More than 100 evangelical leaders gathered today at the Billy Graham Center for Evangelism (BGCE) at Wheaton College to discuss how American Christians can best respond to the current refugee crisis. Convened by the BGCE and the college's Humanitarian Disaster Institute, organizers of the GC2 Summit released the following statement:

Impacting nearly 60 million people, the global refugee emergency is a humanitarian crisis of unprecedented size. Never have so many people been recorded as being displaced, put in danger, and sent on the move. In Syria alone, more than 13 million children and their parents need humanitarian aid. Nearly 4.4 million have been forced to flee to neighboring countries for safety.

Moments like these are when Christians cannot remain silent and still. In light of this crisis, we commit ourselves and our churches to actively care for and minister to global refugees with mercy and compassion, both here and abroad, based on God’s compelling concern for all people in need and especially refugees.

In light of these concerns, we affirm the following:

Refugees possess the image of God and, as such, are infinitely valuable to God and to us.

We are commanded to love our neighbor, and it is our privilege to love refugees.

As Christians, we must care sacrificially for the refugee, the foreigner, and the stranger.

We will motivate and prepare our churches and movements to care for refugees.

We will not be motivated by fear but by love for God and others.

Christians are called to grace-filled and humble speech about this issue.

In light of these Christian principles, we cannot allow voices of fear to dominate. Instead, we commit to actions of love and compassion for refugees who ...

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