So, we’re in the midst of the largest humanitarian emergency of our time. How are we, the Church, to respond?
It’s an election year and
America’s response to the refugee crisis is a politically-charged issue,
particularly when it comes to admitting Syrians into the U.S. There is a lot of
talk of national security. But that doesn’t change the question. How are we,
the Church, to respond?
Let’s start by hearing what
worldwide church leaders are saying.
The U.S. Baptist Church
“Scripture calls for and expects God’s people to minister to the
sojourner (Exodus 22:21-24, 23:9-12; Leviticus 19:33-34; Deuteronomy 10:17-22,
24:17-22, 26:5-13; Psalm 146:8-9; Matthew 25:35-40). We encourage Southern
Baptists to minister care, compassion, and the Gospel to refugees who come to
the United States. We encourage Southern Baptist churches and families to
welcome and adopt refugees into their churches and homes as a means to
demonstrate to the nations that our God longs for every tribe, tongue, and
nation to be welcomed at His throne (Revelation 5:9, 7:9-12; Psalms 68:5; James
1:27; Leviticus 25:35, 19: 33–34). We affirm that refugees are people loved by
God, made in His image, and that Christian love should be extended to them as
special objects of God’s mercy in a world that has displaced them from their
homelands.” –excerpt from the Southern Baptist Convention 2016 Resolution on
Refugee Ministry
“It’s not unusual that we have politicians timid in the face of fear.
But the task of the church is a different one. The church is called to see the
image of God in all people and to minister Christ’s presence to all people.
That’s what churches are doing.” –Russell D Moore, SBC president of the group’s
Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission
The U.S. Catholic Church
“I am disturbed by calls from both federal and state officials for an
end to the resettlement of Syrian refugees in the United States. These refugees
are fleeing terror themselves—violence like we have witnessed in Paris. They
are extremely vulnerable families, women, and children who are fleeing for
their lives. We cannot and should not blame them for the actions of a terrorist
organization. Moreover, refugees to this country must pass security checks and
multiple interviews before entering the United States—more than any other arrival
to the United States. It can take two years for a refugee to pass through the
whole vetting process. We can look at strengthening the already stringent
screening program, but we should continue to welcome those in desperate need. Instead
of using this tragedy to scapegoat all refugees, I call upon our public
officials to work together to end the Syrian conflict peacefully so the close
to 4 million Syrian refugees can return to their country and rebuild their
homes. Until that goal is achieved, we must work with the world community to
provide safe haven to vulnerable and deserving refugees who are simply attempting
to survive. As a great nation, the United States must show leadership during
this crisis and bring nations together to protect those in danger and bring an
end to the conflicts in the Middle East.” –Bishop Eusebio Elizondo, Chairman of
the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Migration
The Anglican Church
worldwide
New Zealand: “We aspire to serve the ‘last,
lost and least.’ We cannot have this as a core part of our identity and not
respond to this overwhelming human tragedy in a practical way. As a country we
have been criticized for not doing enough to respond to the refugee crisis. We
want to say loudly and clearly, as the Anglican Church of New Zealand, that we
are prepared to help in a practical way.” –Archbishop Justin Duckworth
Australia: “One of the most significant characteristics of
a civilized society is the way it treats those who are the most vulnerable .In
our own country we have sought to address the needs of children, the
intellectually or physically disabled, and the aged, all of whom suffer a
disadvantage that is not common to the ordinary working Australian. However, as
our world is larger than Australia, so our vision for vulnerable persons ought
to be larger. Our TV screens have been awash with images of desperate people
fleeing the war torn areas of Syria and Iraq. While it has been pleasing to see
the way in which Germany’s Chancellor has responded to this humanitarian crisis
with an open invitation to settle within her borders, not all countries have
shown the same kind of generosity. However, the crisis is too great to be
ignored – too great even for Europe to solve on its own.” –Archbishop Glenn
Davies
England: “As national and local responses develop we will
be delighted to work with willing communities and civic leaders to offer
sanctuary and welcome to any refugees who are admitted to our area, including
providing accommodation. There is a real and urgent need to act locally in the
face of a global challenge, and respond to the U.N.’s plea for resettlement. This
would be in keeping with the finest Christian tradition of championing human
dignity and offering sanctuary to those fleeing persecution.” –Joint statement
from four bishops in the Church of England
We see a common thread here,
a consensus that as Christians we are to care for these displaced people. I echo
all the sentiments above and am proud that the Church is taking a stand against
the anti-refugee and anti-Muslim rhetoric in the news and advocating for the warm
welcome of refugees.
I think compassion versus
fear is at the crux of how any government or institution or individual chooses
to respond to the idea of welcoming Syrian refugees into our country or group
or home. I believe as Christians we are called to let compassion reign, and
that’s woven throughout scripture.
“For the Lord your God is
God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who
is not partial and takes no bribe. He defends the cause of the fatherless and
the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and
clothing. And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were
foreigners in Egypt.” (Deuteronomy 10:18-19)
“There is no fear in love,
but perfect love casts out fear. We love because [God] first loved us.” (1 John
4: 18a-19)
In terms of fear, I have two
thoughts.
One is that I think much of
the talk of Syrian refugees being a risk or threat is overblown. My opinion
here is based on what I know about the U.S. refugee screening process (here is
an overview and a fact sheet; also, I think this
article largely debunks the notion that the Paris
attack should make us concerned that ISIS agents may pose as refugees as a way
to enter the U.S.), what I know about the demographics of the refugees chosen
to be resettled here (that is, they are the ones deemed by the UN to be the
most vulnerable—mostly women and children, but also the sick or elderly), and
finally, what I know firsthand from getting to know some of these refugees here
in Texas.
My other thought is that we
cannot guarantee that no Syrian refugee entering the U.S. will ever inflict
harm or engage in terrorism, just like there are hardly any guarantees in life,
BUT DESPITE THAT, I think we should welcome this desperate people group anyway.
I push back on the notion that the U.S. should pursue absolute security at all
costs. Mainly, the “at all costs” part. Turning our backs on this people group
in dire need of refuge is too high a cost. Christian author Andy Crouch has a great
book called Strong and Weak in which he
argues that vulnerability is a crucial component of a flourishing life. To have
power (authority) without risk (vulnerability) leads to exploitation.
“Two common temptations lure
us away from abundant living—withdrawing into safety or grasping for power.
True flourishing travels down an unexpected path: being both strong and weak.
We see this unlikely mixture in the best leaders—people who use their authority
for the benefit of others, while also showing extraordinary willingness to face
and embrace suffering. We see it in Jesus, who wielded tremendous power yet
also exposed himself to hunger, ridicule, torture and death.” –Andy Crouch
I also want to share an
excerpt from a book on Christianity’s response to the small pox epidemic in
Rome in 165 BC, written by atheist scholar Rodney Stark. I think it sets a
powerful precedent for the appropriate Christian response to humanitarian
crises, and was what prompted Christianity’s rapid growth in the Roman Empire.
In
165 BC, a devastating epidemic swept through the Roman Empire. Some medical
historians suspect that it was the first appearance of smallpox in the West.
During the fifteen-year duration of the epidemic, from a quarter to a third of
the empire’s population died from it.
Dionysius,
bishop of Alexandria, wrote:
Most of our brother Christians
showed unbounded love and loyalty, never sparing themselves and thinking only of one
another. Heedless of danger, they took charge of the sick, attending to their every need and ministering to them
in Christ, and with them departed this life serenely happy; for they were infected by others with the disease,
drawing on themselves the sickness of their
neighbors and cheerfully accepting their pains. Many, in nursing and curing
others, transferred their
death to themselves and died in their stead.
Having
noted at length how the Christian community nursed the sick and dying, he
wrote:
The heathen behaved in the very
opposite way. At the first onset of the disease, they pushed the sufferers away and fled from their dearest,
throwing them into the roads before they were dead,
hoping thereby to avert the spread and contagion of the fatal disease.
He
claimed: “It is our care of the helpless, our practice of loving kindness that
brands us in the eyes of many of our opponents. ‘Only look,” they say, ‘look
how they love one another!’”
I [author
Rodney Stark] believe that it was the religion’s particular doctrines that
permitted Christianity to be among the most sweeping and successful
revitalization movements in history. And it was the way these doctrines took on
actual flesh, the way they directed organizational actions and individual
behavior, that led to the rise of Christianity.
Excerpted
from The Rise of Christianity: How the
Obscure, Marginal Jesus Movement Became the Dominant Religious force in the
Western World in a Few Centuries by Rodney Stark
So that’s my take on love
and compassion versus fear and vulnerability. I think we have a responsibility
to follow Jesus’ example of caring for the poor, the lowly, the oppressed.
But another very important
topic I want to cover is that the Church showing love, compassion, and
hospitality to Syrians, specifically those who are Muslims, is an unexpected
and unprecedented opportunity. The Syrian civil war is horrific. But what was
intended for evil, God can redeem. God is calling many of these displaced
people to himself. This fits into a much larger story of how God has
incontrovertibly been moving among Muslims over the past decade.
In a brief overview of history since the beginning of
Islam, author David Garrison notes, “In Islam’s first 12 centuries we found no
voluntary conversions to the Christian religion. Not until the end of the 19th
century, twelve and a half centuries after the death of Muhammad, did we find
the first voluntary movements of Muslims to Christ that numbered at least 1,000
baptisms….But then, in the final two decades of the 20th century, there was a
surge of 11 additional movements….In only the first 12 years of the 21st
century, an additional 69 movements to Christ of at least 1,000 baptized
Muslim-background believers or 100 new worshipping fellowships have
appeared….Something is happening – something historic, something unprecedented.”
We have friends in Jordan and Germany working with Syrian
refugees and witnessing firsthand how God is calling out to this people group.
I asked one of these friends to share a little about this, and here’s what he
wrote:
“Today we live in unprecedented times.
Never before in recorded history have there been over 65 million displaced
people due to violence or persecution. In 2015, each minute 24 people were
forced to flee from their homes. Today one in every 113 people in the world is
either an asylum seeker, internally displaced or a refugee. The main global
engine to the number of displaced persons today is the Syrian crisis and the
ongoing conflict in the region. Since 2011, more than 1 out of every 2 Syrians
have had to flee their homes and every day the number grows.
These unprecedented times also puts
before the church an unprecedented opportunity. Never before have so many
people been forced to migrate from their homes. This thrusts many hard to reach
people groups out of their homelands and into new locations. In these new
locations the church has the opportunity to share in word and deed the Good
News about Christ. Here in Germany we are finding every day people who are not
only accessible to the love of Christ for the very first time but also open and
receptive to it because of what they have experienced. For one refugee they put
it like this, “I didn’t just flee Syria and the violence, I fled Islam.”
Many of those we talk to who end up
coming to faith in Christ had some type of dream or vision of Jesus appearing
to them first. One young man I am discipling had a series of three visions
while still living in Syria. This is a young man who spent the first 14 years
of his life growing up in very conservative Muslim country. He was a devout
believer. In the three dreams over three weeks each time Jesus came to him and
said, “Follow me and do the right. Follow me and go the right way.” In the
final and last dream Jesus said to him, “I am not just a prophet but the Son of
God.” Then “T” saw himself on the cross, being nailed there until Jesus spoke
to him and made it clear He had died for him and in his place. He quickly
turned to an online source and started reading the Bible, studying it and
comparing it against the Quran and their book. It wasn’t until he was here in
Germany that one of the security guards at the camp gave him a Bible. The fifth
day we were here I was blessed to see him baptized, and have been discipling
him for the last three months. He is now learning to share his faith with other
Arabic speakers, study the Bible and see how he is potentially a leader and catalyst
to reach his own peoples.
This above story about “T” is just one
of many, many stories we either have had personally contact with or have heard from
others in our community. In many ways we are seeing the book of Acts once again
in present time as the Holy Spirit blows and works in the hearts of these
people.”
I’ll add that our friends in Jordan echo this exact
sentiment, including story after story (after story!) of God using dreams and
visions (which are very common in Muslim culture) to reveal Himself to Muslims
and direct them to the saving grace provided through Jesus.
It’s a remarkable time we are in. So much pain and suffering.
But so much room to offer love and care and hospitality and hope to a people
group traditionally closed off to us. And in cases where God is at work among
them—an opportunity to provide discipleship and point them to the one true
God—the God of abundant love and grace, who cares for them far more than we
ever could, and who sent his son to die on a cross to save them.
Next up, I’ll talk about some ways for the church to get involved and how our family is trying to play a
practical, loving, and active role in this work God is doing.
I’ll leave you with
this simple prayer that the Church of England has issued for the refugee
crisis:
We thank you for opening the hearts of many to those
who are fleeing for their lives.
Help us now to open our arms in welcome, and reach out our
hands in support. That the desperate may find new hope, and lives torn
apart be restored.
We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ Your Son, Our
Lord, who fled persecution at His birth and at His last triumphed
over death.
Amen
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