To receive the displaced is to echo the heart of Jesus who “did not come to be served but to serve”. Still, we feel the tension: the urgent needs of today and the long work of tomorrow. By Wissam Nasrallah, president of the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary in Beirut.

Most of those killed were Christian farmers who stayed at a centre for displaced people that was set on fire. The attacks lasted for five days.

Martin Accad, president of a theological seminary in Beirut, analyses the critical situation on the ground. “Though we often feel helpless, we never feel hopeless”.

Matthias Schöni, director of the Swiss Licht Im Osten, says a new truck with help is already on its way to Ternopil. After the attack, “we have received many food and financial donations”, he says.

In Europe, we have become used to the arrival of asylum seekers and refugees, most notably when some 2 million people fleeing the conflicts in Syria and Afghanistan. Yet the Ukraine migration crisis has been different.

The number of people fleeing war, persecution and conflict exceeded 70 million globally last year. Churches worldwide will celebrate World Refugee Sunday on June 23.