World Refugee Day: A Call to Love Like Jesus
- RevShirleyMurphy
- Jun 25
- 5 min read
World Refugee Day is an international day organised every year on 20 June by the United Nations. It is designed to celebrate and honour refugees from around the world. The day was first established on 20 June 2001, in recognition of the 50th anniversary of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. Each year on 20 June, the world honours the strength and courage of people who have been forced to flee their home country to escape conflict or persecution.
The last year saw a record number of people, more than 123 million around the world, forcibly displaced due to persecution, conflict or violence, among them nearly 43 million refugees. Almost 70% of all refugees are from just five countries: Syria, Venezuela, Ukraine, Afghanistan and South Sudan. Children make up nearly 40% of all refugees.
World Refugee Day – a day to honour the courage and resilience of millions of people around the globe forced to flee war, violence and persecution. But it is also a moment to sound an alarm on their behalf.
Record numbers of men, women and children – over 123 million people worldwide – have been uprooted from their homes, but their ability to find safety and support is threatened as never before.
The record of number of people uprooted by war, violence and persecution is also reflected in the 109,000 people seeking safety in the UK over the past year.
The abject failure to end conflicts – from Sudan to Ukraine, from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Gaza – continues to create untold human suffering. Yet the innocent people who run for their lives as the bullets fly and the missiles rain down are unjustly stigmatized, making it harder to escape danger and to find somewhere to recover and rebuild.
To make a desperate position worse, brutal cuts to humanitarian aid are choking off assistance, threatening the lives of millions of people who desperately need help.
At this critical juncture, it is vital that we reaffirm our solidarity with refugees – not just with words but with urgent action. Thankfully, there is no shortage of examples to inspire us: the countries on the edges of war zones that continue to welcome and host refugees; the local communities that open their homes, workplaces and hearts to displaced people; and the countless individual acts of kindness and compassion that reveal our common humanity.
In many cases, this support can be found among people with few resources to share, and in places facing major economic challenges. From wealthier states to development banks to businesses and many others, we can and must support these countries and communities by sharing the responsibility for protecting refugees. Such acts of solidarity would enable this generosity to continue.
Refugees are not just a topic for the news or international policy. They are close to God’s heart and deeply connected to both the history of our faith and the mission of the Church today.
From the very beginning of the biblical story, God’s people have known what it means to be displaced. Abraham was called to leave his homeland (Genesis 12:1). The Israelites were strangers in Egypt (Exodus 1:1–11). And let us never forget that our Lord Jesus Himself was a refugee. As a baby, He fled with Mary and Joseph to Egypt to escape Herod’s deadly wrath (Matthew 2:13–15).
So, when we speak of refugees today, we are not speaking of strangers—we are speaking of neighbours. Of those Jesus calls us to love. “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in…” (Matthew 25:35, NIV).
All around the world, in the shadows of war, poverty, and persecution, people are on the move—searching for safety, dignity, and a future. Their stories echo through refugee camps, crowded cities, and makeshift shelters. And we, as the hands and feet of Christ, are called to respond.
In every region, we hear their cries. These are not cries of strangers. They are the cries of Jesus, calling out from the margins (Proverbs 31:8-9). Their needs begin the moment they are displaced, but they often extend far beyond the headlines and the cameras—lasting for months, even years.
One of the most pressing needs among refugees is access to education. Education is not just a privilege—it is a lifeline. It is a means of healing, hope, and transformation. Yet, the statistics are sobering:
Nearly half of the world’s 14.8 million school-aged refugee children are currently missing out on formal education, risking their future prosperity and the attainment of global development goals.
Only 65% of refugee children are enrolled in primary school, compared to a global average of over 90%.
Just 42% of refugee adolescents attend secondary school, and a mere 7% have access to tertiary education.
These disparities are not just numbers—they represent lost potential, broken dreams, and a generation left behind. But as followers of Christ, we are called to be agents of change and transformation. We are called to provide not just for the physical needs of refugees but also to nurture their minds and spirits through education.
Listen to the words of Claudette, a Rwandan refugee:
“I will never forget the day of April 12, 1994 when a grenade hit my home in Kigali, Rwanda and that was the end of life as I knew it. At that time I was seven years old and my family was forced to scatter. My mother wanted to ensure that we stayed together as a family so she searched for several days for each of her children. Except for one sister she was successful in finding all of us.”
They are such matter-of-fact words, so lacking in sensationalism.
She was seven when her house was bombed – no description of the fear or chaos.
Her mother found all but one of her children – no word of grief for this loss of a sister.
It is heart breaking in the simplicity of the telling… the way that the tragedy of it is just accepted. And in the truth that there are 65 million such stories in our world right now – half of which are stories of children.
It’s a devastating reality… but why are we talking about it in church?
Refugee Sunday is relevant to our worship because our faith is relevant to what is going on in our world. And there is a refugee crisis going on in our world. There are currently more people displaced by war, violence, and persecution than at any other time in recorded history.
Claudette, spent 12 years as a displaced refugee before she and her family were finally resettled in Rhode Island, through the work of Lutheran Immigrant and Refugee Services.
She is now putting herself through college while simultaneously founding and working for a non-profit after school program for other refugee children to help them succeed in school.
“When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.” Leviticus 19:33–34
In his Pentecost homily, Pope Leo XIV reiterated that Christian love transcends borders, as he declared, “Where there is love, there is no room for prejudice, for ‘security’ zones separating us from our neighbours, for the exclusionary mindset that, tragically, we now see emerging also in political nationalisms.
Now more than ever, we must stand with refugees to keep alive their hopes of a better future. This World Refugee Day and every day, governments, institutions, companies and individuals can prove that by helping those caught up in senseless conflicts, we move towards greater stability, humanity and justice for us all. If we do so, I can promise you that refugees will bring all their courage, spirit and ingenuity to the task of creating a better, brighter tomorrow.
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