All things to all people?
Welcoming strangers is one of the Church's many callings
My hackles rise whenever I hear someone suggest that the Church should be the answer. It always seems like an indictment, as if the congregations of our country are a bunch of slackers. "So what?" I want to holler. "What other burden would you like the people of God to pack on our collective backs?"
Let's see, in recent weeks I've heard impassioned pleas for the Church to stand foursquare against the moral drift in society. I've been informed that helping people build lasting marriages is on our plate as well. And of course we should be caring for the poor, clothing the naked, visiting prisoners and taking on the welfare of widows and orphans. We should even be welcoming new immigrants, extending bonafide Christian hospitality to "the alien in [our] midst."
All this and more is the calling of the Church. Much more. Right now we should be sending money to Japan (without neglecting the ongoing suffering in Haiti). New Zealand should stay in our mindscapes along with a host of other earth-shattering devastations spanning the globe. Foreign missions also deserve our dollars; and we should not neglect our families; and we should take time for our neighbours; and on and on and on. Whatever the presenting issue, Church should be the answer.
Please excuse the rant. I'm actually more at peace with this conundrum than I sound. Long ago I was convinced of two truths about the Church. The first is that no other institution has accomplished so much good for all humanity. The second is that none has ever fallen so short of its calling.
Immigrant reality
World Vision Canada recently conducted a research project involving more than 300 church leaders in cities across Canada. In "Beyond the Welcome: Responding to the Immigrant Reality in Canada," the organization expresses its desire "to nudge churches forward in the knowledge that they too must change to adapt to their evolving communities, as they seek to be faithful to Jesus' call to love our neighbours."
The research shows that many churches are already active in this task. About 20 per cent of congregations regularly and habitually provide settlement and relief services for recent immigrants that meet their immediate basic needs. Nearly half of congregations are occasionally engaged. About one-third are seldom or never involved in this way.
This adds up to a very meaningful participation. But as helpful and good as such efforts may be, it never seems to be enough. So much more needs to be done. The pressure is always on to do more, to do better. It's one thing to be nice to new people and help them get settled in a new culture. It's quite another to allow them into positions where their culture might influence ours. A qualified pastor from another country, for example, is not likely to be given influence and leadership opportunity in a typical Canadian congregation.
There are no easy answers. Doing more than simply fitting in and getting along requires significant commitment and a lot of give-and-take from everyone involved. The key is in relationship building. We care about people we know. We more readily come to love and respect people very different from us when we are familiar with them as fellow human beings. Leaders too need to be in relationship with people who can help them learn to understand and appreciate the strangers in their midst.
World Vision has prepared a toolbox to help churches "assess the depth of their welcome and to plan how to grow from awareness to integration of new immigrants into congregational life." The material is being presented in a series of workshops for church leaders in cities throughout Canada. It's a genuine effort to "nudge" us in the right direction. Consider it a resource, not a guilt trip.
The bittersweet reality is that our reach will always extend our grasp. Nonetheless, our response must always be to keep reaching. This is part of what we mean when we pray for God's Kingdom to be among us, when we ask that His will be done on Earth as it is in heaven. God has high expectations of His followers.
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