Around 200 Christians with a migration background gathered from 1 to 4 August in the Swiss municipality of Lenk, for the Catch the Vision24 conference.

The conference “is aimed at refugees, migrants and second-generation, who want to be a blessing to their neighbourhood and the world”, explained the Swiss Evangelical Alliance (SEA), which is the main organiser of the event.

Participants came from 28 different nations, such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Syria, Ukraine, Nigeria, Eritrea, Pakistan, or Kosovo, among others.

Most of them have experienced wars, hardship or persecution because of their faith in Christ.

“We want to be defined by what Jesus Christ did for us”

According to the organisers, “as Christians with a migrant background, we do not want to be defined by our past or what we have experienced in the name of another religion”.

Instead, they “want to be defined by what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross. We want to discover more and more who we are in Jesus Christ and what he wants to do through us in this world”.

Speakers with migration background

During the four days of the conference, there were time for fellowship, praise, prayer and talks from keynote speakers who also have a migration background and “motivated and challenged participants to take new steps”.

Egzon Shala, head of the Intercultural working group of the SEA, opened the conference talking about king Josiah: “God is also calling people like Josiah among Christians with a migration background today in order to bring about a spiritual revival”.

Bishop Yassir Eric, director of the European Institute for Migration, Integration and Islam, theologian, missiologist and recognised expert on Islam was also a speaker; along with Joshua Haverland, of MEOS, an organisation that accompanies migrants in Switzerland.

Dabrina Bet Tamraz and Sultan Assawahri, who were persecuted for their faith, came to Switzerland as asylum seekers