Intentionally Including Illegal Immigrants through Incarnational Ministry

Church walls can keep out those most in need of salvation, by Jason Pope

Revolutionary Mission

L

iving in the United States of America, I grew up hearing stories about the American Revolution. We take pride in the way we stood up to the unjust taxation policies of the British Government. We took pride in the way we created a society that would allow us to worship God freely and not be forced into worshipping under a state-governed church. On July 4, our independence day, we celebrate the words of the Declaration of Independence that all men were created equal and thus were entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We paint that statement with broad strokes of limited colors. We apply it to those of European heritage, of course, but not quite as much to those of African heritage and maybe not at all to those “illegal immigrants” who have crossed the border from Mexico.

Although the majority of those “illegal immigrants”—or “illegal aliens”, as they are derogatively called sometimes—are peaceful, we fail to see that they have only broken the same law that the original settlers overturned for the sake of providing a better life for their families. As Commissioner Philip Needham says in the December edition of Officer South, the church, realizing this, should remember the woman caught in adultery and resist the urge to pick up a stone.

Perhaps “illegal alien” is the right term for them. They have been alienated from that for which we claim all people are eligible:, namely life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This injustice is deepened because they have no voice in the power structures that govern them. Their role in society and the possibility of being sent back home limits their visibility and access to local established churches. They will not step inside a church building where someone may report them back to the government. Thus they are alienated once again from the established Christian churches in America. And since the majority of The Salvation Army’s spiritual ministry is conducted within a corps building, The Salvation Army isn’t in the best position to offer the hope of Christ in these situations.

They have been alienated from that for which we claim all people are eligible:, namely life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This injustice is deepened because they have no voice in the power structures that govern them. Their role in society and the possibility of being sent back home limits their visibility and access to local established churches.

Perhaps we should remember that we were once alienated from God and were thus strangers also. It is only by the blood of Jesus we have been brought near to Him. How could Salvationists allow for a total population of people to be alienated from Christ simply because we haven’t thought about how to create ministries that allow for anonymity and intimacy at the same time

The place where I live: Atlanta and Immigration Policies

Perhaps when the leaders of our nation touch the poverty of those living in Mexico they will have a better perspective and more compassion for those who are crossing the border. If more of our leaders, both government and army, were able to take short term mission trips to Mexico, I believe they would have a different perspective on how we address the illegal Mexican population in our cities.

It is important to note that no country in the world has been able to stop illegal immigration all together. Aquiles Martinez, an associate professor of religion at Reinhardt college, says this is because, “The causes [of immigration] are varied, and complex.” He cites “Poverty, violence and the lack of possibilities [for jobs]” as some of the reasons. He states that some would estimate that there are up to 11 million illegal immigrants in the country. Churches cannot simply throw up their hands and wait for the government to remove all immigrants from our country. It will not happen. Since immigrants are and will be here, churches must make deliberate plans to minister to these populations. In an Atlanta Journal article it is said there are close to 700 apartment complexes in the Buford Highway area that house close to 20 percent of the immigrant population in this city. Tim Cummins, director of Whirlwind Missions [http://www.whirlwindmissions.org/] ]facilitates of the involvement of various churches in these communities by arranging short term trips, recruiting ESL teachers and starting after-school programs. A leader of one short term trip, Randy Rainwater had this to say: “It was the best mission trip I’ve ever been on and we didn’t go anywhere…the world is coming to us.”

In an Atlanta Journal article it is said there are close to 700 apartment complexes in the Buford Highway area that house close to 20 percent of the immigrant population in this city.

The problem is that in America there is a large amount of fear regarding immigration because of the war on terror and the events of 9/11. The time has come for us to realize that Mexican immigration and terrorist immigration are totally separate categories. Mexican immigrants are family-focused communities who have challenges and need the help of the church.

For instance Elizabeth is an immigrant mother living in an apartment complex on Buford Highway. In an interview she states her concerns are for her four children. She came from a city in Mexico. She described life there as very difficult. She said she was a school teacher when she was there but work was very hard to find. She came to America to find a better life. However, she talks about her new situation in America as lacking something she had in Mexico. In the community she came from in Mexico, the people all shared with one another and helped each other make it. The people in the community in America struggle with trusting one another. She fears her kids getting caught up in some of the social issues in her neighborhood, which include gangs, drugs, prostitution and teenage pregnancy.

In the community she came from in Mexico, the people all shared with one another and helped each other make it. The people in the community in America struggle with trusting one another.

Each of these issues has deep personal and spiritual implications. A recent article in The Atlanta Journal Constitution addressed the topic of teenage pregnancy. In Mexico, being a mother is a sign of adulthood. Mothers play a very important role in Mexican society. In some areas of Mexico which were undeveloped, the Mexican government actually gave incentives to Mexicans to have children in order to populate the country. For these reasons and more, many of these immigrant teenagers were used to a pattern of women having babies when they were only sixteen or seventeen. In this new American context, however, having a baby at this age is detrimental to becoming engaged in the society. Some of the girls will actually become pregnant so they can feel better about themselves. This makes them vulnerable to gang members and guys who are not interested in committing to family life. Doesn’t this sound like the perfect context for The Salvation Army’s ministry?

The Salvation Army

The international mission statement for The Salvation Army is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and meet human needs without discrimination. This means we should love and minister to the illegal immigrant as well as to the American citizen. The mission statement of the Southern Territory of the Salvation Army is “To love inclusively, serve helpfully and disciple effectively in the communities where we live.”

In Officer South, Needham attempts to clarify what is meant by “love inclusively.” In it Needham writes, “We are a permanent mission to the marginalized.” He continues, “For us, it is a matter of obeying a God who simply will not allow us to draw lines of exclusion with respect to any particular class or race of people…the inclusive love of a God who longs for all His human creation to be reconciled to Him and one another in Christ.”

Commissioner Paul Du Plessis, who is responsible for the World Evangelization department, echoes Commissioner Needham’s thoughts through an email he sent me when he says, “…A culture of love, expressive of the presence of God, must permeate our thinking. That love is translated into a non-negotiable commitment to all people, but especially the marginalized and socially excluded, creating an environment of inclusion where they may experience the fullness of all God intends for us.”

Needham traces The Salvation Army’s calling to minister to immigrants as far back as the Old Testament. He points out the similarities between Israel rejecting its call to minister to the whole world and turning in on itself to protect its own culture. He finds this pattern happening over and over again throughout the history of Israel as well as the church. He says, “[Israel] mistakes election for selection and forgets they are set apart by God for a mission: to be a beacon of hope and holiness in the world.” The whole history of the church could be described as the church forgetting its calling to the world and then being reformed to look beyond its own culture in light of God’s purposes in the world. It seems to be a call for all who are part of the Southern Territory (and the Christian church) to be on their guard not to turn in on themselves but to remember they were made to be witnesses to the world and yes, even illegal immigrants.

Mission Defined

For my immediate context the mission is to bring the love of Christ into the Buford Highway community. This results in two actions “Social Ministries” and “Evangelism.” “Social Ministries” results in a change in the social status of those helped. “Evangelism” results in a change of individuals spiritual lives. These both combine to result in a better world. “Evangelism” leads to “Growth” and then to “Social Holiness” and finally back to “Mission Defined.” It ends back at “Mission Defined” because those who are ministered to become part of the ministry team.

“Evangelism” leads to “Growth” and then to “Social Holiness” and finally back to “Mission Defined.”

Tim Cummins says the people in these communities are more likely to listen to the church when the church comes to them than if the church tries to get them to the church building. This type of ministry can be defined in Commissioner Paul du Plessis’ terminology as a “pre-Christendom” approach.

The Vision

This pre-Christendom, taking-the-church-to-the-people approach, is what is needed in communities with illegal immigrants. This church will not be based on a building. Rather, small groups will infiltrate the apartment communities on Buford Highway. They will provide a voice for the voiceless, a living witness of Christ and the hope of better community and a better world. We must avoid the temptation of only pursuing the form of ministry that “has always been done” and look first to answer the question of defining the ministry. The ministry in the case of illegal immigrants is to discretely bring the unalienable to those who have been alienated from it. It is to participate with Christ in communities where Christ is incarnated outside the corps building.

Having worked for The Salvation Army in various ministry roles over the last eight years, Jason Pope has spent the last five directing mission initiatives in the Georgia Division with current responsibilities including Multicultural Ministries, Christian Education, Evangelism and Adult Ministries, Moral and Ethical Concerns and Partners in Mission. Jason is completing an MA from Columbia Biblical Seminary and School of Missions with a focus on strategies for advancing the army’s work, by preaching the whole gospel in the context of poverty, into all the world. Jason has been married for three years to Kelly who works in the Spiritual Formation department of the Southern Territorial Headquarters.

3 Comments to Intentionally Including Illegal Immigrants through Incarnational Ministry

1. This is a great article with some very challenging truths.
   I’ve been increasingly challenged in the area of rescuing the widow, orphan and alien from Scripture… I’ve heard great stories from old salvationist on how they would meet the incoming immigrant ships waiting to invite the newcomers to the meeting, hook them up with a good, fresh meal and give them a Bible. Many of our early converts in Canada were new immigrants who found a welcome community in the church.

   Also the link between desperate immigration and human trafficking is a significant one. Perhaps one of the more effective ways we can beat the traffickers is by offering real entry points to our country/communities?

   What does this actually look like?
   I met a Baptist lady who is the ‘refugee coordinator for her church (and she sits on the elders board) because they see caring for the alien as a part of the churches role… they even have families stay ‘in the church’ when it’s needed.

   What could this look like for me?
   My Corps could at least sponsor one immigrant family…
Danielle Strickland on June 25th, 2006

2. This is an excellent and provocative article.

   We often forget that Christ was once an immigrant - indeed the whole Israelite race ‘emigrated’ to the promised land. If we follow the logic of ‘the sheep and the goats’ through to its ultimate conclusion then all immigrants (legal or otherwise) are Christ in our midst.

   Additionally there is a certain amount of hypocrisy in some western countries where many who belong to the dominant race (but are not indigenous) complain about the influx of immigrants. They see their own ancestors as heroic pioneers rather than the religious or political refugees many of them were.

   One serious concern that we have personally encountered in the UK is the vulnerability of those who have no legal status in their new home. Such people are not entitled to any public funds or welfare support. The belief that all illegal immigrants are a drain on the benefit system is simply not true in the UK. Illegal immigrants and over-stayers often work in appalling conditions either for little money (or in return for food and accommodation). They are forced into prostitution, domestic service, the hotel and catering business and work as modern day slaves. They cannot complain as to draw attention to themselves would simply mean possible arrest and deportation.

   A UK resident with no legal status within the UK can even have a child born into slavery, they have no National Insurance Number, no National Health Service card, no passport - such people are officially ‘invisible’ and not monitored through the normal channels.

   Good work has been carried out in the UK recently in the area of trafficking and prostituted people but little has been done to tackle those other areas of abuse mentioned above – nobody knows how many illegal immigrants work as domestic slaves in the UK but current estimates are high.

   It is essential that The Salvation Army develops an infrastructure that can identify, rescue and support these people, such an infrastructure exists in embryonic form in the UK but it needs to develop substantially.

   In the meantime we all do what we can to home these people, to come along side them and offer support, love and of course the gospel.

   Salvationists, like Railton, should see themselves as global citizens with responsibilities that cross national and cultural boundaries.

   There is an important and developing movement within The Salvation Army UK which practices prayer, fasting and corporate repentance but without fighting for social justice (and as Danielle reminds this includes protecting aliens, widows and orphans) our prayers will go unheard (see Isaiah 58)

   No home on earth have I,
   No nation owns my soul,
   My dwelling place is the Most High,
   I’m under his control.
   O’er all the earth alike,
   My Father’s grand domain,
   Each land and sea with him alike
   O’er all he yet shall reign.

   No place on earth I own,
   No field, no house be mine;
   Myself, my all I still disown,
   My God, let all be thine.
   Into thy gracious hands
   My life is ever placed;
   To die fulfilling thy commands,
   I march with bounding haste.

   (GSR)

   Yours under Christ and irrepressibly over the devil

   A
Andrew Bale on June 26th, 2006

3. Perhaps the root of this issue is found in this very foundational declaration that people have a right to life, liberty and the persuit of happiness. The persuit of happiness in my opinion is detrimental to western culture. Perhaps a more Biblical mantra might be the persuit of righteousness, or maybe the persuit of joy. Happiness is a fleeting emotion that comes and goes. So if someone wakes up one day and doesn’t feel happy in their marriage, they feel they have a right to leave that marriage in persuit of happiness. if someone is unhappy at their church, they feel it is their right to leave in persuit of happiness. If someone doesn’t like newcomers moving into their neighbourhood as it makes them feel uncomfortable and unhappy, they feel it is their right to make laws to exclude those people.
   Unfortunately, even western translations of the beatitudes like to take the liberty to take the word ‘blessed’ and turn it into ‘happy’. What a crock!
   I know I’m not always ‘happy’ in any of my relationships. But the righteous (Biblical) thing to do is to stay the course.

   Danielle makes some practical suggestions for those of us who are ‘professional caregivers’ (what a shame that this even has to exist) but what about the ordinary churchgoer? Here are some possible suggestions for ordinary radicals to embrace the widow, orphan and alien;
   1. What about a group of 10 stay-at-home mothers or fathers get together and volunteer a half day a week to run a free daycare for single moms (widows and orphans) in our community?
   2. What about when our churches hire janitors, we hire someone struggling to make a living as opposed to someone who’s trying to make enough to buy an ipod?
   3. Why can’t we choose to move into a community and stay there for our whole lives so that we can actually get to know our neighbour and find out who the orphans, widows and aliens are? Maybe then, when a girl on our street needs to flea her home for safety, she can know that our home is a refuge which would prevent her from ending up on the streets and in a life of drugs and prostitution.

   Maybe life, liberty and the persuit of righteousness would get us back on track.
   Dion
Dion Oxford on June 29th, 2006

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