Immigration and faith

Many churches take their Bible teachings that say to love strangers as the best way to treat immigrants.    - - Donna Poisl

By Matthew Soerens

There are few issues as contentious in American society today, including here in Maryland, as immigration. While immigration is inherently an economic issue, a cultural issue and a political issue, at Baltimore-based World Relief we view the issue first and foremost from the perspective of our Christian faith.

As an organization that empowers churches to serve vulnerable refugees, human-trafficking victims and other immigrants throughout the United States, we believe the Bible has a lot to say that should inform our thinking as we confront the challenges and opportunities of immigration. The Hebrew word for an immigrant, ger, appears 92 times just in the Hebrew Scriptures, often referenced alongside the fatherless and the widow as uniquely vulnerable groups for whom God has a special concern and whom he commands his people to love. God reminds his people that their own ancestors were immigrants and commands that immigrants be treated equally to the native-born.
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