The Journey Toward a Confident and Compassionate Immigration Conversation

A review of the book--Start with Welcome--by Bri Stensrud

Rundown:

FTI Blog Post 105 is a Book Review. This post includes—Reading, a Rating, a Review, personal Reflections from George, and questions for your Reaction.

Reading:

Bri Stensrud. Start with Welcome: The Journey toward a Confident and Compassionate Immigration Conversation. Kindle Edition. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2024. See the book on Amazon: HERE

Rating: Ten out of Ten

Rating Scale: One to Three means do not waste your time. It is just mediocre information. Four to Seven says the book is worth a quick read to harvest some learnings. It enhances your knowledge. Eight to Ten suggests the book is worth underlining, highlighting, and quoting. It increases your wisdom.

Review:

Welcome is the Only Loving Choice. Bri’s Passion for Welcoming Shines Through this Book!

“We are Christians first and foremost, therefore, a ‘kingdom mindset’ is what should primarily shape our hearts and minds.” “A Kingdom mindset will help us think about our neighbors and see them as God sees them.” (158)

These two sentences by author Bri Stensrud speak to the approach given to Christians in biblical references such as Matthew 25 as it talks about the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, and the imprisoned.

Bri, who as a committed Christian responded to what she felt was the focus of God’s calling for her life regarding classic pro-life issues. Then through conversation, prayer, and hands-on encounters with people seeking to immigrate into the United States through Mexico, she broadened her definition of pro-life.

She saw people seeking to escape violence and terrorism so they might be embraced by realized hope. She learned the immigration issue is so much more complex than is expressed by various supporters and opponents of immigration into the USA.

Even the language is complex. Advocates of immigration must understand the true meaning of words like immigration, emigrate, immigrant, refugee, asylum seeker, and “ger”.

“Ger” is the most important of all the words for Christians. It is a Hebrew word meaning alien, foreigner, stranger, or sojourner. You know them. They are the people God tells us to welcome.

Start By Saying “Welcome!”

As Christians we ought to start by saying “welcome” and then figure out the details and whose minds and actions need to change—beginning with ours.

In this book, Bri takes us through her journey to becoming welcoming to immigrants. She does not suggest throwing open the door of our country, but she is appropriately biased toward being more welcoming. We need an attitude that is welcoming, and a process that is consistent, quicker, and humane.

She talks about the good, the bad, and the ugly of welcoming. The fact that although politicians say it is the other partisans who have gotten things wrong, all political persuasions have failed.

She takes on Christians when she says, “I was grieved. Grieved that the American church had missed the realities and cries of migrants so badly. Not only had we missed these things we’d also busied ourselves making excuses, biblically shrouded justifications for our well-versed indifference.”  (7)

“While the Old Testament elevates the quartet of the vulnerable (orphan, widow, sojourner, and poor), Jesus raises the bar substantially in the New Testament. He levels the playing field by including every person in society.” (52)

“Hundreds of thousands of people from around the world are approaching our borders. Do we see this as a divine moment to bring our loaves and fish? Do we see this as an opportunity to fulfill the church’s Great Commission? Or do we ask our leaders and lawmakers to push people away to fend for themselves?” (57)

Why Do Migrants Come?

“Many migrants are on the move because they are searching for a way—any way—to provide the basics for their families.” (123) “People love their families enough to risk seeking a new life and a brighter future.” (124)

“Christians must be people moved to compassion, as Jesus was, willing to look past media stereotypes to learn real stories of real people, to understand the push and pull factors that have created this crisis, and to work together to find effective, safe, and human solutions.” (132)

Fear Not

“When I listen to people talk about immigrants and refugees, the most common thing I hear behind every comment is fear. Fear of a changing American culture, fear of increased violence or economic burdens, fear of terrorism or human trafficking or drugs, fear of America’s citizens not getting the help they need, fear of Sharia law taking over cities and eventually the nation. And even though one of the most frequent commands in the Bible is ‘do not fear,’ we often fear things we don’t understand and people we don’t know.” (138)

If you have not guessed by now, I have a high view of this book and commend it to you. Urge others to read it and take positive actions of support for this cause.

Reflections from George:

I support a legal, ethical, and spiritual framework for allowing immigrants into the United States. The most important to me is spiritual.

It is my belief God is bringing people of the world to the United States where, by some estimates, there are upwards to 80 percent of all global missional resources.

God is daring Christians not to love them unconditionally and introduce them to Jesus. God is challenging us to see immigrants as persons of worth created in His image to live and to love. They need hope. They need security. They need economic opportunity. They need relief from the violence of the societies in which too many of them live.

They need the Savior.                                      

In a country where tens of millions of people believe that salvation through Jesus the Christ is the only way to eternal life, we have no choice but to receive and love immigrants, care for them, challenge them about their spiritual life, invite them to receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

We should challenge many to return virtually or physically to their country of origin to share the unconditional love of Jesus with people of their culture and language. Others should stay here to continue recruiting necessary resources to support these efforts.

They may be the best missionaries to the people of their culture as they can present the gospel in relevant ways.

I believe God is doing this because we have hoarded the gospel. We have refused to provide the resources to send millions more missionaries throughout the world. To provide them with the finances, resources, volunteers, and prayer support to help their mission of going to the whole world to be successful.

Doing this ethically is extremely important. We must love and care for people individually and in family units. It is a clear golden rule issue. We must treat them in the same manner in which we want to be treated.

We must treat them as equals under the law and in God’s eyes. We must not fear them. We must realize they likely fear us, and our formal and informal systems of governance and culture. It is a scary thing to immigrate to a country where they do not know for sure they will be accepted.

We must tell government officials—particularly partisan politicians using immigration policies for their personal political gain—to get their act together. Develop, implement, and fund laws that establish a system that works. Stop worrying about their own re-election. We need statespersons not political hacks. Let them know we will not vote for their re-election if they do not get their act together.

Local, state, and federal officials must work together. Inform all government officials we expect for them to treat immigrants ethically.

If the government officials claim to be Christians, tell them we expect them to act like it toward all people—including immigrants.

Reactions:

You are invited to share some reactions (comments) to this book review and my reflection. Here are three questions to guide your reaction:

1.    From this review—or perhaps your reading of the book—what does it mean to be Welcoming?

2.    What does it mean to have positive spiritual passion for all people coming to America? Is that a good thing? A Christian thing?

3.    How do you evaluate your ministry of welcoming? Is it one of selective welcoming, wide open, or something else?