New Curriculum Explores Immigration

A new curriculum series coming inSeptember offers a fresh perspective on immigration and the importance of the church’s involvement in what is frequently a hot-button topic.

“Church Between Borders” is a four-session workshop series designed to be used in small group and adult educational settings. The curriculum is both historical and informative and encourages participants to reconsider their own views and awareness.

The series was produced jointly by the Christian Reformed Church’s offices of Social Justice and of Race Relations in response to Synod 2010’s declaration that the CRC should be more involved in informing its members about immigration issues.

“Everyone in the CRC has an immigration story,” said Kelly Organ, the congregational justice mobilizer intern in the Office of Social Justice. “The church is an immigrant church in many ways, so (immigration) is certainly a bigger issue and an issue that has resonance with our own faith story.”

“Church Between Borders” is designed for groups of 25-30 people led by trained facilitators who use the curriculum as a discussion-starter on a variety of topics dealing with immigration.

The series includes:

• Session 1: Immigration At Home – A discussion about the dynamics of immigrants entering into the life of a community and its churches.
• Session 2: Immigration storyline – A discussion looking back at the history of immigration and how individuals’ families fit into a timeline and how the role of the church has remained vital throughout that history.
• Session 3: Why the church cares - A discussion focusing on the technical overview of the immigration process and how Christians can respond in a manner that is rooted in the gospel.
• Session 4: Conclusions and Next Steps – A role-playing exercise, looking back in overview and what kind of commitments members can make to love their neighbors well and to seek justice within their own community.

“It’s a pretty stark and startling thing to realize that in various points in our history as a country, we have excluded people on the basis of race, on the basis of disability, on the basis of a lot of things,” Organ said. “There’s a history of injustices in our immigration system.”

The curriculum will be highlighted during an exhibit at the CRC’s denominational offices in Grand Rapids, Mich., Aug. 13 to 17. The display is an interactive timeline chronicling immigration in the United States, beginning with the colonization of North America by European settlers and running through President Barack Obama’s 2012 executive order that keeps the children of undocumented immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally from being deported if they meet certain requirements.

The issue remains a hot topic, especially in the months leading up to this fall’s U.S. presidential election, when immigration reform will be a key issue.

The timing of the release of the “Churches Between Borders” curriculum couldn’t be better, Organ said.

“This is going to become even more of a relevant issue. In this time when immigration reform is very much on the table, this is an issue the church needs to be paying attention to and needs to be able to speak thoughtfully and truthfully about in a way a lot of us aren’t equipped well to do.”

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