Isolation is one of the biggest obstacles to recovery for someone forced to flee their home because of violence, persecution, or other human-caused disasters. Uprooted from home, family, and country, forcibly displaced people walk a lonely and vulnerable road as they seek a safe place to settle.

The impact of isolation is one of the concepts discussed in IAFR Training when we address the crucial role the Church can play by welcoming refugees and other displaced people into a supportive community.

More Popular Than Ever!

Interestingly, isolation is also a major barrier for Christian workers and volunteers around the world seeking to care for their forcibly displaced neighbors. Many Christians who know the importance of welcoming the stranger feel alone and under-resourced as they may operate in distant corners of the globe and sometimes without a church community that understands their sense of call and dedication to this type of ministry.

This is why IAFR webinars are more popular this year than ever! Zoom-based training opportunities allow scattered people who may never encounter an IAFR worker face-to-face to access our training material. So far, in 2024, sixty-seven people from sixteen countries and 10 U.S. states have attended our webinars on topics like Ministry in Humanitarian Contexts and The Cost of Caring.

To Zambia and Beyond

One of our hopes and goals as an organization is to be a resource for the global Church so that it can better embody God's heart of welcome and care for all those who travel the Refugee Highway. Through our 2024 webinar series, we hope to strengthen and equip God's people from Azerbaijan to Zambia and beyond.

Affirming Faithful Witness

One highlight for me is interacting personally with participants after the teaching sessions. Often, people have more specific questions on practical application in their particular context. After my webinar called Evangelism Meets Aid, a worker asked for input on how to share Jesus in a culturally and religiously sensitive context.

Not every principle applies to every context. However, the webinars build a platform for growing and learning together in caring for the displaced and being encouraged in wisdom and faithful loving witness. My new friend is doing just that in her context, and being able to affirm that at a more individual level was a joy for me.