Refugees and the Way of Jesus
This resource was made as a guide for our Forum: Jesus and the Refugee. You can watch the forum on our website HERE.
Around the world today, more people have been forced to flee their homes than at any other point in history. According to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), more than 123 million people are currently displaced due to war, persecution, and violence—nearly 40 percent of them children.
These aren’t just statistics; they represent stories of fear and courage, of loss and longing. Yet despite this staggering reality, a 2023 Lifeway Research poll found that only 12 percent of American Christians say their perspective on refugees is shaped primarily by the Bible.
That contrast is sobering. Because for followers of Jesus, the question of how we respond to refugees isn’t primarily political or economic—it’s profoundly theological. How does God see refugees? And what does it mean to follow the way of Jesus in response?
The Refugee in Scripture
In Scripture, refugees are not peripheral—they’re woven into the very fabric of the biblical story. The Bible uses an entire family of words to describe people who are displaced. Each term highlights a different aspect of what it means to live far from home and depend on the welcome of others.
Biblical Term | Meaning in Context | Where It Appears
Biblical Term: Gēr (Hebrew)
Meaning in Context: A “sojourner” who has been forced to flee their home and live in a foreign land or culture.
Where It Appears: 92 times (e.g., Exodus 22:21; Leviticus 19:33)
Biblical Term: Galut (Hebrew)
Meaning in Context: “Exile” or “captivity” — the state of being taken from one’s land and scattered among the nations.
Where It Appears: 10 times (e.g., Ezekiel 1:2; Jeremiah 29:1)
Biblical Term: Golah (Hebrew)
Meaning in Context: The community of the exiled — the displaced people of God living in Babylon and beyond.
Where It Appears: 43 times (e.g., Ezra 1:11; Nehemiah 7:6)
Biblical Term: Xenos (Greek)
Meaning in Context: “Stranger” or “foreigner” — a person without status or belonging in the dominant culture.
Where It Appears: 14 times (e.g., Matthew 25:35; Ephesians 2:19)
Biblical Term: Paroikos (Greek)
Meaning in Context: “Sojourner” — one who lives alongside others but does not fully belong.
Where It Appears: 7 times (e.g., Acts 7:6; 1 Peter 2:11)
Biblical Term: Parepidēmos (Greek)
Meaning in Context: “Exile” or “pilgrim” — a foreigner whose true citizenship is elsewhere.
Where It Appears: 3 times (e.g., Hebrews 11:13; 1 Peter 1:1)
Together, these words appear more than 160 times throughout Scripture. They reveal that displacement isn’t a marginal theme—it’s a central thread in the story of God’s people.
Israel’s own story was marked by exile and sojourning. Abraham left his homeland to follow God’s call. Israel fled Egypt as refugees. Later, they were carried off to Babylon. From beginning to end, the entire story of Israel is framed by experiences of displacement—of leaving home, living in exile, and finding refuge in the mercy of God.
That experience was never meant to be forgotten. It became the moral and spiritual foundation of their identity as God’s people. Over and over again, God reminds them:
“You shall not oppress a sojourner. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.”
— Exodus 23:9
“Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.”
— Deuteronomy 10:19
For Israel, this wasn’t just a moral instruction—it was an identity marker. Caring for refugees and sojourners wasn’t an optional act of charity; it was a defining part of what it meant to belong to God.
The experience of displacement shaped the ethical life of Israel from the inside out. God’s people were to embody His compassion precisely because they had known what it felt like to be vulnerable, dependent, and welcomed by grace.
As theologian Orlando Espín observes, “Welcoming the stranger is the most often repeated commandment in the Hebrew Scriptures, second only to the command to worship God alone.”
This isn’t a side note in the story of faith—it’s central to what it means to reflect the heart of God.
The Refugee in the Story of Jesus
When God Himself entered the story of humanity, He didn’t arrive in comfort or safety. He came as a refugee.
After His birth, when King Herod unleashed violence against the children of Bethlehem, Mary and Joseph fled across the border into Egypt. The Son of God began His earthly life seeking refuge from political persecution. He knew what it meant to run for safety, to live as a stranger, to depend on the mercy of others.
Later, Jesus would identify Himself so closely with the displaced that He said:
“I was a stranger and you welcomed me… whatever you did for the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”
— Matthew 25:35–40
This isn’t just a metaphor—it’s a mystery. When we welcome the refugee, we are, in a real sense, welcoming Christ Himself.
The Gospel and the Refugee
At the heart of Christianity is a God who welcomes. The Gospel is the story of divine hospitality.
Before God, every one of us was a spiritual refugee—estranged, wandering, far from home. But in love, Christ crossed the ultimate border. He left heaven, entered our broken world, bore our sin, and brought us home.
“You are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of His household.”
— Ephesians 2:19
This is the heart of the Gospel. The One who was rejected became the One who welcomes.
And now, every person who receives His grace is invited to reflect His heart toward others.
Caring for refugees, then, isn’t simply an act of compassion—it’s an act of discipleship.
It’s what happens when the Gospel takes root in our lives and forms us into a people of welcome.
Becoming a People of Welcome
This is why, at River West, we care deeply about refugee ministry. Because only the Gospel claims that before God, every single one of us was a stranger—spiritually exiled and far from home.
But Jesus crossed the ultimate distance to bring us back.
He left heaven for us.
He entered our world.
He bore our sin.
And He welcomed us.
So when we welcome refugees, we aren’t simply doing something good.
We are living out the Gospel.
We are re-enacting the story of salvation that defines us.
“Welcoming the refugee isn’t just an act of compassion.
It’s an encounter with Christ Himself.”
That’s the way of Jesus.
That’s the invitation of the Gospel.
And that’s the kind of people the Spirit is forming us to be—
a people of welcome, shaped by the One who first welcomed us home.
Footnotes
1. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Global Trends: Forced Displacement in 2024, released June 2025.
2. Lifeway Research, “Most Evangelicals Say They’re Open to Helping Refugees,” September 2023.
3. Orlando Espín, The Faith of the People: Theological Reflections on Popular Catholicism (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1997).
You can download a printable PDF of this document HERE.
