The Mission

Week 25, 2026

62.5 million have fled to somewhere else in their own country

5.3 million have left their country as refugees

5.4 million are seeking asylum and argue they can never return home.

Of the 35 million who have left their homeland, more than half have come from just three countries: Syria, (6.5m), Ukraine (5.7m), Afghanistan (5.7m). The devastation caused by war and by autocratic governments is extraordinary.

76% of the world’s displaced people are hosted in low- and middle-income countries. The top refugee-hosting countries - and rarely praised by the global community for this - are Türkiye, Iran, Colombia, Germany (a high-income country) and Pakistan. Among Lebanon’s small population, one in seven is a refugee.

Migrant flows today are nothing unusual in historical terms. Their numbers, as a proportion of the world, have not changed much in half a century.

• Pray for protection of the lives and dignity of all those who leave their homes as migrants or refugees. The path they take is blighted by exploitation, illegal border crossings, rape, torture, imprisonment, and death; that they consider such risks worth taking should tell us something.

• The presence of large numbers of migrants usually creates tensions and strains in receiving countries; pray for a balance between compassionate care for local people in need as well as refugees.

• Fair sharing between nations would ease the pressure on receiving countries. International cooperation could relieve great evil; pray for justice!

• The Christian faith has often taken root among refugees and in refugee camps. Pray for all who seek to serve refugees in Christ’s name. Pray that Christ will build his Church among those who have lost everything, turning ashes into beauty.

INDIA

India, population 1.4 billion, dwarfs every country of the world except China and is now the world’s most populous country. It is the most ethnically diverse nation on earth with over 2,500 people groups, 22 official languages, and thousands of castes. It is home to most of the world’s Hindus, while also hosting the second-largest Muslim population in the world, and a small proportion of Christians. It is a secular state, and the world’s largest democracy, and maintains traditions of free speech and freedom of religion. The Hindu nationalist government since 2014 has worked hard on improving infrastructure, streamlining welfare payments and improving the business climate, but has also pressured the media, political opponents, and Muslims and Christians.

In 2024 the agency Open Doors named India eleventh in its list of the hardest countries to be a Christian, citing violent mobs, anti-conversion laws and coercion to return to Hinduism. This makes India a worse place for Christians than Saudi Arabia or China. None of the states of India’s Ganges plain, each of which could be a giant country in its own right, are more than 1% Christian. They are also human mosaics of religious, ethnic, and cultural diversity. The Church has a commission to bring the gospel to every network of people and to every person; North India is a greater challenge for the Church than anywhere else on Earth.

• India’s freedoms are being tested by Hindu nationalism. Pray that India’s proud traditions of tolerance and freedom will continue and strengthen.

• India’s Christian Church has seen as many as 100,000 people sent across India to communicate the gospel, start churches, and work to relieve suffering and injustice. The result has been tens of thousands of new congregations across India. Pray that this amazing missionary movement will transform India through Christ.