A PRAYER campaign for refugees and mission workers has been launched to draw attention to a crisis that its organisers say has “all but disappeared” from international media.
The 10:14 initiative #HowWillTheyHear — named after Romans 10:14 — started on 10 October for 14 days. It was set up a year ago by ten Christian organisations in Europe: Serving in Mission; Wycliffe Bible Translators; Operation Mobilisation; TEAM global missionaries; GEMission; DMG; United World Mission; ECMI; EMF; and Biblica.
A spokeswoman from Serving in Mission, Joanne Cornish, explained: “The refugee crisis has all but disappeared from the news — except when another stricken boat creates enough horror or outrage because dozens have drowned. But there are still hundreds of thousands of refugees currently on their journeys, or ‘stuck’ in refugee camps.”
The campaign website offers Christians both short- and long-term mission opportunities with churches in Germany or the Middle East. Ms Cornish said: “In the coming months, we hope to see more people going out to serve abroad, and to see churches and Christians getting involved in ‘home mission’ to refugees and migrants in communities here in the UK.”
It also encourages Christians to pray, campaign, learn more, and talk about the crisis, including telling stories on social media, using #HowWillTheyHear.
One of the founders of the initiative, Wycliffe Bible Translators, which also translates trauma-healing classes for refugees in Germany, is posting prayers and stories about its mission work on social media for each day of the campaign.
The prayer-diary editor for Wycliffe, Martin Horton, explained: “Very few of the more than 68.5 million refugees who were displaced last year know Jesus; but we believe that the effects of trauma, as well as linguistic barriers, should not be an obstacle to hearing the gospel.
“We serve refugees by translating trauma-healing materials and running trauma-healing courses, which offer people a chance to understand what other refugees have experienced, and to listen to others. It is simple, interactive, and combines basic concepts of psychology with the word of God.”
Ms Cornish said that the ultimate vision of #HowWillTheyHear is to “make disciples” among the refugee and migrant communities in their home countries and settled communities.
To order a free prayer guide, email info@howwilltheyhear.net, or sign up online at howwilltheyhear.net/pray.