It is easy to be overwhelmed by many of the issues facing the world today. It's not uncommon to feel like the little we can do to help is meaningless. As my Austrian friends put it, "It can feel like all we have to offer is a drop of water on a hot stone."

Today's growing global refugee crisis is one such issue as 1 in every 95 people today are forcibly displaced by violence and hatred. This begs the question, What can we do in the face of overwhelming need?

We need to change the metaphor.

Rather than think of the little we have to offer as a meaningless drop in a bucket, I prefer to think of it as a seed filled with potential planted into the earth. Tiny seeds can become fruit bearing trees and beautiful flowers, each of which produces a myriad more seeds filled with potential.

Question: What can we do in the face of overwhelming need?

Answer: We do what we can.

Sometimes, doing what we can inspires others to do the same. And that is how movements take off.

Speaking of Movements...

Speaking of movements, did you know that over 400 people from 47 nations gathered in Athens, Greece, this week for the annual Europe Round Table of the Refugee Highway Partnership?

The gathering was made up of Christians who share a common burden to welcome and help refugees and asylum seekers. They came together for a time of mutual encouragement, learning, and networking. Several of our IAFR missionaries were among the participants.

Above: RHP 2021 Roundtable Promo Video - Athens

I remember how the Refugee Highway Partnership started.

Back in the ‘90s, I was among a handful of Christians in Europe engaging in highly relational ministry among refugees and asylum seekers. In 1999, the Secretary General of World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) approached me and said, You know your vision is bigger than any one agency can handle, right? No argument there.

He then asked if we would work with WEA to plan a Global Consultation on the Refugee Highway. After a lot of hemming and hawing, we finally said yes.

We then set out to find other Christians on diverse continents who were doing what they could to help refugees and asylum seekers and invite them to the consultation.

We set out to find other Christians who were doing what they could.

The first Consultation on the Refugee Highway happened in Turkey in 2001. Just over 200 people from all over the world participated. For many of us, it was like we had just discovered our family for the first time. The feedback after the event was, We have to do this again!

The Refugee Highway Partnership was born. Annual Round Tables soon began to take place in different regions of the world.

The early Roundtables brought around 15-40 people together. Today they convene hundreds and play an important role in fueling a worldwide movement of all stripes of Christians, churches, and agencies seeking to welcome and love refugees - including IAFR.

Part of a global movement of the Holy Spirit

A global movement of the Holy Spirit is unfolding as God calls followers of Jesus and their faith communities to welcome and serve forcibly displaced people worldwide.

God started it through people who were doing what they could.

That encourages me as we set out into 2022. I hope it encourages you too.

May the seeds we plant in 2022 bear good fruit.

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We believe that followers of Jesus and their local communities of faith should be at the forefront of welcoming and rehumanizing marginalized people. The God we worship sees, hears, and cares deeply for them. And so must we.

That's why we equip and mobilize the Church to help people survive and recover from forced displacement.