Praying and Working in the Face of Fear
Imagine saying goodbye to your spouse and children as you leave for work in the morning and not being sure you will all make it back home safely. Or picture what it might be like to be so afraid of law enforcement that you keep your children home from school, avoid going to the doctor even when you have an emergency, and stop worshiping at your church in person. This is the new reality for many Christian Reformed leaders and members across the United States.
“As a member of our Reformed family, I feel compelled to bring to your attention the severe suffering that Latino families are experiencing due to current immigration policies that appear to be based on racial profiling and are being implemented with excessive and disproportionate force,” Harold Caicedo, a pastor in Fontana, Calif., recently shared in a post on The Network, citing new immigration laws and enforcement policies that have seen many immigrants to the United States questioned, detained, and deported.
He explained that many CRC congregations have seen dramatic decreases in attendance since these policies began to be enacted. This situation has also resulted in decreased financial support for the church. What’s more, members are not only staying away from Sunday worship but are also finding it difficult to go to school, seek medical help, go to work, or even buy groceries.
“Many families are essentially imprisoned in their own homes by fear of immigration raids,” he wrote.
In a follow-up meeting with Caicedo and other members of the CRCNA’s Consejo Latino, CRCNA senior leaders heard stories about Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents waiting outside of church doors for a weekly Bible study to end so that they could question people as they left. They also heard about U.S. citizens of Latino heritage being pulled over and questioned as they drove home from the grocery store – and being disbelieved because they didn’t have their passports with them.
And not only Latino churches are experiencing this new reality. Pastor Obelto Cherubin, a pastor of Haitian CRC in Orlando, Fla., said, “Six families have left the church because the wives were pregnant. They left Florida to give birth in another state, where the rights of children born in the U.S. are recognized. In their search for those rights, those six families left the state.”
In his church, where 60 percent of members are immigrants without full citizenship, the new laws and enforcement policies have disrupted all kinds of things, he said.
“Three families have moved to Canada, and others are planning to follow,” Cherubin said. “Fewer people are coming to church because of fear. They no longer feel safe participating in regular church activities. For example, every year the entire church would go to the beach for a retreat, but this year they couldn’t do it because of the increased immigration enforcement activities. They didn’t want to put church members at risk.”
Similar things are happening in CRC families in Texas, Michigan, California, and wherever immigrant communities are.
“In our region, local churches have been collaborating each year to carry out migrant farmworker ministry—providing educational support for children and offering assistance to workers from Latin America who come to Michigan to help with the harvest,” said Hun Suk Bae, a Korean pastor at Ann Arbor (Mich.) Hope Church.
“These workers come with legal temporary visas and have greatly contributed to the agricultural harvest in Michigan. However, due to the current situation, there are growing challenges and restrictions on housing and activities. Even those with legal status are feeling more anxious and withdrawn because their relatives and friends have experienced difficulties with immigration enforcement. As a result, many are enduring emotional stress and fear.”
Marco Avila, a regional mission leader, added that this situation is complicated. Governments have the obligation to protect their borders and set rules for immigration. However, the way that people are currently being treated goes beyond what is just and humane.
“No one is against deporting immigrants with criminal records. Anyone migrating to another country is expected to respect the law of that country,” he said. “But what good does it do to deport people with a clean record who are deeply embedded in the fabric of society?”
“Calling immigrants criminals is a call to violence against many people who are simply trying to honestly provide for their families,” added Caicedo. “They have no criminal record or criminal history, so calling them that is the beginning of something even more dangerous that can lead to contempt for other races or close doors to Latinos solely because of their skin color.”
The Christian Reformed Church takes this situation seriously. “When we hear stories about what our brothers and sisters in Christ across the United States are experiencing, we grieve with them. We also feel compelled to act and find ways to stand with them in solidarity,” said Zach King, general secretary of the CRCNA.
He pointed out that the CRCNA position on immigration and migration recognizes the importance of respecting laws and government regulation of national borders, but also encourages governments to treat immigrants and migrants with justice, dignity, and respect. The CRCNA also calls its churches to postures of love, welcome, and advocacy for and to immigrants, migrants, and refugees according to biblical exhortations.
King distributed a Prayer and Call to Action about these immigration changes back in February. In addition, Thrive has been offering training and support to congregations on the front lines of this crisis. And pastors and leaders in those churches are responding as well as they can.
They try to identify and dispel misinformation as it spreads among their members. They have committed to learning about the immigration system in general, including their rights (i.e., during an ICE enforcement action), and how best to navigate it. And they offer comfort and hope, as best they can, to the people in their communities.
Comunidad de Paz, for example, is a congregation in Houston, Tex. The church is made up of people who have many different immigration situations and who come from many different countries, including Venezuela, Colombia, Honduras, and El Salvador.
“One of the key ways we have responded is by sharing a word of faith every Sunday,” said Pastor Luis Becerra. “Before worship and prayer time, we pray with every family in the church, and this strengthens us as a ministry, as a church, and as a family.”
He added that seeing their church community as family has kept them united even in this difficult time: “We support each other in every way possible – seeking information, advice, and help through the law, through lawyers, through anyone whom someone might know. These connections have helped us guide the church effectively.”
Pastors are also helping parents to speak to their minor children about what to do in case a parent is deported. Church leaders are helping members fill out immigration paperwork and find immigration lawyers who can assist them. They are navigating this together as a church family.
As a next step, the CRCNA is inviting all CRC congregations to include a time of prayer during their worship services on September 7 and to join a virtual prayer vigil during the evening of September 10. During that online service, members of CRC congregations will share stories and prayer requests from their local contexts, and leaders will spend time in prayer with them.
“If we unite in fervent prayer, we trust that God will lead us through,” said Cherubin, whose congregation, Haitian CRC, holds prayer services three times a week.
Thrive is also continuing to monitor the situation and is part of several ecumenical groups considering the best ways for churches to respond. Anyone interested in participating in advocacy on this topic is encouraged to connect with Thrive directly at [email protected]. The team offers guidance toward meaningful opportunities to take action, rooted in a spirit of justice, compassion, and Christian witness.
