Pure Religion Sunday is November 8, 2026
Leverage Pure Religion Sunday to help churches in your community engage in caring for vulnerable children and families.
You can catalyze the Church's commitment to God’s heart for vulnerable children and families.
But how do you help churches get started?
Rooted in the pure religion described in the book of James and invited throughout all of Scripture, Pure Religion Sunday is a day to recognize and respond to God’s heart for vulnerable children and families. Observed on the second Sunday in November or throughout the year, it encourages churches to engage deeply in adoption, foster care, global orphan care and wrap-around family support — as a foundational piece of living as disciples of Jesus.
Whether you are seeking to build new church partnerships or deepen existing ones, Pure Religion Sunday is a tool you can use to serve churches in your community and invite them into meaningful engagement with your mission.
Pure Religion Sunday
Church Engagement Resources
The Pure Religion Project team at CAFO is here to equip you to invite churches into Pure Religion Sunday not as a one-time Sunday event, but as part of a deeper discipleship journey that can include engaging with your work.
Your Toolkit for Churches
Access everything you need to build a hub on your website to equip churches to host Pure Religion Sunday.
Get digital resources you can pass along to churches as they prepare for their Pure Religion Sunday services — including everything from inspiring videos to social media graphics to preaching suggestions.
Leveraging the Power of Pure Religion Sunday
Join a free, on-demand workshop to help you use Pure Religion Sunday as a tool to mobilize churches where you live.
Discover how you can invite churches into Pure Religion Sunday not as a one-time Sunday event, but as part of a deeper discipleship journey that can include engaging with your work.
Pure Religion Sunday Church Engagement Converation Cohorts
Gather with the Pure Religion Project team and church engagement leaders like you for idea sharing and inspiration.
These live calls will explore a topic related to engaging churches in Pure Religion Sunday and are designed to spark meaningful conversation, practical insights and clear next steps.
How to get started
Get Your Toolkit for Churches
Access your toolkit to share with churches — including a field guide, videos, graphics and more — and build a hub on your website so churches are connecting with you as they participate in Pure Religion Sunday.
Join an on-demand workshop that will help you leverage Pure Religion Sunday as a tool to serve churches in your community and invite them into meaningful engagement with your mission.
As you connect with churches, join conversation cohorts with other mobilization leaders. You'll find focused conversation, practical insights and clear next steps as you leverage Pure Religion Sunday.
Looking for resources for your church?
The history of Orphan Sunday + Stand Sunday
Each year since 2004, the Church has celebrated God’s heart for orphaned and vulnerable children on the second Sunday in November, first through Orphan Sunday and then in 2017 through Stand Sunday, when the two efforts merged. Learn more about the history and legacy of these two special days below.
Orphan Sunday
Orphan Sunday came as a gift from the Church in Africa. While attending a church service in Zambia, an American visitor witnessed the local pastor’s passionate call to care for the orphaned in a community ravaged by AIDS and poverty. As that first-ever “Orphan Sunday” service ended, one person after another stepped forward, giving out of their own need, offering their food, and some even taking off their own shoes and placing them in the offering basket for the orphaned.
That visitor, Gary Schneider, was so profoundly impacted by what he had witnessed that he began to help Zambian leaders coordinate Orphan Sunday efforts across Zambia and also shared the vision in the United States.
In 2009, the Christian Alliance for Orphans began providing united leadership to make Orphan Sunday a catalyst for awareness and action across the U.S. and worldwide. Today, churches and organizations in more than 100 nations observe Orphan Sunday annually. We pray the Church worldwide may be as faithful as our Zambian brothers and sisters to reflect God’s heart for the orphan, both near and far.
Stand Sunday
When Bishop Aaron Blake, a pastor and foster/adoptive father, left his breakfast table for church on the second Sunday in November of 2004, he had a sermon prepared,… and it wasn’t about foster care.
“I had prepared a sermon to preach that morning that I had worked on all week. I stood up to bring the message when the breakfast table image of our boys came back to my mind. The faces of our sons seemed to multiply in my emotions as I recalled the image from the breakfast table earlier. I knew then that God was prompting our church to answer the call to care for children and broken families.”
Without explanation, Bishop Blake said to his congregation, “Brothers and sisters, there are about 30,000 children in the foster care system in Texas and nearly half a million in the U.S.” He then asked this one simple question (and he wasn’t expecting a verbal answer):
“Who will stand with me to defend, care and support abused, abandoned and neglected children in our community?”
After a brief silence, one lady in the back of the church stood up and simply replied, “Pastor… I will.”
Like a tiny smoldering ember dropped in a pile of thirsty pine needles, her voice began to multiply. To his amazement, Bishop Blake watched as one family after another stood up and joined their voices to hers. As a result of that day, this church and the surrounding community have cared for and adopted hundreds of children in foster care over the years. In fact, their county now has more than enough foster families to meet the need.
“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”
Pure Religion Around the World
See how Pure Religion Sunday is being celebrated and promoted around the world.
Your organization and churches in your community can share your events using #purereligionsunday
Frequently asked questions
You can guide churches in your community as they extend love and hope to vulnerable children.
Together we can make a lasting impact!
