list,
email us.
- World Renew and the Christian Reformed Church
- latest resources from the United Church of Canada
- Mennonite Central Committee
- Life Jacket is a documentary that takes viewers on a journey to re-live some refugees' experiences as they survive war and then cross the Aegean Sea, trusting a simple lifejacket to keep them safe, hoping to reach a safer future but not knowing they will end up in Moria Camp. As the refugees plead for basic human rights including better living conditions and the opportunity for an education, the documentary urges the church to welcome and extend God’s love to the refugees.