Sea Sunday is the day each year when churches worldwide come together to pray for seafarers, and to support The Mission to Seafarers’ frontline ministry to them.

Seafarers are essential to everyday life, yet many work unseen, facing long periods away from home, isolation, and often dangerous conditions. Sea Sunday offers an opportunity to pause, and give thanks for the men and women who keep our world moving.

The Mission to Seafarers works in ports across the world. In 2025 alone, it made over 48,000 ship visits, provided shore leave transport for more than 150,000 seafarers, and ran programmes on family support and suicide prevention.

These moments of care – a visit on board, practical help ashore, or someone to listen – can make a profound difference to seafarers far from home.

For Sea Sunday 2026, the theme is ‘Harbours of Hope: The Church Alongside Seafarer’, inspired by Matthew 25. This theme celebrates the local church as a place of welcome, refuge, and hope – a community offering both spiritual and practical safety to those who work at sea. It invites congregations
to reflect on how they can stand alongside seafarers through prayer, hospitality, generosity, and justice.

There is a wide range of free downloadable resources on Sea Sunday, which can be found at: https://www.missiontoseafarers.org

Originally published on page 9 of the July 2026 edition of the Harnham Parish Magazine