Orphan Sunday + Stand Sunday

Pure Religion Sunday

Helping churches reflect God’s heart for the orphaned and vulnerable on November 10, 2024 and all throughout the year.

November 10, 2024

Are you ready?

It’s coming! This year’s Orphan Sunday and Stand Sunday – and now Pure Religion Sunday – will be celebrated on November 10, 2024. We know you are excited and anticipating all God will do in your church and community this year and beyond. We are also excited about this new season and the growing movement in the global Church to reflect God’s heart for the orphaned and vulnerable, rooted in the vision of James 1:27:

“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.”

A Pure Religion Project Field Guide

This is your guide to hosting Orphan + Stand Sunday in your church this year.

This  guide includes the legacy stories and history, recommended marketing timelines, shareable resources and more – along with new information about The Pure Religion Project!

Marketing Toolkits

We know each of your churches and ministries are unique, but we hope these open-source graphics will be helpful for you as you begin to design and promote your events this year! All of these graphics are created in Canva – feel free to edit to match your ministry’s needs, add your church’s logos or information, as well as input the dates and details of your local events. Resources also available in Spanish and French!

Resources for 2024 coming soon!

Are you planning a Sunday event? We're here to help!

Our new Leverage book provides a helpful guideline for harnessing the power of your Orphan Sunday, Stand Sunday and Pure Religion Sunday events. From pre-planning to follow-up, this step-by-step book will show you everything you need to know for your church!

Building on a Legacy

History of Orphan Sunday

Each year since 2004, the Church has celebrated God’s heart for orphaned and vulnerable children on the second Sunday in November.

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 together … Orphan Sunday for the purpose of inviting the church to care for orphans worldwide and Stand Sunday for the purpose of calling the church to stand for children and families in the U.S. Foster Care system. Learn more about the history and legacy of these two days below.

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 orphans, in a community that had been ravaged by AIDS and poverty. As that first-ever “Orphan Sunday” service ended, one after another the people 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 orphans.

That visitor, Gary Schneider, was so deeply 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 U.S. as well.

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 all over the world may be as faithful as our Zambian brothers and sisters to reflect God’s heart for the orphan, both near and far.

“God sets the lonely in families.”

Psalm 68:6
Building on a Legacy

History of 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 moment of 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 has cared for and adopted hundreds of children in foster care over the last 12 years. In fact, their county actually has more than enough foster families to meet the need.

Frequently asked questions

Pure Religion Sunday, Orphan Sunday and Stand Sunday will be celebrated Nov. 10, 2024. This day is celebrated every year on the second Sunday in November.

Traditionally, churches have used Orphan Sunday when the focus is global orphan care and Stand Sunday for the US foster system – but we recognize that many churches are deeply invested in caring for orphaned and vulnerable children and families near and far. We invite churches to consider Pure Religion Sunday as an opportunity to align vision and name together – or contextualize the name to match your church’s current mission, ministry and vision. For example, we know of one church that calls it their “Justice and Mercy Weekend” because that language more closely aligns with how they regularly refer to their outreach, missions and engagement initiatives within the church.

Yes! We believe a great way to frame this day is as a “Pure Religion Sunday,” through which the options are many as to how you choose to coordinate and focus your efforts and calls to action. This of course could be done in an integrated way with the legacy stories of Orphan Sunday or Stand Sunday, as well as any other creative ways you choose to recognize and leverage this powerful, globally unified day of recognition, celebration and action. 

No.  We believe God calls His people to live out this vision every day of the year, so the date definitely isn’t the most important thing!  That said, there can be something especially meaningful about joining with God’s people across town and all over the world on the same day — and we’d welcome you to do so if you can.

We have designed several new marketing resources for 2023 to help you promote your Sunday events! Please feel free to customize these to fit your church and community.

We are working to develop some new videos, but in the meantime you can access our archived videos here.

You can request coaching by using this form here.

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