Welcome back to Week 3 of the Christian Social Justice series! In case you missed it, we’ve been talking about how churches can create social justice programs that connect with Millennials–and create the biggest possible impact at the same time.
Last week, I went over how churches can respond to the increasing speight of natural disasters across the country. This week, with the DACA Supreme Court case in the news, I’m taking the opportunity to discuss church immigration work.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few months, you’ve been inundated with headlines about waves of Latin American immigrants and the U.S.’s various policies toward them. And that’s probably been stirring up a lot of feelings, wherever you are on the political spectrum.
If you hold any kind of leadership role in your church, you might be trying to figure out an appropriate way to respond on a congregational level. Easier said than done. It’s hard to take a crisis out of the headlines and create an effective and compassionate response in your congregation.
Lots of pastors respond with activism, online and in the streets. On Twitter, I’ve seen posts from lots of white pastors reminding us of the Gospel verse, “I was a stranger and you welcomed me.” On my Facebook feed, I’ve seen pictures of clergy marching alongside DACA recipients outside the Supreme Court.
None of this is bad, in and of itself.
But the fact remains that most mainline Protestant churches are painfully white, even in border states and cities with huge immigrant populations of color. Why? Because we often confuse activism–online and in the streets–for genuine welcome.
I want to be clear: Twitter rants and marches have their place. Activism and protest are necessary parts of social justice. But righteous anger is not the same thing as actually welcoming the marginalized.
We’ve got a long way to go before we can claim that we are fully following Jesus’ call to include and connect with the foreigners in our land.
Why did Jesus ask us to look out for immigrants in the first place?
Perhaps it’s the sheer number of needs their vulnerability brings. Immigrants, especially poorer ones, need physical safety, nourishment, and shelter.
But they also, like the rest of us, long for community and connection, which is often in short supply after leaving home under duress. And those needs may be magnified by the traumatic experiences that sometimes take place on their journeys.
There are so many angles to caring for the stranger. So many opportunities to enact welcome.
So, in light of the depth and breadth of needs among our siblings, here are five steps to creating an effective, conscientious model for your church immigration work.
(If you don’t live in an area with many immigrants, you can expand this guide to connect with any underserved group in your community.)
1. Determine what group of immigrants needs to be welcomed.
There is no unified “immigrant community” in the United States. So what do the immigrant populations in your community look like?
Are they predominantly from one region, country, culture, or ethnicity? Are they mostly documented or undocumented? What languages do they speak? Is it mostly single men or families with children?
There may be more than one population you’d like to serve. For instance, if you live in Southern California, there may be busloads of Central American immigrants passing through. At the same time, you may also live in a community of Mexican day laborers who have been settled for years.
Each community will bring a specific set of needs.
2. Ask immigrants in your congregation to participate in church immigration work.
If you already have immigrants in your congregation, make sure to ask them for their thoughts and ideas.
They may already be painfully conscious of being some of the only people from their ethnic or cultural group in the congregation. So make sure to be discreet about asking. Don’t assume or pressure them into giving you advice. Definitely, don’t put them on the spot.
But offer the opportunity to be involved in immigration ministry both inside and outside the church walls. They may also be able to connect you to community leaders, who already have their finger on the pulse of the needs of the population you’re serving.
3. Ask community leaders how you can be of service to them.
The biggest potential pitfall of church immigration work is the white savior complex. The white savior complex is when white communities view themselves as heroes helping “less fortunate” people of color.
The best way to avoid the white savior complex is by coming alongside existing leaders in the immigrant community, rather than creating and leading new projects.
Find immigrant communities’ churches and talk to their pastors. Go to the offices of immigration lawyers in the area. Check in with the leaders of charities. Go to community meetings and call representatives.
Ask each of them: what does this community need? What role can we play in helping you meet their needs?
4. Think about ALL kinds of needs—physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual.
Most churches begin (and sometimes end) church immigration work by addressing physical needs, like food, jobs, and housing.
But only offering physical help without forming an emotional and spiritual connection puts up a barrier between helpers and recipients. (Not to mention, it implies that immigrants need physical help but aren’t worthy of real relationship. See white savior complex above.)
So, in addition to physical needs, think about how to create a welcoming environment that goes beyond physical support.
Maybe the church can connect immigrants with a therapist who can see them for a subsidized rate. Perhaps you can pair up English and Spanish speakers for two-way language lessons.
Maybe your church can host a potluck. Or pair up Spanish and English-speaking families for a dinner once a month. Encourage parents with children to share babysitting duties or swap playdates.
If you’re feeling really bold, think about ways that the church service could shift.
How could your liturgy better accommodate a multi-racial, multi-cultural congregation? Could you invite someone to do the sermon in Spanish once a month, with translation on a screen? Or learn to say the Eucharistic Liturgy in another language?
What about staffing Sunday Schools and youth groups with bilingual volunteers?
5. Ask the community how you can be of service to them.
After you’ve talked to community leaders, it’s time to reach out to the community itself. Find some volunteers who are fluent in the language of the immigrant group and set up shop at community events.
Hopefully, you’ve already created a bond with community leaders. See if they’ll invite you to set up a booth at community meetings, church fellowship halls, or local food banks.
Make it clear that this is about including and welcoming them—not about trying to boost your attendance numbers or intrude in their space. Remember that you are their guests in their community, not swooping in to save the day.
In the end, if you hold any kind of leadership role in your church, you know it’s hard to address justice issues in a timely manner. Truly living out Jesus’ commandment is difficult. It’s a lot harder than Facebook activism or “helping” a community without creating real relationships.
But the work is worthwhile. Millennials and minorities are calling churches to pioneer effective, personal church immigration work. This is one way you can make a sizeable, relevant, and personal impact in your community. It’s the kind of social justice many Millennials are craving.
Come back next week for my final installment in the Christian Social Justice series on debt relief.