Illegal Immigration and the Bible Believing Church

Remember the prisoners as if chained with them—those who are mistreated—since you yourselves are in the body also. Hebrews 13:3 

Are the prisoners that we should remember only those who are being mistreated, or should we also remember those who are believers who have legitimately broken the law, or have been caught in a legal/political grinder? I have been thinking lately about how the principle of this passage might apply to dear believers I know who are also undocumented migrants living in a world of legal uncertainty. I conclude that if I am going to err, I will do so on the broader interpretation of the passage.

Every day now more stories are hitting the news about mass deportations under the new Trump administration. This should be no shock. This is exactly what President Trump said he would do during his campaign. We were living under an immigration crisis, and the steps necessary to resolve that crisis will be painful. When we step back from the principled political rhetoric, we must address a very different perspective on the ground in everyday ministry.

I once called a dear believer I know.

“How are you doing with all the talk and action regarding deportations going on across the country?”

“Pastor, I am trusting God with this. I am doing better than I deserve. I have been working with a lawyer for years to get all my papers in order. I believe that we are very close. All I can do is the best I can and trust God.”

Biblical Baptists must understand that some of the many congregations across our country have large numbers of undocumented migrants worshipping with them—especially those congregations that focus on reaching multiple language groups. If your church does not reach migrants, this might shock you. If you are not a soul-winning church, this might sound strange. But churches in major metropolitan areas (that are majority Hispanic especially), and churches that have ethnically focused ministries understand this.

How did we get here?

Some people in our congregations crossed the border under the goodwill of the administration in Washington at the time. They came from countries where the law is not a rule, but a weapon to be administered arbitrarily by whoever is in political leadership at the time. The rule of law is a foreign concept to them. After being invited in, they are being forced to leave. They are unfortunate pawns of political wrangling that is bigger than them. Please, I am not trying to make a political statement, I am just trying to explain what this problem looks like at ground level. Some came here knowing what they were doing was wrong and willing to take the risk. While here, they encountered believers and the wonderful gospel of Jesus Christ, have been welcomed into loving congregations (and rightly so), and are now trying to determine what the next steps of obedience should be. Some have been here for decades. These are people that God has called us to reach.

Emergency room doctors do not concern themselves with immigration status.

We are emergency room doctors whenever we deal with lost people. We cannot be concerned with a person’s immigration status any more than any other aspect of their past or condition. Their primary need is the saving grace of Jesus Christ. Millions of lost people have streamed across our borders just in the last four years, and many more millions in the decades prior to that. Every one of those are souls in need of a Savior. Every one of those is a person for whom Jesus died.

Our primary task is not to look on them with judgment or to champion their political cause, but to share with them the love and sacrifice of our Lord. Most people who come to Christ in this present culture, come to Him with a heavy and confusing load of baggage. Some of it is the result of their own choices, and some of it is the result of the crazy and mixed-up world that we all inhabit. Salvation comes first. That is followed by step-by-step transformation into Christ-likeness. The choices people have to make in order to follow our Lord are often disrupting and painful. Yet they do this in obedience to the word and under the transforming influence of the Spirit of God. We have to remember that these people are our family. They are our brothers and sisters in Christ and we must treat them as co-equal recipients of the grace of God.

I am not their judge.

As a pastor who has had a fair amount of contact with undocumented believers over the years, I have come to understand my biblical role. I am not their judge. That does not mean that judgment, even deportation, is wrong. It’s that judgment is not my role. It is the responsibility of someone else. I am a pastor and discipler and must do that no matter where people are with the law. Every new believer has baggage—but most mature believers have their fair amount as well. I must teach plainly about the nature of biblical discipleship and answer questions honestly when asked. But I also must allow new believers enough time for the Holy Spirit to convict them and guide them. We are Baptists. We believe in individual soul liberty and responsibility. Because of that, discipleship must be a patient process. I must teach people to do what is right because they believe it is truly what God wants based upon his word, not just what fits my demands or others.

The U.S. legal system can be irresponsibly loose, or horribly harsh depending on who is wielding the club of power. Our immigrant population has been whipsawed back and forth—four years of people saying “Come on in, the law does not matter” and then four years of “you are criminals, you have to go.” We can show compassion while governmental leaders administer justice. Those two are not mutually exclusive.

I am not their lawyer.

While we expect people to make sure they are right with the law, it is not my job as a pastor to try to fix the immigration status of people that God brings my way. I am neither trained nor called to do that. It is certainly not my calling to break the law of the land in a misguided sense of love. However, it is my calling to be friend and family to my brothers and sisters in Christ who are going through trials, just as Jesus was a friend of the thief on the cross. We pray for them as they seek to establish legal residency. We feed them when they are hungry, clothe them when they are cold, sit with them when they are hurting, and take care of their spouses and children when they are separated from their families. We will rejoice in their victories and weep with them in their trials.

Meanwhile, we will all together seek His Kingdom and His righteousness.

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For the audio version of this article, see here: Illegal Immigration and the Bible Believing Church