By Jeff Finley
While tragedies and tensions fill the news these days, it can be easy to tune out current events if we don’t believe we or our family members are directly affected. Headlines of an “immigration crackdown” and a “summer of unrest” may not seem to matter within our immediate household, but what about our brothers and sisters in Christ who face a starkly different reality? Do we answer the biblical call to “share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2 NLT)?
Changing government policies and new U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations have significantly impacted churches, according to several Free Methodist conference superintendents interviewed by Light + Life.
While national news coverage has focused primarily on ICE actions and pro-immigration protests in coastal regions, ministry efforts also have been affected in the nation’s heartland — including the Central Region Conference, which covers Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and parts of Missouri.
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“The last thing we would want to do is inadvertently cause a problem in the already complex and often complicated immigration process.”— Superintendent Bruce N.G. Cromwell
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The impact has been particularly devastating for one congregation led by a husband and wife pastoral team. “The husband — years ago before coming to Christ — had a criminal record in Mexico,” Superintendent Bruce N.G. Cromwell said. “They have a son who is a police officer and was told specifically that they had to detain people from other countries.”
The son became concerned that his father’s past criminal record would cause him trouble gaining citizenship under the new policies. Meanwhile, police officers regularly parked outside the church building.
The male pastor “left for Mexico because he knew it was a matter of time before someone would stop him somewhere, even if it was just coming outside the church,” Cromwell said. “He didn’t want to get detained, potentially arrested, and then go through that process of them deporting him.”
After the pastor decided to leave on his own, Cromwell said, “the rest of the members of the church were afraid to come, and they didn’t come for months.”
As a result, the female pastor suggested that they close the church.
Another Central Region couple expressed concern about holding a funeral for a family member because they thought an announcement with their last name on the funeral home website might attract ICE officers. They ultimately decided to hold a memorial service, but their son-in-law didn’t come because he was afraid of being detained while in the process of updating his paperwork to remain in the United States legally.
Concern about new immigration enforcement measures also has led to decreased attendance at conference events that require travel to other communities or states.
“We had several pastors who would not come to annual conference because of the fear they’d be detained,” Cromwell said.
For example, one pastor’s citizenship papers were being finalized at the time of the annual conference, and his lawyer warned him not to travel outside the state and risk a possible traffic stop without proof of citizenship.
“Of course, we encouraged the pastor not to come,” Cromwell said. “The last thing we would want to do is inadvertently cause a problem in the already complex and often complicated immigration process.”
One church member’s visa expired, and the government declined to renew it even though his wife and children can legally remain in the United States. The man is a citizen of an Asian country to which it is not safe for him to return, so Cromwell worked with a Free Methodist missionary to relocate the man to a Central American country. Government officials had no objection to the man heading to a different country where he wasn’t a citizen as long as he didn’t stay in the United States.
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“In crisis situations, demands on church resources increase while attendance and giving decrease.”
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California Challenges
With immigration arrests and protests in the nation’s most populous state dominating news coverage, what are things like for local churches and Free Methodist families in California? Light + Life reached out to the superintendents of the Free Methodist Church in Southern California and the Network of Undeniable Blessing (which includes Northern California and Nevada) for their perspectives.
Southern California Superintendent Jon Sato reported that immigration enforcement has directly impacted several congregations in his conference. In one instance, ICE activity near a church building resulted in tear gas being deployed in the area, disrupting normal church operations.
“Some of our churches have had to adjust their services significantly,” Sato said. “Some chose not to have in-person services for periods of time; others moved to sparse attendance or online-only formats.”
In crisis situations, demands on church resources increase while attendance and giving decrease, even as some church members and attendees have been detained or deported. Some congregations canceled their vacation Bible schools that are normally held during the summer as important outreach events in their communities.
“Our pastors are responding to increased needs in their communities,” Sato said. “People need more care and more of our pastors’ time. They’re providing direct support — helping with grocery shopping and taking children to doctors’ appointments because families have concerns about what might be reported.”
Sato said 40% of the Free Methodist congregations in Southern California are “mainly Spanish speaking,” but nearly every church in the conference serves some people who speak Spanish or are of Latin American descent.
Neighboring Superintendent Mark Adams reported similar circumstances and challenges.
“In the Network of Undeniable Blessing, over 40% of our churches are Latino. It doesn’t mean that they all have problems with immigration or undocumented [status]. A huge percentage, of course, are impacted. Another 20% are Asian and Pacific Islanders, and they face very similar situations in the current atmosphere,” Adams said. “In talking with each pastor, particularly our Latinos and our Pacific Islanders, there were people that are afraid to leave their homes unless they absolutely have to. In particular, they’re afraid — and with good reason — to gather together in public places where immigrants are likely to gather. That means church, so many aren’t going to church.”
He explained that “attendance is impacted mostly — and most painfully — by family members that have been arrested, detained, and some have already been deported. … Fear and anxiety is a significant pressure for the majority of our congregations.”
Most of the churches have online services that provide some form of spiritual care, but Adams said some people are afraid to access online church services because they fear federal agents may use that technology to target them.
“A number of our immigrants are even afraid to have the conference post their pictures or stories or things that are happening with them,” Adams said.
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For years, conference leaders have “been trying to find healthy, legal, appropriate ways to be welcoming and blessing for everybody.”
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One San Francisco Bay Area congregation has stopped opening the doors for public services even though “almost everybody in the congregation is, in fact, legal — permanent residency or here otherwise on work visas,” Adams said. “The majority, of course, are American citizens. They look Latino, so they’re afraid they’re going to get arrested. … They serve literally hundreds of hungry souls every week with their food ministry, but they’re doing it all behind locked doors right now.”
At one church in California’s Central Valley, “a third of the congregation has been separated from family members, and several already deported — others in detention. In each of those cases, they were all in the legal process of applying for residency and for asylum and other immigration” services, said Adams, who had previously written letters on behalf of many of these immigrant church members as they tried to remain in the country legally and navigate the pathway to citizenship.
For years, conference leaders have “been trying to find healthy, legal, appropriate ways to be welcoming and blessing for everybody” including “immigrants working through all the various complexities of what it means to be an immigrant in the U.S.,” Adams said. “We’ve been talking about these things for a long time and providing training.”
Even as prayer is needed and given for the churches and members who are impacted by changing government policies and increased ICE operations in their communities, “our prayers are always also for those that are enforcing the law,” Adams said. “We pray for ICE agents. We pray for Homeland Security. We pray for police officers. So we battle not against flesh and blood, but against powers and principalities. We don’t see people as enemies.”
Click here for more Free Methodist Church USA information and resources about immigration.
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