Sanctuary Sunday is marked at the end of Refugee Week and aims to promote the Church of Sanctuary programme, building cultures of welcome, hospitality and safety in our churches.
This year Sanctuary Sunday is on 21 June 2026.
Sanctuary Sunday resource
Revd Dr Inderjit Bhogal and Dr Jayme R Reaves have produced a resource to support individual Christians, Church communities and ecumenical groups in reflecting on the significance of sanctuary for our times. Titled Sanctuary: The Hospitality of Host, Guest and Stranger, it offers reflections, prayers and ideas for action, which can be downloaded below.
Sanctuary: The Hospitality of Host, Guest and Stranger (PDF)
Revd Dr Inderjit Bhogal has also written a collect for Refugee Week and Sanctuary Sunday:
Collect for Sanctuary Sunday (Docx)
Other resources
There are also links to new resources from Scottish Faith Action for Refugees on the resources page.
The Joint Public Issues Team (JPIT) has also produced a Sanctuary Sunday prayer and has a link to a list of suggested hymns and songs you could use on Sanctuary Sunday, from the Methodist Church’s Singing the Faith Plus. See the JPIT website for the prayer and link to hymns.
A revised version of the resource Hospitality and Sanctuary for All is available via the Churches Together in Britain and Ireland website. The book offers resources for congregations to study the challenge of sanctuary in the light of scripture. It offers material for Biblical reflection, worship, and prayer, and can be used by small study groups. A donation of £5 is suggested to cover the production costs and P&P. The Order of Service provided can be used at a Sanctuary Sunday service.
Inderjit Bhogal has also made available his sermon for Sanctuary Sunday 2021.
Please see the Events page for details of specific events.
Introduction to Sanctuary Sunday
An old Celtic proverb reads: It is in the shelter of each other that the people live. Human warmth and welcome and friendship are the best form of sanctuary, and we can all be sanctuary to each other.
The children of Israel needed a constant reminder to “love the stranger as yourself”. This command is variously stated at least 36 times in the Bible.
The Refugee Council, Churches Together in Britain and Ireland, and City of Sanctuary have initiated an annual Sanctuary Sunday. It is the Sunday at the end of Refugee Week.
This is opportunity to annually reflect, pray, and commit ourselves to celebrate and continue to build hospitality and sanctuary for all, especially those whose lives are most vulnerable, and most in danger.
Build hospitality as a clear challenge to hostility.
Build Churches and Cathedrals of Sanctuary.
Play your part to make every church and house of prayer a sanctuary where all are treated with warm welcome, generous hospitality and protection from harm. Do this with pride as part of your Christian discipleship and spirituality.
A Christian symbol of this is Holy Communion, a foretaste of the heavenly banquet, and a revelation of the world as it is meant to be, where all are welcome and valued equally, and where no one is excluded or made to feel like an outsider.
Please do not hesitate to get in touch with me if I can support you in developing and promoting sanctuary.
Inderjit Bhogal
Sanctuary Sunday 2022
Inderjit wrote on how creating places of sanctuary is a biblical concept, and how it’s time for the Church to step up, in Premier Christianity.
Inderjit also wrote articles in The Irish News on the challenge of building communities of sanctuary and welcoming refugees and for The Irish Times on In international law there is no ‘illegal’ or ‘bogus’ asylum seeker.