Illegal Immigrants in the Church? Bridge Divisions | Christianity Today

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Christianity Today, February, 2011

The Village Green

Illegal Immigrants in the Church? Bridge Divisions

Christian thinkers weigh in on what churches should do about meeting the sojourner.

Matthew Soerens | posted 3/01/2011 10:11AM

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Matthew Soerens, the U.S. church training specialist for World Relief, M. Daniel Carroll R., Old Testament professor at Denver Seminary, and Mark DeYmaz, directional leader at Mosaic Church of Central Arkansas, debate what churches should do about illegal immigrants in their midst.

The church's Great Commission is to "make disciples of all nations" (Matt. 28:19), and immigrants—regardless of their legal status—present a mission field at our doorstep. Churches should welcome immigrants, recognizing a divinely appointed mission opportunity.

Welcoming immigrants who are here unlawfully, of course, raises new questions for many churches. First and foremost for many is, Are we breaking the law by helping? In general, the legal answer is no. In most states, it is entirely lawful to preach the gospel to undocumented immigrants as well as compassionately meet their tangible needs. We can minister effectively and still be fully in submission to God-ordained governing authorities.

As laws change, though, Christians in some states may need to wrestle with whether their mandate to love immigrant neighbors requires civil disobedience. For example, under Arizona's tough new immigration law, it is now illegal for a church van to pick up undocumented kids for youth group. Civil disobedience should be a last resort, but there may be instances when "we must obey God rather than human beings" (Acts 5:29).

Another challenging question is how to pastorally guide undocumented immigrants: Does faithful discipleship necessarily require full compliance with the law, which in almost all cases would mean leaving the U.S.? Many immigrant believers—and their pastors—agonize over this question, especially when this could mean leaving behind one's U.S. citizen spouse or children.

Some have decided to return to their country of origin, but others have said that they migrated as a desperate last resort to provide for their families (1 Tim. 5:8). They would rather stay in the U.S. and take their chances with the "sword" that Romans 13:4 tells us the God-ordained government bears.

In a democracy, though, we need not force people into a tragic choice between staying with and providing for their families or following the law. Each Christ follower should advocate for the reform of federal immigration laws so that undocumented immigrants can come forward, admit their offense, pay a fine (this is not, then, amnesty), and earn legal status.

Immigration status for many newcomers often hangs on complex legal questions. Too many innocent individuals get caught in the system. Church leaders should not presume criminality when new immigrants come to church.

We should look at immigrants in our congregations and recognize that, as National Association of Evangelicals president Leith Anderson has said, "They are us." Immigrant congregations are already the source of American evangelicalism's fastest growth.

We ought to strive to bridge any relational divisions and to stand with our brothers and sisters in advocating for changes to a dysfunctional system because, biblically, we are already one body, and "if one part suffers, every part suffers with it" (1 Cor. 12:26).

Related Elsewhere:

Matthew Soerens is the U.S. church training specialist for World Relief, coauthor of Welcoming the Stranger, and a blogger at Undocumentedtv.com. Mark DeYmaz and M. Daniel Carroll R. also contributed their views.

Previous articles on immigration include:

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February 2011, Vol. 55, No. 2

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Dave M

March 02, 2011 12:52pm

That's an uplifting comment by Ann. While Romans 13 instructs us to submit to authorities, it does not instruct us to follow our neighbor around and make sure he submits to authorities also. The Good Samaritan did not check for unpaid parking tickets prior to loving his neighbor. Illegal aliens are our neighbors.

Maya Ying

March 01, 2011 7:46pm

There is an unreported malady permeating American upper and upper middle class citizens today (sprung, I'm afraid from their greater "education" at universities where this malady was hatched in the laboratory of academic debate and unfortunately escaped and spread like a deadly virus to all branches of the education industry and then into the real world) and its name, also known to psychologists, is self-loathing. Many have been taught selectively about America's (and usually by extension Great Britain's) past transgressions without gaining knowledge about other nations' generally far worse transgressions and more importantly without learning classical norms of critical thinking and value judgments based on wide ranging knowledge of man's past. Thus, the readiness to accept the post-modern left's narrative about racism, illegal aliens, moral equivalency, and the rest. You people are delusional and not living in reality. May God help this country with the likes of you!

Timothy Law

March 01, 2011 1:19pm

Excellent Article. To the pharisees, it is obvious they do not see their wrong as they have covered themselves with selfishness and jealousy. I've often used the example: God has been very patient with America for all the debts it owes to the rest of the world, when would this patience end when it kept treating outsiders like dirt?

Sara Wohlleb

March 01, 2011 1:05pm

This is a very important topic for our times, which deserves careful study and discernment. The Chicago Religious Leadership Network is offering educational tours for clergy and laity who would like to learn more about the issue of immigration and speak directly with immigrants, their advocates, and the immigration authorities. Participants spend 2 days in Chicago, meeting, reflecting, and praying on this issue together. Our next tour is scheduled for June 10-11. If you would like to learn more, please call the Chicago Religious Leadership Network at 773-293-3680.

Dorothy Cole

March 01, 2011 12:19pm

Ann, thank you for your comments here and on the De Ymaz thread. Maya, I do not remember where in the Bible it says to mistreat others for the sake of your own group's advantage. The legal arguments touched on by all three articles here are valid for a church community, but I don't think Christ ever encouraged us to condemn others for their inability to follow unjust authority.

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