The world’s refugee crisis has only been buried by the pandemic news, but people seeking refuge from war and terror are still in need of help.

The COVID-19 pandemic closed many countries’ borders to protect people, but this also left many refugees stranded, separated from other family members or stuck in camps with limited access to aid.

One of our partners works in Turkey with Syrian and Iraqi refugees who both unable to return home and aren’t allowed to continue migrating farther. He and his team distribute food stuffs to the refugee families and also share the gospel with them, as well as praying with them for individual concerns and fears.

No matter what they are doing, the team seeks to obey the biblical command of “When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt” (Leviticus 19:33-34).

The food outreaches have made an impact because they’re a tangible proof for the refugees of someone’s attention and care. As a result, many are much more open to hearing about the good news. “We have new home groups,” the team leader reported, “and we are seeing a spread of the gospel that seems faster than the coronavirus itself, which…means we must make sure we have enough leaders for the new home groups we have.”

The second wave of COVID cases has made travel much more difficult, so in the interim, the team is focused on identifying new spiritual leaders and disciplining them. They have been communicating with the World Challenge team to get resources for many of these new leaders and small church groups.

In the meantime, they organized another food distribution and outreach, particularly focused on including items for the 35 toddlers and babies. Packages included diapers, milk, clothes and toys. During this outreach, one team member visited a new family who were touched by the love of Christ, and the whole family gave their lives to the Lord. Now they are joining one of the home groups.

This team member was also able to connect with his cousin, a young man who is a single father of a toddler who has a special health condition. His entire family was Muslim, and he married a young Muslim woman who later left him when he became a Christian. Now he lives with his parents and older sister.

During the food and children’s items distribution last week, the young man’s parents and his older sister were deeply touched by the love of Christ when the team delivered their package. “The parents and the sister gave their life to the Lord through…their cousin,” our partner relayed. “[name omitted] called me two days ago to inform me of this, dancing with joy!”

*For our ministry partners’ security, we don’t release names or locations in highly sensitive areas.