Hello, friend. The world is full of people on the move. Some are fleeing danger. Some are rebuilding after loss. Some are suspended somewhere between what they left behind and whatever comes next. 

As World Refugee Day approaches, we remember that Scripture teaches us to see displaced people not as interruptions or statistics, but as neighbors. And for those of us who have been welcomed by Christ, that should change how we respond.

In today’s edition:

🇲🇲 Why displacement in Myanmar has become a way of life for millions.

🫂 Why the gospel reshapes how we see strangers, exiles and neighbors in need.

🇹🇷 Why Turkey remains a crossroads for displaced families longing for safety, dignity, and home.

When Home Keeps Moving 🇲🇲

For many families in Myanmar, displacement is no longer a temporary interruption—it has become a way of life. 

Years of conflict, military violence, and ethnic tension have forced millions from their homes. Some remain displaced inside the country, moving from place to place in search of safety. Others, including many Rohingya refugees, remain across the border in overcrowded camps, carrying the ache of a home they cannot return to.

And for many believers, that hardship comes with added pressure. 

In parts of Myanmar, Christians from ethnic minority communities have been caught in the violence, losing homes, churches, and any sense of stability. What should be ordinary—gathering, worshiping, raising children, rebuilding after loss—can feel fragile when conflict keeps pushing people further from home.

Still, God has not abandoned Myanmar. Even in a place marked by fear, flight, and uncertainty, he is at work. He is strengthening believers to endure, care for their neighbors, and bear witness to Christ in the middle of chaos. When home keeps moving, the hope of the gospel does not.

How to Pray

🙏🏼 Pray for displaced families across Myanmar and beyond—that God would provide safety, shelter, daily provision, and hope for those who have lost home.

🙏🏼 Pray for believers under pressure, especially in ethnic minority communities—that they would be strengthened to endure and to love others in the middle of suffering.

🙏🏼 Pray for peace and stability in Myanmar—that even in the midst of conflict, many would come to know the welcome and hope of Christ.

Welcomed by Jesus, Sent to Welcome Others 🫂

On a recent trip, a few of us grabbed an Uber. 

As we chatted with the driver, we learned he was from Afghanistan, and had served as a translator for the U.S. military. We didn’t ask many questions, but my guess is that he fled to the U.S. after the Taliban retook Afghanistan in 2021.

My other guess is that he misses home.

People migrate from all over the world to the U.S. or other countries for all kinds of reasons. They want to live somewhere safer or less chaotic or in a place where they have better opportunities for work and school. 

But I don’t think I’ve met many (or maybe any) migrants who haven’t missed home. 

I recently had a conversation with someone who fled Yemen, a country torn apart by civil war and entangled in international conflict. He’s thankful for his new home in a safer country, but he also said: “I miss the smell of dinner cooking in my mother’s house.” 

No place has spices like the ones he remembers in Yemen. 

The story of the Bible is also a story of people on the move. 

God exiles Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden because of their sin. 

He tells Abraham to pack up and move to a place he’ll show him. 

The Israelites are slaves in Egypt, but delivered through the Red Sea. 

They wander through the desert before coming to the Promised Land, before eventually being exiled again.

God told the Israelites their experience should shape how they treat others.

“You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Leviticus 19).

It’s true that the civil laws of the Old Testament don’t apply in the same way today. This isn’t a template for modern nations’ border policies. But the heart of those laws do remain the same. And the New Testament picks up that language too. 

The Apostle Peter calls us “sojourners and exiles.” In Luke 10, Jesus says to “love your neighbor as yourself.” A lawyer desiring to justify himself asks Jesus: “And who is my neighbor?” 

Jesus responds with the parable of the Good Samaritan and a punchline the lawyer probably didn’t expect: Whoever you see in need is your neighbor. It doesn’t matter where he or you are from. 

That’s because the gospel now shapes how we treat others. 

The good news of the gospel is that Jesus saves sinners, and he makes them part of his family. People from every nation, language, tribe, and tongue become united in Christ with one another. Paul tells the Ephesian believers from a Gentile background: “You are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.” 

This has huge implications for how we live in unity with fellow believers in the church. But it also has implications for how we treat strangers in the world. In gratitude for Jesus reconciling us to God, we can live with a posture that seeks the good of others, no matter where they’re from. 

A posture that preaches the gospel of grace.

Of course, that doesn’t mean we don’t live as faithful citizens in our own country. Or that we don’t have laws or borders. It doesn’t mean some migrants won’t break the law or abuse the system or come with bad intentions. All of that can be true, and we should take it seriously.

But there are so many migrants who miss home and need a welcome. So many from hard-to-reach places where they may have never heard the gospel. And there are so many opportunities for those of us who have been welcomed home by Jesus to extend a kind of hospitality that lives out the gospel we enjoy.

The kind of hospitality that literally opens the door to someone who misses the smells of home, and offers whatever we’re having for dinner, and also the aroma of Christ.

—Jamie Dean

NEW: Pray the World Coloring & Activity Book 🎨

Pray the World by Steven Morales now has a companion resource! With activities and illustrations by Sarah Nunnally, this resource encourages kids to discover God’s heart for the nations—and join his global mission through prayer.

At the Crossroads of Longing and Uncertainty 🇹🇷

Turkey sits at a difficult crossroads. It is home to one of the world’s largest refugee populations, with millions of displaced people trying to rebuild, wait, or decide whether home is safe to return to. 

At the same time, it is a land with deep Christian history. Some of the early church’s most important landmarks are there, yet today Christians account for less than 0.6% of the population, and many believers serve in a place where gospel witness can still bring pressure and resistance.

Many displaced people there are carrying both gratitude for refuge and grief over what they left behind. And in a country where so few know Christ, those realities call the church to reflect his welcome with courage and compassion.

Radical partners with believers in Turkey who use gospel radio programs to reach listeners, follow up with those who respond by discipling them and connecting them with local churches. God is still drawing people to himself there, sometimes through seeds planted years earlier.  

How to Pray

🙏🏼 Pray for displaced families in Turkey as they navigate refuge, uncertainty, and the difficult question of whether home is safe to return to.

🙏🏼 Pray for churches and believers in Turkey to welcome refugees with courage, wisdom, and practical love.

🙏🏼 Pray that those uprooted by war and instability would hear the gospel and find lasting hope in Christ.

📍 Attention Worthy

• Don’t try to make Christianity look better by trimming away the hard parts. Jesus did not soften the truth to keep followers, and neither should we. 

• Your truest identity is not something you build, but someone you belong to. Being “in Christ” should reshape how Christians see citizenship, belonging, and every spiritual blessing.

• We used to ask institutions to form us. Now we expect them to affirm us. Expressive individualism has reshaped the way we think about belonging, authority, and what it means to be truly formed.