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        <title>Christian Daily International | Migration</title>
        <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/migration</link>
        <description><![CDATA[Follow global news on migration and the church’s response, from refugee support to humanitarian aid. Explore how Christians engage with displaced communities, advocate for justice, and provide hope for those on the move.]]></description>
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            <title>Christian Daily International | Migration</title>
            <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/migration</link>
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        <copyright>Christian Daily International © 2026</copyright>
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        <lastBuildDate>Sun, 25 Oct 2026 01:58:37 -0400</lastBuildDate>
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                <title><![CDATA[Loneliness weighs on Christians serving refugees in South Asia, consultation finds]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/loneliness-weighs-on-christians-serving-refugees-in-south-asia-consultation-finds</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/loneliness-weighs-on-christians-serving-refugees-in-south-asia-consultation-finds</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[CDI Staff]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Participants listen as a speaker presents during the South Asia Consultation on Forced Displacement, Protection, and Durable Solutions in Colombo, Sri Lanka, held Sept. 14-16, 2026.]]></media:title>
                                                            <media:credit role="author" scheme="urn:ebu">
                                    <![CDATA[ Philoi Global ]]>
                                </media:credit>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Participants listen as a speaker presents during the South Asia Consultation on Forced Displacement, Protection, and Durable Solutions in Colombo, Sri Lanka, held Sept. 14-16, 2026. ]]>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Participants pray together during the South Asia Consultation on Forced Displacement, Protection, and Durable Solutions in Colombo, Sri Lanka, held Sept. 14-16, 2026.]]></media:title>
                                                            <media:credit role="author" scheme="urn:ebu">
                                    <![CDATA[ Philoi Global ]]>
                                </media:credit>
                                                                                        <media:description type="plain">
                                    <![CDATA[ Participants pray together during the South Asia Consultation on Forced Displacement, Protection, and Durable Solutions in Colombo, Sri Lanka, held Sept. 14-16, 2026. Attendees described isolation and personal risk in their work with refugees and displaced people, according to the organizer, Philoi Global. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Fri, 16 Oct 2026 07:05:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[Christian leaders and practitioners who work with refugees and other displaced people in South Asia say the work leaves many of them isolated and exposed to personal risk, according to a recent report by Philoi Global.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
Christian leaders and practitioners who work with refugees and other displaced people in South Asia say the work leaves many of them isolated and exposed to personal risk, according to a recent report by Philoi Global, a Christian humanitarian organization that organized a regional consultation on the issue in Sri Lanka.
The gathering, held Sept. 14-16 in Colombo, drew participants from India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Although the agenda centered on theology, law and policy, the issue of loneliness among those doing the work came up repeatedly, organizers said.
"The church and authorities often do not see the plight of displaced people," a participant from Pakistan said, according to the report. "Anyone who chooses to support refugees does so with a significant amount of personal risk."
Philoi did not name the participants it quoted due to security concerns.
Several attendees described feeling misunderstood and unsupported by both church and government institutions. They highlighted personal, financial, social and political risks that come with working alongside forcibly displaced people.
Some said the wider church seldom treats forced displacement as a significant concern for its mission. Others said governments tend to view refugee ministry mainly as a security matter, which has made engagement with officials harder.
Participants from India said regulatory restrictions had affected a number of Christian organizations serving displaced people in the country, limiting their response to growing needs.
Formally titled the South Asia Consultation on Forced Displacement, Protection, and Durable Solutions, the meeting covered three main topics. Participants discussed a theology of suffering, ways to support refugees' return and reintegration, and complementary migration pathways, which are legal routes for refugees outside traditional resettlement programs.
Members of the global leadership team of the Refugee Highway Partnership, a Christian network that serves forcibly displaced people, also took part. Invited representatives from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar were unable to attend because of travel restrictions, Philoi said.

At the Colombo meeting, participants agreed that responders need a supportive community and prayer in addition to funding and training.
One participant from Sri Lanka said they had worked with displaced communities for 10 to 12 years, mostly independently, and that the consultation had renewed their motivation.
"It reminded me that I am not alone in this work," the participant said.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[Evangelical, Catholic leaders urge US Congress to widen legal immigration paths in joint statement]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/evangelical-catholic-leaders-urge-us-congress-to-widen-legal-immigration-paths-in-joint-statement</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/evangelical-catholic-leaders-urge-us-congress-to-widen-legal-immigration-paths-in-joint-statement</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[CDI Staff]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[People participate in a Naturalization Ceremony at Liberty State Park on September 17, 2024 in Jersey City, New Jersey.]]></media:title>
                                                            <media:credit role="author" scheme="urn:ebu">
                                    <![CDATA[ Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ People take part in a naturalization ceremony at Liberty State Park in Jersey City, New Jersey, on Sept. 17, 2024. In a joint statement released Oct. 14, 2026, leaders of the National Association of Evangelicals and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ migration committee urged Congress to expand legal pathways for longtime immigrant residents while affirming the government’s duty to secure the nation’s borders. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Wed, 14 Oct 2026 12:07:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[The heads of the main U.S. evangelical umbrella body and the Catholic bishops' migration committee have issued a joint statement urging Congress to open legal pathways for longtime immigrant residents, while affirming that the government has a duty to secure the country's borders.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
The heads of the main U.S. evangelical umbrella body and the Catholic bishops' migration committee have issued a joint statement urging Congress to open legal pathways for longtime immigrant residents, while affirming that the government has a duty to secure the country's borders.
The statement, "A Call for Christian Compassion and Wisdom in the Immigration Debate," was released Wednesday (Oct. 14) by the co-chairs of the Evangelical-Catholic Dialogue on Immigration, Rev. Walter Kim, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, and Bishop Brendan Cahill of Victoria, Texas, who chairs the Committee on Migration of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Drawing on Scripture, the five-page document sets out three principles: human dignity, protection of the family and the proper role of government, and it argues that current U.S. enforcement practices have departed from them.
Its release follows a year in which the U.S. government sharply increased immigration arrests and deportations and nearly halted refugee admissions, while Christians in the United States remain divided over how to weigh border security against humanitarian obligations.
"As Catholic and evangelical Christians, we have doctrinal differences, but we are united in our conviction that God calls us to stand both with our fellow Americans who are experiencing economic and cultural anxieties and with our immigrant neighbors who are facing existential challenges," the two leaders wrote.
The NAE and the USCCB formed the dialogue in March 2026 to bring leaders of both traditions together on immigration, according to the NAE. Participants found broad agreement on the theological principles that should inform national policy, the association said.
Three principles based on the Old and New Testaments
The first principle rests on Genesis 1:27, which describes human beings as created in God's image. Before anyone is classified as a citizen or noncitizen, documented or undocumented, each person is a neighbor with "a claim on our conscience," the statement says.
"This dignity comes from God, not government, and no earthly power may erase it," it reads.
The authors cite Old Testament commands to love the foreigner, Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan and the story of Ruth the Moabite. They add that the same biblical obligations apply "with equal force" to U.S. citizens living in poverty, and they reject approaches that set citizens against noncitizens.
Family unity is the second principle, grounded in Genesis 2:24. The statement asserts that most people now facing detention and deportation in the United States are Catholic or evangelical Christians, and that roughly one in 12 Christians in the country either risks losing legal status or shares a home with someone who does.
Those figures come from "One Part of the Body," a March 2025 report by the USCCB's Migration and Refugee Services, the NAE, the evangelical relief agency World Relief and the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. The report estimated that more than 10 million Christians were vulnerable to deportation at the end of 2024, about 80 percent of all those at risk. Catholics made up 61 percent of that group and evangelicals 13 percent, according to the report, which also found that nearly one in five U.S. Catholics was either at risk or living with someone who was.
"Their fear is our fear; their tears are ours to wipe," the co-chairs wrote.
The third principle, taken from Romans 13:1-7, affirms the government's responsibility to protect citizens and enforce "reasonable immigration policies." The document expresses gratitude for law enforcement officers and says many of them experience "moral injury when duty and conscience collide."
Even so, the co-chairs read the passage as describing authority that restrains wrongdoing. Directing enforcement at "the peaceful and productive majority" rather than at those who intend harm, they wrote, "is not an expression of Romans 13 but a departure from it."
Strengthening legal pathways
Both the executive branch and lawmakers bear responsibility, the statement says, but only Congress can correct what it calls "statutory shortcomings" in the legal immigration system. Existing routes to permanent status are "extremely limited and out of reach for most," the authors wrote, including for immigrants who have lived in the country for decades.
According to the document, majorities of evangelicals and Catholics favor reform that would allow longtime residents to regularize their status. A February 2025 Lifeway Research survey, sponsored in part by the NAE, found that 74 percent of self-identified evangelicals backed a path to citizenship for people in the country illegally who meet certain qualifications.
The co-chairs say reform legislation should also secure borders through "targeted, proportionate, and humane measures" that prioritize people who threaten public safety and respect due process.
They also call for strict limits on detaining nonviolent immigrants, especially children and families, with access to chaplains and legal counsel for everyone held. Legal routes for workers, family members and humanitarian migrants, they wrote, should be "safe, reliable, and efficient."
The leaders pledged to work with authorities so that every detainee, "of all faiths and none," can receive spiritual counsel and take part in the sacraments.
Enforcement and admissions figures
The statement itself does not cite enforcement statistics. Government data compiled by the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan research organization in Washington, D.C., indicate the scale of recent changes.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the federal agency responsible for arrests and removals inside the country, made about 236,000 administrative arrests in fiscal 2025, more than double the previous year's total, according to figures cited by the institute. MPI estimates that the agency carried out about 333,000 deportations over the same period.
Border encounters with migrants dropped to 692,000 in fiscal 2025. That compares with 2.9 million the year before and a record 3.2 million in fiscal 2023, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data reported by MPI.
The U.S. immigrant population reached a record 50.2 million in 2024, or 14.8 percent of residents, the institute reports. About 74 percent held legal status as of 2023, when MPI estimated the unauthorized population at roughly 13.7 million. Some 18.3 million children lived with at least one immigrant parent in 2024, and 85 percent of those children were born in the United States.
Refugee admissions have fallen to historic lows. The fiscal 2026 ceiling of 7,500 is the lowest since the modern resettlement program was created in 1980, and of the 3,158 refugees resettled in the first five months of that year, all but three came from South Africa, MPI reports.
Christian Daily International reported in September that World Relief and Open Doors US, in a report titled "State of the Golden Door," projected fiscal 2026 would likely be the first year in at least a quarter century in which no refugees facing religious persecution were resettled in the United States. The two Christian organizations said asylum approval rates in immigration court for applicants from the 50 countries on Open Doors' World Watch List fell to 10 percent in the first nine months of fiscal 2026, down from 58 percent in fiscal 2023.
The NAE-USCCB statement lists protecting the persecuted among the government's duties, alongside border security and upholding religious liberty.
The case for stricter enforcement
Support for the administration's approach remains strongest among white Christians. A Public Religion Research Institute survey released in March found that white evangelicals, at 69 percent, and white Catholics, at 53 percent, were the only religious groups in which a majority viewed President Donald Trump's handling of immigration favorably. Favorable views had declined in both groups, and in every other religious group surveyed, since March 2025.
The same survey found that 63 percent of white evangelicals and 55 percent of white Catholics agreed the federal government should hold immigrants in the country illegally in "internment camps" until they can be deported, compared with 41 percent of Americans overall. At the same time, 72 percent of Americans, including 55 percent of Republicans, said the United States should provide refuge to people who arrive facing serious danger in their home countries.
Those who favor stricter enforcement raise concerns the statement addresses only in part.
Many frame the issue as one of national sovereignty and the rule of law, arguing that a nation has the right to decide who enters and stays, and that failing to enforce existing law erodes public trust. The rise in border crossings that peaked in fiscal 2023 strained shelters and public services in several U.S. cities and became a central issue in the 2024 presidential election.
Critics of unauthorized immigration also argue that it is unfair to people who wait their turn. More than 4 million people were on the State Department's immigrant visa waiting list as of November 2023, according to MPI, and some family-based applications being processed in March 2026 had been filed in April 2001.
Public safety is another concern. Proponents of tougher enforcement point to crimes committed by people in the country illegally and argue those offenses could have been prevented by removal. The administration suspended Diversity Visa issuances in December 2025 and paused asylum decisions after fatal shootings allegedly carried out by noncitizens, MPI reports.
Economic effects are also debated. Some economists have argued that large inflows of lower-skilled workers depress wages for the native-born workers who compete most directly with them, particularly those without a high school diploma.
The case for expanding legal routes
Advocates for reform point to a legal system whose core limits have not changed in more than three decades. Annual caps of 226,000 family-sponsored and 140,000 employment-based green cards were set in 1990, and no single country may account for more than 7 percent of those visas, according to MPI. Nearly 946,000 approved employment-based petitions were awaiting an open visa slot as of June 2025.
Labor demand forms part of that argument. Immigrants and their U.S.-born children accounted for all growth in the prime working-age population since 2000 as birth rates declined, the institute reports.
Supporters of expanded legal migration, including the statement's authors, contend that wider legal channels would reduce irregular entry and free enforcement agencies to focus on public-safety threats.
Some who favor tighter limits counter that legalizing people already in the country could encourage future unauthorized migration. They point to the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act, which granted legal status to about 2.7 million people but was followed by rapid growth in the unauthorized population.
Resources for congregations
Immigration remains one of the most contested issues in U.S. public life, and the disagreements run through congregations as well as political parties. Christians who share convictions about human dignity and the authority of Scripture often reach different conclusions about how to weigh border security, the rule of law and obligations to the stranger.
In presenting the statement, the NAE pointed to “the complexity of the issue” and “the need for faithful engagement,” describing the document as a resource for churches, leaders and citizens.
It has proposed three ways for churches to use the statement. It encourages prayer for immigrants, policymakers and law enforcement officers, and suggests teaching the three biblical principles as a sermon series or small-group study.
The association also urges evangelicals to visit their members of Congress alongside a Catholic counterpart, or to write joint opinion pieces, as a sign of shared witness.
The statement links its appeal to the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, quoting its affirmation that all people are "endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights." The co-chairs committed to further education and dialogue within and between their traditions and invited local congregations to do the same.
"We do not offer these words in anger or partisanship but in hope, trusting that the God of the exile and the stranger has not abandoned his people," they wrote.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA['Every tribe, nation and language': New network seeks to unite migrant and European churches]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/every-tribe-nation-and-language-new-network-seeks-to-unite-migrant-and-european-churches</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/every-tribe-nation-and-language-new-network-seeks-to-unite-migrant-and-european-churches</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Timothy Goropevsek]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Members of the One People Network steering group at the networks launch during Hope for Europe 2026 in Golem, Albania.]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Christian Daily International ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Members of the One People Network steering group at the network's launch during Hope for Europe 2026 in Golem, Albania. From left: Laura Saulon of Latin Link and Lausanne Europe; the Rev. Dr. Israel Oluwole Olofinjana, founding director of the Centre for Missionaries from the Majority World and coordinator of the One People Network; Bethany Serengheu of the Peace and Reconciliation Network; Egzon Shala of the Swiss Evangelical Alliance; and Dr. Usha Reifsnider, co-director of Lausanne Europe. Christian Daily International ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Wed, 07 Oct 2026 09:53:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[The European Evangelical Alliance has launched a new network aimed at helping diaspora and indigenous European churches work together as one body, as debates over migration intensify across the continent.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
The European Evangelical Alliance has launched a new network aimed at helping diaspora and indigenous European churches work together as one body, as debates over migration intensify across the continent.
The One People Network was officially launched at Hope for Europe 2026, the five-day gathering of about 250 evangelical leaders taking place in Golem, Albania, through Friday, Oct. 9, under the theme "Hope in Uncertain Times."
The network is coordinated by the Rev. Dr. Israel Oluwole Olofinjana, founding director of the Centre for Missionaries from the Majority World. In an interview, he told Christian Daily International that the idea had been discussed for years and that its timing now carries particular significance.
"It's been a conversation in the pipeline for some time, at least as far back as five, six years," Olofinjana said. "And I'm glad that it's happening for such a time as this, to use that reference from Esther. Because we're having these debates about migration in Europe. And so to have a network that wants to focus on diaspora, how diaspora work together with indigenous Europeans or Europeans, is critical."
From Nigeria to English Baptist pulpits
Olofinjana came to the United Kingdom from Nigeria as a missionary in 2004. From the outset, he said, he chose not to lead a congregation defined by a single diaspora community.
"Since then, I've gone intentionally on a journey of not leading what would be described as a diaspora church or a Nigerian church or an African church," he said. "I've worked among the English Baptists as a Baptist minister, and I've led three Baptist churches and one independent charismatic church."
He described those congregations as multicultural, including one white-majority church.
Alongside pastoral ministry, Olofinjana founded the Centre for Missionaries from the Majority World, which provides contextual training for missionaries arriving in Europe. He has also written academically on African diaspora Christianity and African missions in Europe.
Successive waves of migration
Over more than two decades, Olofinjana has watched several distinct waves of migration reshape churches in the UK and across Europe.
When he arrived in 2004, he said, he later recognized a pattern: a number of missionaries had come to the U.K. at the same time, intentionally, from South Korea, Zimbabwe, China and Nigeria.
Around 2014 and 2015, a further wave followed. "Iranians coming in because of some of the conflicts going on in the Middle East," he said. "So now some of the largest or fastest-growing churches in the UK and other parts of Europe are Iranian churches."
Shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic came migration from Hong Kong, driven by political tensions there. Some pastors from Hong Kong, Olofinjana said, "have decided not to be in a Chinese or Hong Kong church, but to integrate within other churches and spheres."
Russia's war in Ukraine has since brought Ukrainians into European churches, "engaging in different ways and in different spaces," he said.
"So there's been different moves, successive waves of migration with different characteristics," he said.
Beyond 'landlord and tenant'
Asked about relations between migrant churches and established European congregations, Olofinjana pointed to several models of good practice.
One of the most common is building sharing, in which a migrant congregation meets in a Lutheran, Baptist or other church building. In some cases, he said, the arrangement goes no further than a lease.
"Some of them are landlord-tenant relationships. So the congregation is just renting the building and that's it. Nothing else goes further," he said. "But others are intentionally building relationships and are going beyond just landlord-tenant and actually doing joint services together, or running some missions together, or discipleship together."
National evangelical alliances offer another route. Olofinjana cited Switzerland and the U.K. as examples, as both have employed a diaspora or intercultural leader to work across communities. Egzon Shala fills that role at the Swiss Evangelical Alliance, he said, while Olofinjana himself previously served in a similar capacity with the Evangelical Alliance of the U.K.
'Contested migration is a big barrier'
Asked what he sees as the greatest obstacle to closer relationships, Olofinjana pointed to the way migration is currently viewed in Europe, both in society and in the church.
"I think at the moment, while society is agitating around what that means for us, people in the churches as well are asking those questions, and they are not sure whether this is good or bad," he said. "And so many in our churches are not fully convinced that migration is a force for good."
That uncertainty, he said, shapes life inside congregations.
"If people are not fully convinced that migration is a force for good, then we will have people sitting in the church alongside refugees and asylum seekers, but internally they are not sure about what this dynamic means for them," he said. "So it's a barrier. Contested migration is a big barrier."
His answer to that barrier is discipleship, specifically teaching a theology of migration grounded in Scripture.
"Discipleship is key to navigate those barriers," he said. "And what I mean by that discipleship is how people are taught about the theology of migration, to unpack Scriptures to help people understand that this is not just a political issue. What does the Scripture have to say about this topic and this subject?"
'Every tribe, nation and language'
The One People Network is inspired by the picture in Revelation 7:9. "Our vision is to see how Europe can be transformed by the Revelation vision of every tribe, nation and language," Olofinjana said.
According to the European Evangelical Alliance, the network's vision is for evangelical churches across Europe to flourish as one. Its stated purposes include acknowledging the national and ethnic diversity within EEA church communities, and promoting a message of unity to nations and their leaders. It will also encourage the alliance to speak on emerging issues with new voices, and it hopes to broaden EEA membership among emerging ethnic churches in Europe, especially among youth and young adults.
Olofinjana said the network plans to pursue these aims primarily through conferences, consultations bringing key leaders together, intergenerational conversations and research.
"We want to do that through intergenerational conversation, because you cannot separate the intercultural and intergenerational," he said. "We want to do some research to find out more of the dynamics of what's going on."
Theological reflection is another focus. "We want to engage theologizing, how we do theology," he said. "How do we teach pastors how to handle a multicultural congregation?"
The network also intends to provide practical resources for church leaders. "A lot of pastors are asking, 'How do I lead? What books do I read? What things do I need to do?'" Olofinjana said.
The network will serve national alliances, diaspora networks and movements, and intercultural networks.
"We want to connect the dots, have an overview and bring them together," he said. "That is our hope and dream."
Start from Scripture
Asked what he would advise pastors who are unsure how to approach migration amid political polarization, Olofinjana urged to start with the Bible rather than in public debates or on social media.
"I would say they need to look at Scripture. They need not to follow the algorithms that are saying, 'Oh, migrants are coming on the boat,'" he said. "Okay, that's a reality we cannot ignore. Yes, they are coming, but then how should we as Christians respond?"
He acknowledged the distinction between legal and illegal migration, but said the Christian response should begin elsewhere.
"What does the Bible say about the stranger? How should we welcome the stranger? Hospitality, what does that mean?" he said. "That should be our starting point, not the politics of migration, but the discipleship and the welcoming and hospitality."
A church that does this well, he said, affirms the dignity of others and takes part in the Great Commission without leaving its own community.
"It means you are recognizing the humanity of other people. It means you are recognizing that other people different from us are created in God's image, and you are putting that into practice," Olofinjana said. "And you are engaging in cross-cultural mission by doing that, because you'd be welcoming people from all over the world into your church."
"We should go and make disciples of all nations," he added. "So you'll be doing that literally by welcoming and providing hospitality for different people."]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[Africa’s largest Pentecostal church repatriates 500 Nigerians from South Africa amid xenophobic attacks]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/africas-largest-pentecostal-church-repatriates-500-nigerians-from-south-africa</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/africas-largest-pentecostal-church-repatriates-500-nigerians-from-south-africa</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Vincent Matinde]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[RCCG Nigerians repatriated from SA]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Arise TV YT ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Pastor Belemina Obunge (center) chairs the RCCG Task Force for the Reception of Nigerian returnees from South Africa. The church donated $265,854 to support the return of 500 Nigerians from South Africa. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Mon, 28 Sep 2026 09:30:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) has begun a humanitarian operation to bring at least 500 Nigerians back home from South Africa.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) has begun a humanitarian operation to bring at least 500 Nigerians back home from South Africa. 
One hundred Nigerians arrived at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos on Sept. 24 after travelling from Johannesburg. They were received by officials from the National Emergency Management Agency, the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons and other government agencies.
The returnees underwent profiling at the airport before arrangements were made for their onward movement to their respective states.
The repatriation is being funded by the RCCG after an appeal from the Nigerian diplomatic mission in South Africa concerning Nigerians who wanted to return home.
Pastor Belemina Obunge, chairman of the RCCG Task Force for the Reception of Nigerian returnees from South Africa, said the intervention was approved by RCCG General Overseer Pastor Enoch Adeboye on humanitarian grounds.
Obunge said the Nigerians in South Africa had been documented by the Nigerian High Commission in Pretoria and the South African Home Affairs authorities. He also stressed that the exercise was not limited to members of the RCCG.
“Nigerians of different faiths are included,” he said, according to reports on the arrival of the first group. Obunge has also called on state governments to assist with the reintegration of their citizens after they return.
RCCG, headquartered in Ogun State, Nigeria is widely recognized as the largest Pentecostal denomination and movement in Africa by total membership estimated at 9 million baptized congregants spread across 50,000 assemblies in 147 countries.
The church is paying for the air transportation from Johannesburg to Lagos, while government agencies are responsible for receiving the returnees, completing the necessary processing and helping them reach their respective states.
The returnees are being brought home in batches because of the documentation and clearance procedures involved. At least 500 adult Nigerians are expected to benefit from the initiative, although the final number could be higher because of children and infants.
The intervention follows a wider Nigerian government effort to repatriate citizens from South Africa amid renewed concerns over xenophobic and Afrophobic attacks.
Nigeria began an evacuation programme in June after a new wave of attacks and tensions involving foreign nationals in parts of South Africa. By early September, the Federal Government said 1,640 Nigerians had already been brought home. Of these, 1,385 had been fully sponsored by the government, while 255 had returned with support from philanthropic donations. 
Another 202 Nigerians were awaiting final screening by South African authorities at the time.
The RCCG announced on Sept. 4 that it had donated more than $260,000 to support the return of 500 Nigerians from South Africa. The Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the money would be used to purchase 500 one-way air tickets for Nigerians seeking to return home.
Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomed the contribution, describing it as support for Nigerians facing difficult circumstances in South Africa. The government also said the donation demonstrated how faith-based organizations and public institutions could work together in responding to humanitarian situations.
The RCCG task force has said the church's responsibility covers the air journey between Johannesburg and Lagos. Government authorities will handle reception and onward transportation.
For Nigerians who remain stranded in South Africa and wish to return, the task force has encouraged them to contact Nigerian diplomatic missions in the country so they can be properly documented and considered for assistance.
The repatriation represents another phase of Nigeria’s ongoing effort to assist citizens who have chosen to leave South Africa amid the recent tensions. It also brings private humanitarian funding into an evacuation program that has so far relied on both government resources and contributions from organizations and individuals.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[Burundi nationals in Kenya seek refuge in embassy, Church after President Ruto orders crackdown on foreigners]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/burundi-nationals-in-kenya-seek-refuge-in-embassy-church-after-president-ruto-orders-crackdown-on-foreigners</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/burundi-nationals-in-kenya-seek-refuge-in-embassy-church-after-president-ruto-orders-crackdown-on-foreigners</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Vincent Matinde]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Burundi nationals in Kenya]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Facebook ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ By Monday, Sept. 7, long queues had formed outside the Burundi Embassy in Nairobi as some nationals sought help to leave the country ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Mon, 14 Sep 2026 06:13:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[Hundreds of Burundians gathered outside their embassy in Nairobi carrying suitcases and personal belongings, some seeking travel documents to return home after President William Ruto ordered a crackdown on foreign nationals operating small-scale businesses in Kenya.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
Hundreds of Burundians gathered outside their embassy in Nairobi carrying suitcases and personal belongings, some seeking travel documents to return home after President William Ruto ordered a crackdown on foreign nationals operating small-scale businesses in Kenya.
The directive by Ruto on Sept. 2, said small-scale trading should be reserved for Kenyans. It triggered confusion and fear among foreign traders, particularly Burundians who earn their living through hawking and other informal businesses.
By Monday, Sept. 7, long queues had formed outside the Burundi Embassy in Nairobi as some nationals sought help to leave the country. Reuters reported that some Burundians said they had been threatened and no longer felt safe, while others said they were leaving despite a government offer to regularize their status.In Mombasa a group of Burundi nationals sought refuge at a church, after they experienced harassment, following the directive. Most are now living in fear and are unable to go back to the communities they once called home. 
The government later announced a 90-day period for foreign nationals to regularize immigration, work permit and business documents. Presidential spokesperson Hussein Mohamed said the exercise would be conducted with foreign embassies and warned against threats, harassment and intimidation of foreign businesspeople.
Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing'oei also visited Burundians at their embassy and apologized for what he described as a misunderstanding of the president's directive. He said the registration process was intended not only to establish who was working in Kenya but also to help authorities protect foreign residents.
But the episode has already exposed the human cost that can emerge when immigration enforcement collides with informal livelihoods.
Kenya hosts about 35,000 Burundian refugees and asylum seekers, according to the UNHCR. Many are involved in small-scale businesses and hawking in Nairobi and other cities in the country. Some told Reuters they had lived in Kenya for years and were now uncertain about whether they could continue working there.
The reaction among Kenyans has also been mixed. Some small-scale traders have welcomed the president's position, arguing that foreigners are competing for businesses and jobs that should be available to citizens. Others have responded with sympathy toward the Burundians.
Social media has become one outlet for that response, with Kenyans sharing images and accounts of Burundians seeking help and condemning harassment of foreign traders. Musician and activist Octopizzo publicly defended Burundians living in Kenya and called for them to be allowed to live and work peacefully while individuals who break the law are dealt with on a case-by-case basis.
Shrinking liberties for Africans in Africa
The developments in Kenya are part of a broader pattern across Africa, although governments are acting for different reasons.
In neighboring Tanzania, the government has tightened enforcement of rules barring foreigners from 15 categories of businesses reserved for Tanzanian citizens. The restrictions include wholesale and retail trade, mobile money agencies, salons, domestic tour guiding and cargo transportation. The government says the measures are intended to protect local businesses and employment.Just recently, the Tanzanian authorities arrested over 120 Burundian nationals in the country for violating immigration rules. The authorities say that they will conduct more of these raids in the coming weeks. 
Kenya's move has now prompted Tanzania to examine whether the restrictions are compatible with the East African Community's Common Market Protocol, which provides for the movement of people, labor and services among member states. Tanzania introduced its own restrictions on foreign participation in certain businesses in 2025.
South Africa offers a different and more severe example of what can happen when migration tensions develop into a humanitarian crisis.
In June, the Association of Evangelicals in Africa joined the Evangelical Alliance of South Africa and the Africa Church Transformation Forum on a fact-finding mission to Johannesburg and KwaZulu-Natal following an unofficial deadline by anti-immigration groups demanding that foreign nationals leave.
The delegation found thousands of displaced people in Durban, including between 6,000 and 15,000 people, mostly Malawians, sheltering at one processing center. It also found 318 displaced Ghanaian nationals, including mothers and children, being sheltered by a church in Kempton Park.
The AEA said the crisis demonstrated the need to protect the dignity of both citizens and foreigners, regardless of their immigration status. Its secretary general, Dr. Master Matlhaope, said every person encountered during the crisis, whether documented or undocumented, was entitled to equal human dignity.
Other countries have also intensified immigration enforcement this year. Uganda detained at least 231 foreigners in April in operations targeting illegal migration, human trafficking and suspected cybercrime. Authorities said those detained included people from several African and Asian countries and were being assessed as possible trafficking victims, offenders or visa overstayers.
In Ghana, immigration authorities conducted an operation in April targeting what they described as exploitative street-begging networks. They rounded up 606 people, including 381 children, and said many were believed to be victims of trafficking or forced begging. Ghanaian authorities emphasized that the operation was aimed at criminal exploitation and irregularities rather than legitimate movement under the ECOWAS free-movement system.
Kenya’s 90-day regularization process now offers a chance to clarify who is legally entitled to work and trade in Kenya while protecting foreign nationals from harassment.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[Rule change allows Brazilian pastor to resume Texas pastorate]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/rule-change-allows-brazilian-pastor-to-resume-texas-pastorate</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/rule-change-allows-brazilian-pastor-to-resume-texas-pastorate</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[CDI Staff]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Albert Oliveira baptizes a new believer at First Baptist Church of Gordon, Texas, in July.]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ First Baptist Church of Gordon ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Albert Oliveira baptizes a new believer at First Baptist Church of Gordon, Texas, in July. The Brazilian pastor resumed his ministry there in April after a change in U.S. immigration rules ended a one-year wait abroad for religious workers. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Tue, 08 Sep 2026 07:25:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[A Brazilian pastor who left the United States in late 2025 rather than stay beyond the expiry of his visa is again leading his congregation in Texas, after a change in U.S. immigration rules ended a one-year waiting period for religious workers seeking to return, Baptist Press reported.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
A Brazilian pastor who left the United States in late 2025 rather than stay beyond the expiry of his visa is again leading his congregation in Texas, after a change in U.S. immigration rules ended a one-year waiting period for religious workers seeking to return, Baptist Press reported.
Albert Oliveira came back in April to First Baptist Church of Gordon, in a small town in north Texas, together with his German-born wife, Caroline, and their 4-year-old son, Elliott. Under the earlier rules he would have had to remain outside the country for a full year before applying again for an R-1 visa, the temporary category used by foreign-born clergy and other religious staff working in the United States.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced the change on Jan. 14 and published it two days later as an interim final rule, which took effect on publication. Religious workers who reach the statutory five-year maximum in R-1 status must still leave the country, but the department removed any minimum period they must spend abroad before seeking readmission for a further five years.
DHS said the change was intended to reduce the length of time congregations are left without their clergy. The department described priests, nuns and rabbis as among those affected, and said in a statement attributed to a spokesperson that such workers are "essential to the social and moral fabric of this country." The rule was issued in support of an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in February 2025 establishing a White House Faith Office.
Behind the change lies a bottleneck in the separate EB-4 immigrant visa category, through which many religious workers pursue permanent residency. Demand there has outstripped supply for years, and DHS said adjustments made by the State Department in 2023 lengthened the wait considerably for applicants from certain countries. Workers caught in the backlog frequently exhaust the five-year limit on their temporary status before a permanent visa becomes available.
Oliveira told Baptist Press the amendment had removed a significant obstacle without resolving the underlying problem. "It did make things a lot easier," he said. "But it's definitely not a solution. But it at least allowed for me and everyone involved to be able to make long-term plans with their churches, to be able to dream together."
He said congregations that struggle to recruit qualified pastors should be able to look abroad without committing years to administrative processes, and framed the question partly in terms of religious liberty. "I believe that churches should be able to have the option to have a pastor from a different country if that's what they believe that they need," he said, calling for an immigration system that is both fair and secure.
Oliveira kept his position while in Brazil, preaching online and holding meetings by video. His return to Gordon was marked by a public welcome, with fire and police vehicles escorting the family and residents gathering along the streets.
According to the Baptist Press report, the congregation has continued to grow and to baptize new members, prompting it to form a committee on church growth and to look for larger premises. "Everybody's just playing musical chairs with the rooms, trying to find a place for everyone," Oliveira said.
He argued that pastors born abroad bring experience that congregations focused on mission cannot easily obtain otherwise, and pointed to his own background. "I for example accepted Christ by the work of missionaries from North Carolina in Brazil," he said. "I know what it's like to receive a team of American missionaries in my house, and I know the challenges of the local pastor after they leave."
Employing pastors from other countries also signals to a community that a church welcomes different cultures, languages and accents, he said.
Oliveira compared the family's experience to that of the first Christians. "If the challenge is immigration, and if the challenge is government changes, those are things that the early Christians had to deal with too," he told Baptist Press. "It's nothing new."
DHS said about 19,000 people were in the United States on R-1 visas when the rule was updated. Because the measure took effect as an interim final rule, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services accepted public comment until March 17 and has not yet issued a final rule. In June the agency published guidance for staff applying the change.
Separate legislation that would allow religious workers to remain in the country until decisions are reached on their applications for permanent residency, the Religious Workforce Protection Act, has been introduced in both chambers of Congress with cross-party sponsorship but has not been passed.
Galen Carey, vice president of government relations for the National Association of Evangelicals, welcomed the effort, saying: “Religious communities unite and serve believers of multiple nationalities. It is important that our leaders have the freedom to serve across national boundaries, and that our churches have access to staff with the expertise they need. The Religious Worker Visa Program has served our country well and has been a blessing to our churches.”]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[Swiss free churches issue guide on renting church buildings to migrant congregations]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/swiss-free-churches-issue-guide-on-renting-church-buildings-to-migrant-congregations</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/swiss-free-churches-issue-guide-on-renting-church-buildings-to-migrant-congregations</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[CDI Staff]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Worshippers stand together during a church service.]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Unsplash / Matthew de Livera ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Worshippers stand together during a church service. A new guide from Freikirchen.ch and the Swiss Evangelical Alliance's "interkulturell" working group aims to help Swiss congregations and international churches clarify expectations before sharing a building. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Fri, 28 Aug 2026 06:41:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[Two Swiss evangelical bodies have published a joint guide for congregations weighing whether to rent their buildings to international churches, a response to growing demand for worship space and to disputes that have followed some rental arrangements.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
Two Swiss evangelical bodies have published a joint guide for congregations weighing whether to rent their buildings to international churches, a response to growing demand for worship space and to disputes that have followed some rental arrangements.
The guide was released Aug. 19 by Freikirchen.ch, the umbrella association of free churches and Christian fellowships in Switzerland, together with "interkulturell," a working group of the Swiss Evangelical Alliance, according to a media release from the association. It sets out a checklist that church boards and pastors on both sides can work through before signing an agreement, covering theology, legal form, finances, building use, worship practice, culture and communication.
Each item carries a traffic-light rating — green for settled, orange for questions still open, red for high risk — so that leaders can see at a glance where a proposed rental stands.
"Swiss free churches receive many enquiries from international congregations. In the greater Zurich area in particular, many international churches are looking for premises. In the process, difficulties have also increasingly arisen in matters of renting," Peter Schneeberger, president of Freikirchen.ch, said in the release.
The guide uses "international congregations" as an umbrella term for migrant churches, ethnic congregations, foreign-language congregations, diaspora churches and international congregations, following a categorization by researcher Johannes Müller.
Landlords as stewards
The publication frames the relationship in theological rather than commercial terms. It cites Ephesians 2:19-22, describing believers as fellow citizens with the saints and members of God's household, with Christ as the cornerstone, and applies that text to both parties in a lease.
"As landlords of church premises, we do not see ourselves simply as owners or as conventional landlords, but as stewards of what God has entrusted to us," Schneeberger said. "On the basis of this attitude we live — regardless of whether we belong to a Swiss or to an international congregation — as members of God's household. Together we shape our life together in his house respectfully and responsibly."
The introduction also grounds the cooperation in the Great Commission of Matthew 28:19-20, stating that Swiss and international congregations alike are charged with building God's kingdom.
Six standards for both sides
Beyond practical arrangements, the guide sets out six ethical standards it says apply equally to the host church and the tenant congregation, drawn from a 2023 declaration adopted by Freikirchen.ch for its member churches and staff.
On money, it says donations and the biblical tithe are expressions of voluntary devotion and must not be tied to promises of special blessing or to fear of a curse. Contributions should be made without social or emotional pressure, and the size of individual gifts should remain private rather than publicly highlighted.
On membership, the guide says every member should feel respected and free, decisions about serving should be honored, and leaving a congregation must remain possible at any time without being dramatized or demonized.
A third standard rejects claims such as "only we have the full truth," "only among us does God work," "only we are real Christians" or "outside our congregation one loses God's protection," and warns against forming spiritual elites or disparaging other churches.
The remaining standards address leadership, child protection and abuse. Leaders are to carry responsibility in humility, remain approachable and open to questions and criticism, and refrain from intruding on personal areas such as marriage, work, property or finances, with the same standards applying to everyone. Children and young people are to receive age-appropriate care with parents involved in significant decisions. The final point commits both congregations to a culture in which boundary violations, abuse of power and physical, verbal, sexual or spiritual assault are not tolerated, and in which reports of misconduct are taken seriously.
Rents, keys and incense
The checklist becomes specific on questions that have caused friction. Under legal matters, it asks whether both parties have a clear legal form — in Switzerland a free church is typically constituted as an association — whether statutes and founding documents are available, whether responsible persons and emergency contacts are identified, whether liability insurance is in place, and whether both congregations have a safeguarding policy against boundary violations. A model rental agreement is attached as an annex.
On finances, the guide reports that among the congregations surveyed for the document, monthly rent for weekly use of a sanctuary with adjoining rooms plus two or three weekday events ranged from 1,200 to 2,000 Swiss francs (about $1,500 to $2,500), excluding utilities. It asks whether the tenant congregation can carry that cost long term and how utilities, damage and payment procedures are handled.
Building questions cover usage times, keys, storage, technical equipment, cleaning and kitchen use. The document notes that in many rental situations an external cleaning firm is preferred to an internal volunteer team, and that room rules must be posted in the rooms themselves in the language of the international congregation.
A section on worship use raises the handling of liturgical objects such as a communion table and candles, with a reference to fire safety regulations, and asks which smells accompany a celebration — incense used liturgically, or particular spices at a shared meal — and whether the host church and neighbors will tolerate them. It also asks that holidays and special events be regulated and that funerals and weddings be given priority.
Under culture, the guide asks the two congregations to discuss language barriers, expectations about noise levels, children's and family ministry, and potential sources of conflict, with suggested questions including "What could be culturally misunderstood?" and "What should we know about your culture?"
For ongoing cooperation, it recommends naming fixed contact persons, defining communication channels, agreeing on a conflict resolution procedure and holding two review meetings a year — one in April, after the annual members' assembly, to assess rental questions, and one in September to plan the following year together.
"What matters is talking with one another"
Shala, the alliance's intercultural officer, said in the release that conversation is the point of the exercise. "What matters is talking with one another. We would like to see cooperation characterised by voluntariness, mutual respect, transparency, responsible leadership and the unity of the worldwide church of Jesus Christ," he said. The guide is meant to help people grow in freedom and congregations live together in mutual appreciation, according to the release.
The document closes with a final assessment in four grades, ranging from a very good basis for cooperation to a recommendation against renting where significant red flags exist, such as the absence of a clear leadership or congregational structure. Where many items are marked orange, it advises obtaining references from previous landlords in consultation with the international congregation.
It ends with one question put to both congregations: if they look back on the cooperation in five years, what would need to have happened for both to say it was a gain for God's kingdom and for their churches? That question, the guide says, often opens the most important conversation and shows whether a shared vision actually exists.
Freikirchen.ch is a national church association of 20 free church movements in German-speaking Switzerland, comprising more than 750 local churches and their diaconal ministries.
The guide is intended for use in local churches and may be adapted to local circumstances, with logos and contact addresses removed or added as needed. It carries no copyright.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[South Korean coalition urges China to end forced repatriation of North Korean defectors]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/south-korean-coalition-urges-china-to-end-forced-repatriation-of-north-korean-defectors</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/south-korean-coalition-urges-china-to-end-forced-repatriation-of-north-korean-defectors</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[CDI Staff]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Members of the National Coalition Against Forcible Repatriation of North Korean Defectors hold a press conference in Seoul on Monday, Aug. 24, 2026.]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ National Coalition Against Forcible Repatriation of North Korean Defectors/Christian Daily Korea ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Members of the National Coalition Against Forcible Repatriation of North Korean Defectors hold a press conference in Seoul on Monday, Aug. 24, 2026, urging the Chinese government to halt the forced repatriation of North Korean defectors. The event took place near the Chinese Embassy in the Myeong-dong district. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Mon, 24 Aug 2026 05:45:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[A coalition of South Korean civic and Christian organizations gathered outside the Chinese Embassy in Seoul on Monday to demand that Beijing immediately halt the forced repatriation of North Korean defectors, calling the practice a violation of international law and an affront to basic human dignity.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
A coalition of South Korean civic and Christian organizations gathered outside the Chinese Embassy in Seoul on Monday to demand that Beijing immediately halt the forced repatriation of North Korean defectors, calling the practice a violation of international law and an affront to basic human dignity.
The National Coalition Against Forcible Repatriation of North Korean Defectors held the press conference in front of the Seoul Central Post Office near the Myeong-dong embassy, issuing a declaration that China's treatment of North Korean border crossers was "not merely a matter of illegal entry or border management," but "a grave human rights issue involving the lives of those who crossed the border risking their lives to escape North Korea's extreme political oppression, economic deprivation, food shortages, and human rights violations," Christian Daily Korea reported.
The coalition — which includes the Esther Prayer Movement, the General Federation of North Korean Christians, the North Korean Human Rights and Unification Alliance, and other organizations — said China refuses to recognize North Korean border crossers as refugees, classifying them instead as illegal economic migrants. As a result, no individual refugee status screening takes place, and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees is denied access, the declaration stated.
China is a party to the UN Refugee Convention, the Refugee Protocol and the UN Convention Against Torture, the coalition said, and therefore bears a legal obligation to honor the principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits returning people to places where they face persecution or torture.
Those repatriated to North Korea face beatings, torture, prolonged detention and forced labor, the declaration stated. Defectors found to have sought contact with South Koreans or Christians face even harsher punishment, potentially including execution. Women returned while pregnant are subjected to forced abortion and infanticide, the coalition alleged.
"Is crossing the border in search of human rights and freedom a crime deserving to be sent back to death?" the declaration asked. "Is it truly the conduct befitting a responsible member of the international community to send people back to North Korea knowing they will face the risk of torture, imprisonment, and execution?"
The coalition further alleged that China has mobilized its security and surveillance apparatus to locate and arrest defectors, and that it punishes Chinese citizens, ethnic Korean residents, missionaries and human rights activists who offer them help — effectively cutting off, in the coalition's words, "the last remaining safety net" for defectors.
"North Korean defectors are not objects, nor subjects of diplomatic negotiation," the declaration stated. "Each and every one of them is a human being of dignity who must have their human rights and freedom protected."
Addressing Beijing's standing in the international community, the coalition said China, as a permanent UN Security Council member and member of the Human Rights Council, must prove its responsibility "not merely through economic and military power, but through actions that respect universal human rights and human dignity."
The declaration called on the South Korean government to deploy all available diplomatic means on behalf of North Koreans detained in China and to press Beijing, together with the international community, to allow them safe passage to South Korea or a country of their choosing.
"There is no place for partisan politics or ideology when it comes to saving the lives of North Korean defectors," the coalition said. "Not sending a single person back to a land of death is not a matter of political choice, but the most basic principle concerning human dignity and universal human rights."
The coalition set out four specific demands: that China comply with the principle of non-refoulement and end all forced repatriations; that Beijing release detained North Korean defectors and permit free UNHCR access and individual refugee screening; that the South Korean government pursue active diplomacy to prevent repatriation and ensure safe passage; and that the United Nations and the broader international community establish a cooperative framework for the protection of North Korean defectors.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[Korean mission scholars probe Pentecostalism, diaspora and new research methods as global Christianity shifts]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/korean-mission-scholars-probe-pentecostalism-diaspora-and-new-research-methods-as-global-christianity-shifts</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/korean-mission-scholars-probe-pentecostalism-diaspora-and-new-research-methods-as-global-christianity-shifts</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[CDI Staff]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Attendees pose for a group photo at the Korean Society of Missiologys 2026 Fourth Regular Academic Conference, held Aug. 8 at Geumnan Church in Seouls Jungnang District. The conference was convened under the theme Trends in Contemporary Mission Theolog]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Korean Society of Missiology ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Attendees pose for a group photo at the Korean Society of Missiology's 2026 Fourth Regular Academic Conference, held Aug. 8 at Geumnan Church in Seoul's Jungnang District. The conference was convened under the theme "Trends in Contemporary Mission Theology Research." ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Sat, 15 Aug 2026 08:14:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[A group of Korean mission theologians gathered in Seoul to examine how shifts in global Christianity are reshaping the field of missiology, with papers ranging from the growth of Pentecostalism in the Global South to a proposed new research framework for studying local faith communities.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
A group of Korean mission theologians gathered in Seoul to examine how shifts in global Christianity are reshaping the field of missiology, with papers ranging from the growth of Pentecostalism in the Global South to a proposed new research framework for studying local faith communities.
The Korea Society of Mission Theology held its 2026 Fourth Regular Academic Conference on Aug. 8 at Geumnan Church in the Jungnang district of Seoul, according to Christian Daily Korea. The conference, themed "Trends in Contemporary Mission Theology Research," featured four scholars presenting research on Pentecostalism, Korean diaspora mission, the 19th-century American Restoration Movement and what one presenter called "narrative missiology."
Pentecostalism's global reach — and its contradictions
Dr. Oh Seung-wook of Yonsei University opened with an analysis of Pentecostalism as a lens for understanding World Christianity, a theological paradigm that has grown in prominence as Christianity has declined in the West and expanded in Africa, Latin America and Asia.
Citing data from the Center for the Study of Global Christianity led by Todd M. Johnson, Oh said Pentecostal adherents worldwide numbered approximately 664 million as of 2025 — more than one-quarter of all Christians globally.
He argued that early Pentecostalism carried an egalitarian impulse, crossing boundaries of race, class and gender through what its adherents understood as the freedom of the Holy Spirit. But he said that ideal frequently did not survive institutionalization. The Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa, he noted, practiced racial segregation in worship and ministry; a formal apology and declaration of integration came in 1996, though he said traces of discrimination persist.
On women's leadership, Oh pointed to figures such as Lucy Farrow and South Korea's Pastor Choi Ja-shil as examples of women who played formative roles in early Pentecostal movements, only for their successors to be gradually sidelined as churches became more structured organizations.
Oh described a similar tension in Pentecostalism's social posture. Early leaders including William Seymour and Frank Bartleman championed Christian unity, he said, yet in practice maintained skepticism toward ecumenical dialogue — a posture that has softened in recent decades as engagement with the Catholic Church and other denominations has grown. He said early Pentecostalism also showed concern for racial discrimination, war and economic inequality, even as the tradition later tended to focus narrowly on individual salvation.
He concluded that individual soul salvation, social service and structural transformation should be pursued together under what he called a holistic mission framework.
Korean diaspora reframed as senders, not just recipients
Dr. Lee Gang-wook of Juan University argued that Korean diaspora churches have been misunderstood as peripheral to global mission, when they should be recognized as missional agents in their own right.
Drawing on data from the Overseas Koreans Agency and South Korea's Ministry of Justice, Lee said the theological significance of Koreans living abroad had been undervalued — particularly as attention has shifted toward immigrants arriving in Korea. He said growth in domestic immigrant ministry should not become a reason to reduce support for diaspora mission.
Using the ASEAN Korean diaspora as a case study, he suggested that diaspora networks could evolve beyond individual congregations into what he called a "community of missional communities," shaped by shared identity, transnational connectivity and intercultural mediation.
Lee urged Korean seminaries, denominations and mission organizations to treat both domains — ministry to immigrants entering Korea and mission through Koreans living abroad — within a single, integrated theological framework, and called for empirical comparative research on the two contexts.
Restoration Movement's missional roots, and how they faded
Dr. Lee Chang-woo of Seoul Christian University examined the ministry of Barton W. Stone from the 1790s through the 1830s, arguing that the 19th-century American Restoration Movement originally placed gospel proclamation and world conversion above restoration and church unity as organizing values — and that later generations reversed that hierarchy.
Lee said restoration and unity in Stone's framework were means toward a missional end, not ends in themselves. As the movement developed, he argued, restoration gradually became a marker of church identity rather than a tool for evangelism.
He raised the possibility that the Churches of Christ in Korea inherited a more defensive, identity-focused version of restorationism — shaped by early 20th-century American theological conflicts — rather than Stone's original missional vision. Reexamining Stone's early work, Lee suggested, could serve as a theological reference point for missional renewal among Korean Restoration Movement and evangelical churches.
A new framework for studying how local churches tell their story
Dr. Shin Sang-hyeon of Presbyterian University and Theological Seminary offered a preliminary proposal for what he termed "narrative missiology" — a research methodology designed to analyze how local faith communities form, transmit and express the gospel through stories, rituals and cultural production.
Shin said World Christianity studies already emphasizes the translatability of the gospel and the agency of local churches, but that existing methods do not adequately capture how those dynamics play out in practice. Narrative missiology, he proposed, would examine sources including written documents, oral accounts, liturgical practices, film, art, music and digital content.
He said the approach could be applied comparatively across churches in Asia, Africa and Latin America, enabling intercultural dialogue by tracing how different communities have translated the gospel within their own cultural frameworks. He also proposed it as a tool for Korean churches to critically interpret their own history and explore what missional continuity might look like for the next generation.
Christian Daily Korea reported that the conference closed with question-and-answer sessions and open discussion following the four presentations. The society also noted the recent Korean publication of a translated volume — The Doctrine of Good Works: Reclaiming a Neglected Protestant Teaching — authored by Thomas McCall, Caleb Friedeman and Matt Friedeman, translated by society member Prof. Ryu Jae-seong and published by the Christian Literature Crusade.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[Evangelical pastor in Ceuta calls for prayer as death toll climbs and migrants turn back]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/evangelical-pastor-in-ceuta-calls-for-prayer-as-death-toll-climbs-and-migrants-turn-back</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/evangelical-pastor-in-ceuta-calls-for-prayer-as-death-toll-climbs-and-migrants-turn-back</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[CDI Staff]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Migrants wait on the beach next to the CETI (Centros de Estancia Temporal de Inmigrantes) on August 2, 2026 in Ceuta, Spain.]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Adri Salido/Getty Images ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ CEUTA, SPAIN - AUGUST 2: Migrants wait on the beach next to the CETI (Centros de Estancia Temporal de Inmigrantes) on August 2, 2026 in Ceuta, Spain. Spain's interior ministry has said it's deploying 60 members of the armed forces and an additional 30 Guardia Civil officers to Ceuta after tens of thousands of migrants entered the Spanish enclave in North Africa on Thursday. A large number of people swam through the Tarajal breakwater to enter the Spanish territory from neighboring Morocco, while others scaled the border fence. Some estimates have said that around 60,000 migrants made the crossing this week, with the surge of arrivals overwhelming migrant reception centres, leaving many sleeping on the streets overnight. At least 80 people reportedly died attempting to make the crossing. Spain says the majority of migrants have now been returned to Morocco. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Sun, 02 Aug 2026 20:55:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[As the Spanish enclave of Ceuta slowly returns to something like normality, an evangelical pastor in the city is urging Christians worldwide to pray — for the migrants who came, for residents caught in the chaos, and for authorities struggling to respond.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
As the Spanish enclave of Ceuta slowly returns to something like normality, an evangelical pastor in the city is urging Christians worldwide to pray — for the migrants who came, for residents caught in the chaos, and for authorities struggling to respond.
The appeal came after more than 50,000 people crossed from Morocco into Ceuta by sea and on foot on July 30 in an unprecedented single-day surge, overwhelming police, health services and the city's entire border infrastructure. By Sunday, most had gone back.
At least 72 people died on the Spanish side of the crossing, Reuters reported, with five more bodies recovered along the North African coast on Sunday. Spanish authorities said more than 1,000 people had been treated by health services. Moroccan officials disputed the toll, saying 11 had died — mostly by drowning — and that they were fact-checking reports from the Spanish side.
Both governments blamed social media for fueling the rush. Viral videos and messages circulated showing thousands breaching the border, drawing people who had no prior plans to migrate. A bakery worker from Fez who gave his name as Brahim told Reuters he had quit his job after watching the clips. "I thought I'd build a better future there," he said. "But I was surprised in Ceuta."
He survived three days on water alone.
Nearly all those who entered returned within 48 hours. Reuters spoke to returnees in Fnideq, the Moroccan city opposite Ceuta, who cited hunger, shuttered shops and hostility from some local residents as reasons for leaving. "Ceuta was like a prison — nothing to do there. Everything was closed," said one man who declined to give his name.
Not everyone left willingly. Mohamed Ahmed, a 43-year-old Sudanese man who said he swam four hours to reach the enclave after a truck dropped him near the border, told Reuters he would not go back. "I'm not going back. I'd rather die trying here."
A Ceuta hardware store owner named Tito, whose shop remained shuttered as the city tried to recover, told Reuters he felt "overwhelmed and, at the same time, helpless" — but also felt sympathy for those who had crossed. "Those young people, they're being completely exploited," he said. "They're being used as bargaining chips."
The crisis drew alarm across Europe. Italy suspended passport-free Schengen travel with Spain for one month, and 22 EU member states called for coordinated border protection measures. Spain deployed its army to Ceuta and installed a 500-metre floating barrier off its coast on Saturday.
For Javier Santolaria, pastor of the Casa de Alabanza evangelical church in Ceuta, the week brought grief and a clear sense of obligation. Speaking to Protestante Digital and reported by Evangelical Focus, Santolaria — whose wife is a nurse who has been working at the border for days — said the city had been pushed to a breaking point. He acknowledged that health workers and security forces were "doing a truly admirable job under very demanding circumstances and, at times, with very few resources."
He was sceptical about political solutions. "There are no simple solutions to such a complex problem," he said, noting that many residents believed there were "hidden agendas behind this whole situation" and were "fed up with the stopgap measures."
Santolaria recalled that Ceuta went through something similar in 2021, but said the current crisis was different in one significant way: this time, residents took to the streets in demonstrations across the city to protest, adding another layer of tension to an already strained situation. The 2021 episode, he said, should have been a warning. "We hope that this whole situation will encourage governments to implement the necessary measures to ensure that such things do not happen again."
As a pastor, Santolaria told Evangelical Focus he had been speaking with congregation members who felt "powerless and do not know how to respond." His direction was clear.
"What we would appreciate most is for you to pray. Pray for our city, for the authorities, and for all the staff working on the front line."
He also asked for prayer for the migrants and for Ceuta's residents. "Pray that the demonstrations remain peaceful and these streets do not turn into a powder keg," he said.
The church's response had been to intensify prayer, he said, "for the city, the authorities, the police, the Civil Guard, healthcare workers, and other institutions involved."
"We hope that the Lord will allow us to be a beacon of hope and support for our city."]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[Economic solutions to human trafficking: How businesses can help survivors rebuild their lives]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/economic-solutions-to-human-trafficking-how-businesses-can-help-survivors-rebuild-their-lives</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/economic-solutions-to-human-trafficking-how-businesses-can-help-survivors-rebuild-their-lives</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[CDI Staff]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Dr Lauren Pinkston]]></media:title>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Tue, 28 Jul 2026 12:10:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[Economic crimes require economic solutions. That is the conviction behind the work of Dr. Lauren Pinkston, chair of the board of the Freedom Business Alliance (FBA), who joined today’s episode of Faith Without Frontiers to discuss human trafficking, trauma-informed workplaces, migration, and the role businesses can play in restoring dignity.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
Economic crimes require economic solutions. That is the conviction behind the work of Dr. Lauren Pinkston, chair of the board of the Freedom Business Alliance (FBA), who joined today’s episode of Faith Without Frontiers to discuss human trafficking, trauma-informed workplaces, migration, and the role businesses can play in restoring dignity.
Founded a decade ago, Freedom Business Alliance brings together businesses committed to creating employment opportunities for survivors of exploitation. The organization began by supporting companies that directly employed survivors of trafficking but has expanded its focus to helping businesses develop healing-centered workplace practices.
“If it’s the lack of a job that pushes someone into an exploitative situation, then it’s the need for a job that can help pull them out,” Pinkston told host Gordon Showell-Rogers.
Today, FBA works with around 120 businesses around the world, including companies that employ survivors, organizations that contribute profits toward fighting exploitation, and partners helping connect survivors with sustainable employment.
Pinkston explained that survivors often face significant barriers when rebuilding their lives. Legal status, criminal records resulting from exploitation, trauma, and limited access to employment can make finding stable work extremely difficult.  
“Surviving in the first place is a miracle, and then somehow building a new life and beginning to live a stable life is almost impossible,” Showell-Rogers observed.
A key part of FBA’s work is helping businesses understand trauma and create workplaces where employees can heal and thrive. Many workplace struggles may be connected to past trauma that managers do not recognize.
“When you’re not trained to detect trauma, then you really miss what you’re seeing in front of you,” Pinkston said.
She emphasized that trauma affects people far beyond trafficking survivors, and businesses have an opportunity to become places of psychological safety by investing in employees as whole people.
Drawing from her years living in Southeast Asia, Pinkston also reflected on how experiences among marginalized communities reshaped her understanding of faith, migration, and Christian mission. She described learning from believers who faced persecution but demonstrated extraordinary hospitality, humility, and commitment to peace.
Her academic background in international family and community studies, combined with personal experiences as a mother of four children — including an adopted daughter from Uganda — has shaped her approach to justice and human dignity.
Pinkston warned against simplistic approaches to humanitarian work, particularly regarding vulnerable children and communities. She argued that solutions must strengthen families and communities rather than create dependency.
Reflecting on the power of dignified employment, Pinkston said: “A safe, dignified job gives someone such an opportunity to be who they want to be — for their family to be who they want to be and for their community to be who they want to be.”
Listen to today’s episode of Faith Without Frontiers to hear Dr. Lauren Pinkston explore how businesses can become part of the solution to human exploitation by creating workplaces that offer dignity, healing, and hope.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[Chad gives legal backing to interfaith platform in push for peace and national unity]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/chad-gives-legal-backing-to-interfaith-platform-in-push-for-peace-and-national-unity</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/chad-gives-legal-backing-to-interfaith-platform-in-push-for-peace-and-national-unity</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Vincent Matinde]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Sudanese refugees in Chad]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ WFP ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ The civil war in neighboring Sudan which has driven hundreds of thousands of refugees into eastern Chad. At the same time, insecurity linked to extremist groups remains a challenge around the Lake Chad Basin. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Tue, 21 Jul 2026 09:01:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[Chad has formally given legal recognition to a national interfaith platform that brings together Muslim, Catholic and Protestant leaders, marking a significant step in the country's efforts to strengthen peace and social cohesion at a time of political transition and growing regional instability.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
Chad has formally given legal recognition to a national interfaith platform that brings together Muslim, Catholic and Protestant leaders, marking a significant step in the country's efforts to strengthen peace and social cohesion at a time of political transition and growing regional instability.
The statute and internal regulations establishing the platform were signed June 25 during a ceremony in N'Djamena led by Deputy Prime Minister Limane Mahamat. The new framework unites the National Council for Islamic Affairs of Chad, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Chad and the Alliance of Evangelical Churches and Missions in Chad under a legally recognized body that will coordinate initiatives promoting dialogue, peaceful coexistence and national unity.
Until now, cooperation among the country's major religious groups had been largely informal. Government officials said the new legal status gives the platform the authority to operate like other recognized associations and receive support under Chadian law.
“There was no appropriate framework that allowed religious leaders to carry out their shared mission effectively. Thanks to the platform's statute and internal regulations, it can now operate like any legally recognized association and benefit from the support provided by law,” Mahamat said during the signing ceremony.
The move comes as Chad seeks to reinforce national institutions following the end of its political transition while confronting security threats and humanitarian pressures that continue to test the country's social fabric. 
Religious organizations have played an important role in providing humanitarian assistance and mediating tensions within affected communities, exacerbated by the civil war in neighboring Sudan which has driven hundreds of thousands of refugees into eastern Chad. At the same time, insecurity linked to extremist groups remains a challenge around the Lake Chad Basin. 
Archbishop Edmond Djitangar Goetbé of N'Djamena, one of the signatories, said the platform reflects a shared commitment to building the country's future.
“We will continue to work so that everyone can contribute to human development and to achieving our common goal of building a united, prosperous Chad that looks confidently to the future,” Djitangar said.
The initiative also seeks to prevent religion from being used as a source of division in a country where Muslims and Christians have long lived alongside one another. Chad's religious diversity has generally been accompanied by cooperation among faith communities, despite periodic political and security crises that have affected the wider region.
Shared responsibility
Tao Élysée, secretary of the Alliance of Evangelical Churches and Missions in Chad, said the platform recognizes that religious communities have a responsibility that extends beyond their own congregations.
“There is no benefit in allowing religions to become a cause of mutual rejection. We certainly have our own faith and our own beliefs, but we also share the responsibility of building our nation together,” Élysée said. “We live in a secular state, but one founded on cooperative secularism, in which God must have his place in society. Without this spiritual dimension, our society would lose an essential part of its meaning.”
Sheikh Abdadayim Abdallah Ousman, president of the National Council for Islamic Affairs of Chad, said the three faith communities have worked together for years to encourage peaceful coexistence and mutual respect.
“Together with our Catholic and Protestant brothers and sisters, we have been working for several years to promote peaceful coexistence and mutual respect. We support the State's efforts to strengthen national unity and to make our fellow citizens aware that, above all, we are Chadians, called to live together,” he said.
President Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno, through remarks conveyed during the ceremony, praised the contribution made by the country's religious communities in promoting peace and social cohesion. Government officials described the platform as a practical mechanism that will enable faith leaders to coordinate conflict prevention efforts, strengthen dialogue among communities and work more closely with public institutions.
Formal recognition is expected to strengthen its ability to respond to future national challenges while preserving the tradition of interfaith collaboration that has distinguished Chad despite periods of political uncertainty and regional conflict.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[South Africa: Prayer answered with peaceful protests, but immigrants still stuck in make-shift camps]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/south-africa-prayer-answered-with-peaceful-protests-but-immigrants-still-stuck-in-make-shift-camps</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/south-africa-prayer-answered-with-peaceful-protests-but-immigrants-still-stuck-in-make-shift-camps</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[CDI Staff]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Migrants line up to leave South Africa on Monday, June 30, 2026, as an unofficial deadline set by anti-immigration groups demanding their departure took effect. Nearly 25,000 foreign nationals left the country amid the crisis, while many others sought ref]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Screenshot / Sky News ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Migrants line up to leave South Africa on Monday, June 30, 2026, as an unofficial deadline set by anti-immigration groups demanding their departure took effect. Nearly 25,000 foreign nationals left the country amid the crisis, while many others sought refuge in community centers, churches and makeshift camps. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Fri, 03 Jul 2026 09:15:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[South Africa remained relatively calm on June 30th as an unofficial ultimatum from anti-immigration groups expired without the violence many had feared. Save for a few isolated incidents, major cities avoided the looting and destruction seen in past protests, thanks to a robust police deployment and the government’s firm stance against lawlessness]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
South Africa remained relatively calm on June 30th as an unofficial ultimatum from anti-immigration groups expired without the violence many had feared. Save for a few isolated incidents, major cities avoided the looting and destruction seen in past protests, thanks to a robust police deployment and the government’s firm stance against lawlessness.
The outcome of the protest was an answered prayer. The Association of Evangelicals in Africa (AEA), the Evangelical Alliance of South Africa (TEASA), and the Africa Church Transformation Forum (ACT Forum) had appealed to their members to pray and fast on June 28 following a joint fact-finding mission in Johannesburg and KwaZulu-Natal from June 16 - 19. 
The joint prayer appeal acknowledged that the anti-immigration crisis had spread beyond undocumented migrants to those holding valid documentation, including asylum-seeker permits, refugee status, and permanent residency. Churches across KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng have converted their facilities into emergency shelters for displaced persons.
AEA Secretary General Dr. Master Matlhaope wrote to AEA member alliances and networks across 51 countries where it is present requesting participation in the prayers. Bishop Never Muparutsa, AEA Vice President and Global President of the African Forum on Religion and Government, who led the fact-finding mission, said: “This is a continental issue and the church’s response must demonstrate that we understand its complexity. We must be fair, accurate, and balanced and Africa must respond as one family.”
The appeal addressed eight areas of intercession: peace on and after the June 30 protests, dignity of those in displacement camps and fear, and the church’s own responsibility. Members were also urged to pray for the government as it handles the legitimate frustrations of South African citizens, direction and wisdom in immigration governance and the rule of law, the nations of origin and their diaspora communities; and the Africa God wants. Congregations were asked to dedicate at least 15 minutes of Sunday service to intercession, to fast from sunrise to sunset, and to identify one practical act of solidarity.
While violence was largely averted, the impact of the unofficial ultimatum continues to be felt by nearly 25,000 who have left the country while many more have sought refuge in community centres, churches and makeshift camps. 
Human Rights Watch documented vigilante attacks targeting African and Asian foreign nationals from April 2026, noting that in some instances police response was insufficient. A Malawian national died after being attacked by a mob in Pietermaritzburg following a protest, with police opening a murder case.
South Africa has a documented history of anti-immigrant violence. In 2008, 62 people were killed and more than 100,000 were displaced in attacks that spread from Alexandra township in Johannesburg. The Institute for Security Studies warned that the scale of violence in the current crisis risks approaching that of 2008 if it is not contained.
Repatriation 
A Reuters report published by CNBC Africa noted that a surge in attacks on foreign nationals was damaging the country’s global image, with Justice Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi calling on South Africans to reject vigilantism and allow the government to handle immigration through proper channels.
Several African governments have launched emergency repatriation operations for their nationals. Malawi, Ghana, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique are among those that have moved to bring citizens home. NPR reported that in Durban thousands of Malawians fled their homes and camped in the open in winter conditions, begging their government to send buses.
In a televised address on June 7, President Cyril Ramaphosa emphasised that the responsibility for enforcing immigration laws rests with the state. “No other person is allowed, for example, to confront someone in the street to demand proof of nationality.” He added the government would act against those exploiting immigration concerns “to further their own political, personal or criminal agendas.”  
AmaZulu King Misuzulu kaZwelithini appealed to the Zulu community to refrain from violence against foreign nationals. “South Africa, we are not looking good in the whole of Africa right now,” he said, warning that attacks were damaging the country’s continental standing and could put South Africans living elsewhere in Africa at risk. He said he had spoken directly to anti-immigrant protest figures urging restraint. “I am asking you, Zulus, let no blood be shed. Do not hit these people. Suffering brought them here. Just as we suffer,” he said.
Several church leaders in South Africa reminded Christians that they are first believers of Jesus before citizens of the country. In a video posted on the Evangelical Alliance of South Africa facebook, the leaders referenced Micah 6:8, urging their members to “act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly before God.”
Rev. Rene August of the Anglican Church of South Africa said “when we welcome a stranger, we welcome Christ” in reference to Matthew 25:35. ]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[German church groups warn of refugee protection rollback on 75th anniversary of Geneva convention]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/german-church-groups-warn-of-refugee-protection-rollback-on-75th-anniversary-of-geneva-convention</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/german-church-groups-warn-of-refugee-protection-rollback-on-75th-anniversary-of-geneva-convention</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[CDI Staff]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Migrants in Italy]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Fabrizio Villa/Getty Images ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Some Red Cross members await, on the dock in Catania harbor, the disembarkation of the 600 migrants rescued 100 miles off the coast of Sicily on April 12, 2023 in Catania, Italy. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Tue, 23 Jun 2026 03:50:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[A coalition of German church and humanitarian organizations marked the 75th anniversary of the 1951 Geneva Refugee Convention by calling on governments worldwide to reverse what they describe as a dangerous erosion of refugee protections — and urging Berlin to stop offloading responsibility onto poorer nations.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
A coalition of German church and humanitarian organizations marked the 75th anniversary of the 1951 Geneva Refugee Convention by calling on governments worldwide to reverse what they describe as a dangerous erosion of refugee protections — and urging Berlin to stop offloading responsibility onto poorer nations.
Diakonie Deutschland, Bread for the World, and Diakonie Disaster Relief issued the appeal around World Refugee Day on June 20, warning in a joint statement of mounting political pressure against refugees in Germany, across Europe, and globally. The organizations are among more than 275 groups that have signed a memorandum titled "It Can Be Done Differently!" calling for stronger refugee protections grounded in international human rights law.
Diakonie President Rüdiger Schuch pointed to a series of recent policy shifts in Germany and the European Union he said have weakened protections that the convention was designed to guarantee. Among the concerns cited in the organizations' June 19 statement: tightening of European asylum rules, pushbacks at internal EU borders, restrictions on family reunification, and cuts to integration programs and independent asylum counseling services.
"We are convinced: refugee protection based on solidarity and fundamental and human rights strengthens us as a society as a whole," Schuch said.
Dagmar Pruin, president of both Bread for the World and Diakonie Disaster Relief, said partner organizations working in refugee camps are facing growing pressure, while financial support for refugee protection internationally is shrinking. She called on Germany to make a firm commitment to global refugee protection rather than shifting the burden to countries of the Global South, which already host the vast majority of the world's displaced people.
The memorandum, published in June 2026, lays out an ambitious five-point vision covering global protection frameworks, safe and legal routes for asylum-seekers, fair procedures, social rights, and civic participation. It calls for universal ratification of the Geneva Convention, a global fund for refugee protection, state-led sea rescue operations in the Mediterranean, and the abolition of deportations from protected spaces such as schools and hospitals.
Counselors and social workers quoted in the document describe refugees arriving after years of dangerous journeys, many bearing physical injuries sustained at European border crossings. The memorandum says deportations — often carried out without warning, in the middle of the night — cause lasting trauma not only for those directly affected but for other residents of reception facilities and staff who witness them.
The signatories include Amnesty International Germany, the Protestant relief agency Diakonie, PRO ASYL, Handicap International, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and dozens of regional church bodies and local civil society groups across Germany.
The memorandum's authors say the convention's founding promise — that persecution does not override an individual's right to safety and dignity — remains achievable. "A refugee protection system that meets this standard is possible," the document states, according to the memorandum. "What must be strengthened is what holds us together as a society: solidarity, mutual respect, and the willingness to put what we share above what divides us."]]></content:encoded>
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