Cru 17: Ideas For Making Your Life CountSample

Loving Immigrants and Refugees

Over 200 million people around the world are migrating from one place to another. Around 60 million are classified as refugees - forced to flee their homes because of persecution, war or violence. Is there anything we need to know about God’s heart toward these 200 million people? Absolutely. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word for “immigrant” appears 92 times. The Bible often groups widows, orphans and immigrants together as individuals who God wants cared for in a special way. Mostafa is a Syrian refugee who was welcomed and loved by a church community in his new country. Jenny Yang shares his story.

You likely have immigrants and refugees in your local community. Perhaps you are even a person who has migrated from another country. Jenny shares this exciting observation: “The mission field is not just overseas anymore because of migration…The mission field has literally arrived to our own backyards, and this is an incredible opportunity for the Church.” Many refugees are coming from parts of the world that have little access to the good news of Jesus. Reach out to the immigrants and refugees in your neighborhood. Invite them to your home for a meal. If we do this, Jenny says, “God will use the seeds that we sow to ultimately bring people into the Kingdom of God.”