While politicians debate immigration policy, the church must extend Christ's love to foreigners like never before.
One of my favorite places on earth can be found in a nondescript office building in Amsterdam’s Bijlmer business district. That is where my friend Samuel Lee planted a lively charismatic church that has grown to 500 people in recent years. I love this church so much because it reflects the ethnic and racial diversity of heaven.
Lee, who was born in Iran, found Jesus after he married his Korean wife, Sarah. Like many freedom-loving Iranians, he sought political asylum in Europe after hard-line Shiite Muslims gained control of his country. The English-speaking church he started in Holland is approximately 75 percent Nigerian, 20 percent Ghanaian, and 5 percent Philippine, Iranian and Surinamese.
(Oh, yeah, and a few Dutch people attend as well. But it takes them a while to get comfortable with the boisterous African rhythms that punctuate the worship every Sunday.)
For several years Lee has been reminding Dutch church leaders that they must recognize the role immigrants will play in the evangelization of Holland. Statistics show that immigrant churches are growing while traditional Dutch congregations are stagnant or dying. Lee is calling Christians throughout Europe to recognize that the wave of foreigners coming there from Africa, the Middle East and Asia represent an untapped spiritual resource for the Kingdom of God.
He writes in his new book Blessed Migrants: “Migrants are the doors to end-time revival. Bless them. When you do, then you and your nation will be blessed. By uniting with them, and working with them without any feelings of superiority, something strong will be released in the heavens over your nation.”
In Holland, the rising number of immigrants has triggered fears of terrorism. In France, where North African youths have been torching cars and vandalizing neighborhoods in recent months, lawmakers are wringing their hands over how to defuse a ticking time bomb.
That ticking sound can also be heard in the United States today. We are currently engaged in a hurtful war of words over immigration policy. Some politicians have called for a concrete wall to be erected along the entire Mexican border. Others have suggested that we grant a total, no-questions-asked amnesty to our country’s 7 million illegal aliens if they will volunteer to register for citizenship. Still others have trivialized the debate by arguing about how “they” sing “our” national anthem.
It is time for God’s people to dispel the confusion and sound a clear trumpet. Here are some obvious biblical principles that must shape the immigration debate:
1. God demands kindness to foreigners. In the Old Testament, mistreatment of immigrants is singled out as a crime against heaven. Our government should not enact Draconian measures that break up families, treat immigrants unjustly or deny them due process. We must enact open policies that grant citizenship to those who want to live in our free society rather than forcing them to live in fear of deportation.
2. God expects a nation’s leaders to be protective watchmen. Kindness to immigrants does not mean we must naively throw open our borders. We must vigilantly guard our airports, seaports and borders from criminals, drug lords, gang leaders or terrorists. In order to provide proper safeguards we must enact the means to remove illegal aliens who refuse to comply with our laws and pay our taxes.
3. God calls His church to repent of racism. In the current debate over immigration reform, ugly attitudes have emerged among God’s people. Suspicions are raised about “them.” From the pulpits of America we must remind our congregations that God’s love does not judge people because of skin color, last name or a foreign accent. If we want to be Pentecostal in a biblical sense, we will take proactive steps to make worship a multicultural experience.
4. We must serve our immigrant brothers and sisters. In America’s current wave of foreign visitors are Christians from Latin America, Nigeria, India, Pakistan, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Many of them need legal aid, job training, spiritual encouragement and—most of all—genuine friendship.
If we will adjust our hearts, I believe God will harness the potential of the immigrants in our nation and use them to spark the next great spiritual awakening.
J. Lee Grady is editor of Charisma and an award-winning journalist. One of his life goals is to become fluent in Spanish so he can preach in that language without an interpreter.
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