Over the past few weeks, the topic of refugees has been all over the news and social media feeds because of Executive Orders and court cases. Much of this heated discussion has focused on American national policy and concerns for compassion and security. As a church, we do not wish to weigh in on politics but rather seek to make sure that people are well-informed of the facts and think through biblical teachings concerning refugees; Christians are called to seek the truth and to consider what the Bible, our guide for what to believe and how to live, says on an issue before speaking and acting. Therefore, this paper is an attempt to give an understanding of refugees, what the Bible says about refugees, and some ways that Faith Church and its members can respond to the issue regardless of where they stand in the debates about American policy.
Background of Refugees
Before looking at what the Bible says about refugees and how to respond, it is important for us to make sure we know what a refugee is. The United Nations describes a refugee as one who, “owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to, or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country” (1951 UN Refugee Convention). In 2014, the UN reported a number of 13 million refugees, but this number has been growing, with the UN reporting that 16.1 million people fall under its definition in 2016. Others are not considered refugees but rather displaced people, as they have fled from one part of their country to another for the same reasons; the total number of refugees, displaced people, and asylum seekers in 2016 was more than 65 million! The number of worldwide refugees exceeds the numbers after World War II! This truly is a worldwide crisis of immense propositions.
A refugee differs from a “migrant” in that a “migrant” might immigrate to a new land to improve their life (for example, seeking better employment), while a refugee moves to a new land to preserve their life. Refugees typically escape from their country to a new country and then stay in a refugee camp, waiting to be resettled in a new land or, ideally, being able to return to their homeland. For example, a family might move from Somalia to Kenya, where they are declared “refugees,” and then be resettled in America. Resettlement is a lengthy process, with resettlement in the United States requiring extensive security checks (for example, identity investigations; forensic testing of documents and checks of applicants’ fingerprints and photographs; in-depth, in-person interviews by Department of Homeland Security officers; medical screenings) that far exceed those given to tourists or students; the security checks for a refugee being resettled in America typically take between 18 and 36 months and the timeframe from when a refugee flees their country until they are in a new situation can take anywhere from 5 to 30 years, with 17 years a common number. Some refugees will become permanent residents of their new land, while others might be safely returned to their homeland if it is deemed safe. Unfortunately, the number of those who are able to return home is very small (around 200,000 in 2016).
It should also be noted that resettlement of refugees in America is often a last resort, one that many refugees do not desire or want, and a rare occurrence (less than 1% of refugees are resettled in another land); a refugee wants to return to their homeland if possible rather than experience yet more trauma in coming to a completely different culture. In addition, the resettlement of refugees in America only puts a minor dent in the total of refugees, as there were around 107,100 refugees resettled in America in 2016 while Turkey houses more than 2.5 million refugees and Lebanon 1.1 million. In fact, one in five people in Lebanon is a refugee and 10% of the population of Jordan being refugees, much higher percentages than you find in America. Therefore, whether the United States resettles 50,000 or 110,000 refugees in 2017 will not solve or drastically change the global situation on its own. This is especially true when it comes to the topic of Syria refugees, as America resettled around 15,000 Syrian refugees in 2016, but there are around 5 million Syrian refugees according to the UN count; many of those 1.1 million refugees in Lebanon are Syrian refugees.
Biblical Teaching on Refugees
Perhaps the most notable example of a refugee in the Bible is Jesus himself, as Jesus and his family left Judea to live in Egypt for a time to escape persecution from King Herod (Matthew 2:13-23). This is obviously a special example, in that Jesus was being persecuted for being the son of God and king of Israel! However, one could label many of the early Christians “refugees,” as persecution caused the first believers to leave Jerusalem and be scattered throughout Judea and Samaria (Acts 8:1: “And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria”). In the first century, Christians of Jewish origins were expelled from Rome for a time (Acts 18:2: “And [Paul] found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome”) and thus could be considered refugees. In many ways, the history of the church has been filled with people deciding whether they want to be a martyr who dies for his or her faith or a refugee, one who leaves his or her homeland and brings the gospel whenever he or she goes just like the believers in Acts 8:4 (“Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word”). This is true even today, as 90,000 Christians were killed in 2016 (which amounts to 1 every 6 seconds!) and 340,000 professing Christians were admitted to the US as refugees between 2013 and 2015, more than any other religious group.
The Old Testament often speaks of the “alien,” “foreigner,” and “sojourner,” individuals who have many similarities to refugees but who could also be classified as “migrants” since they are not necessarily facing a threat of persecution in their homeland. Many people of God were “aliens” for a time, as Abraham lived in Egypt (Genesis 12:10) and Hebron (Genesis 23:4), Moses resided in Midian (Exodus 2:22; Acts 7:29), and Elijah traveled to Sidon (1 Kings 17:8-24). In fact, the people of God were “aliens” living in Egypt (Genesis 15:13; 47:4; Exodus 22:21; Acts 7:6) and later on in Babylon (2 Kings 25:11). Of note is that God calls for the people of God to care for the aliens and foreigners in their midst because they remember what it was like to be a foreigner as well: “Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt” (Deuteronomy 10:19; also see Exodus 22:21; 23:9; Leviticus 19:34). They were to love them as they loved themselves (Leviticus 19:34), which meant the Israelites were not to oppress them (Exodus 23:9; Leviticus 19:33; Deuteronomy 24:14, 17; 27:19), but rather were to make provision for their care (Leviticus 19:10; 23:22; 25:6; Deuteronomy 14:28-29; 24:19-21; 26:12-13) and to ensure justice and equal treatment for them (Exodus 12:49; Numbers 15:15-16; 35:15; Deuteronomy 1:16; 10:19), including the opportunity to rest on the Sabbath day (Exodus 20:10; 23:12; Deuteronomy 5:14); other relevant passages are Deuteronomy 14:29; 24:17; 26:12-13; Jeremiah 7:5-7; 22:3; Zechariah 7:10; Malachi 3:5. Not only did they welcome and advocate for the foreigner because of their experience as foreigners, but they also did so because God Himself watches over foreigners along with others who are vulnerable and in need: “The Lord watches over the sojourners; he upholds the widow and the fatherless” (Psalm 146:9; also see Deuteronomy 10:18). Therefore, when Boaz reached out to care for Ruth, a Moabite in the land of Israel (see the book of Ruth), he was reflecting God’s character. Some foreigners, like Ruth, come to faith in the one true God (Exodus 12:48) and were equally included in the religious ceremonies of Israel (Leviticus 16:29; Numbers 9:14), but the care for these sojourners was not tied to common faith but rather the common experience as exiles (“for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt”) and God’s care for the vulnerable in society (“The Lord watches over the sojourners”); they cared for others because they empathized with them and sought to imitate God.
Care for the sojourner does not seem simply to be an Old Testament requirement only applicable to the people of Israel. The book of Proverbs, which speaks to people in all times and places about right living, reminds us that we are to “Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy” (31:8-9), with foreigners and refugees falling into the category of those who are poor and need and without a voice. In the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus shows that those who are suffering and in need are our neighbors (Luke 10:25-37).
Therefore, a fitting response to the refugee crisis would be to help them, regardless of their religious affiliation; we care for people not because of their beliefs but because they are made in the image of God and thus have dignity and worth. We are to do to them as we would wish for them to do unto us (Matthew 7:12). Long before the topic of refugees came to dominate the news and social media, Christian organizations such as World Relief and World Vision have been seeking to care for refugees in different ways, with World Relief a faith-based agency that helps resettle refugees in America and World Vision caring for refugees around the world. These groups will continue to care for refugeeslong after the news cycle turns to another issue.
Ways to Respond
We can debate the best and wisest strategy to help refugees and respond to the present refugee crisis, but we must never vilify or judge others who are not like us and should have concern for people who are vulnerable and oppressed in our world and our land. When we encounter people who are residing in a foreign land, we should treat them with respect like we would anyone, but we also should pay special attention to “aliens” in our midst because they can be exploited or feel alone. We do so as a response to God’s grace in our lives, living out the Great Commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves (Mark 12:29-31) as well as having an opportunity to follow the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20), making disciples of the nations without even leaving our own land! In fact, loving and showing care and compassion for immigrants and refugees in our midst lives out the truth that God does not care simply for America but is a God of all the nations. As we welcome them as we have been welcomed in Christ, we can model and share the message of Jesus Christ with them, as these people are looking for hope in life.
Furthermore, regardless of where one stands on American policy towards refugees, we should be people who are praying about this situation; this is not a “cop-out” answer but one that recognizes the power of prayer, as God has ordained prayer as a way to change the world.
There are also a few practical ways that we can get more involved if you have a practical burden for refugees, as Faith Church has ministry partners that work with refugees that you can help support or get involved with.
Reformed Church in America:
Our denomination has joined with worldwide partners to help refugees, including the millions of Syrians who are going to places in Europe and the Middle East to seek asylum; the number of Syrian refugees in that area puts great pressures on the communities (including ministries) because of the large number of refugees. Therefore, RCA personnel on the ground in Hungary, Austria, Turkey, and Italy are helping our partner churches in these areas provide refugees with food, water, and other daily needs – even laundry machines! For more on the RCA response and ways to donate, see https://www.rca.org/mission/refugees.
The Welcome Network (thewelcomenet.org):
For the past couple of years, Faith Church has helped support The Welcome Network, a Christian organization based here in Northwest Indiana that serves the immigrant and refugee population in the name of Christ. The Welcome Network is a part of providing English classes, and legal services to immigrants and refugees. Within the next few weeks, they are hoping to welcome two refugee sibling pair who are coming to live with family in NWI. They are hoping for this to be a start of more work with refugees who have come to America. There are a wide array of ways to serve with The Welcome Network, especially by coming alongside these families as they get settled in NWI. To get connected through prayer, teaching English, mentoring, or becoming a part of a good neighbor team to help settle refugees contact Tony Burrell at The Welcome Network: tony@thewelcomenet.org
World Vision:
Faith Church has a long and close partnership with World Vision, which continues to be one of the leading global non-profits serving the poor around the world – including refugees. In July of 2015, Faith Church hosted the World Vision Experience truck at the Dyer Campus and welcomed Rich Stearns to preach (in a message sent to all campuses) regarding children in crisis. These are children around the world living in refugee situations; over half of the refugees are children who never go to a formal school or live in a true home. World Vision helps supply things like food, shelter, emergency supplies, and safe places for children to play and learn. At the time of the World Vision Experience we had roughly 100 folks sign up to sponsor children in crisis around the world. You can sign up to come alongside these children by becoming a refugee responder through World Vision here: http://donate.worldvision.org/world-vision-refugee-initiative.
Bottom line: 1 John 3:18 says, “Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” Let us love others with our mouths, in how we speak, but also in what we do and in light of the truth.
For more information on refugees and the current refugee crisis, see http://www.unhcr.org/en-us/. Other resources on refugees are available through the Welcome Network at www.thewelcomenet.org/refugees. You can also contact theology@warefaith.org with questions about refugees and how to respond.
