Mid-City Christian: Pastorgraphs: "The World at our Doorstep"

Pastorgraphs: "The World at our Doorstep"

San Diego is a unique and diverse place. Within a ten mile radius of Christ Ministry Center, there is at least one person from every nation on earth. Not many ministry settings have such opportunities for global reach right at their doorstep.

This week the U.S. State Department and San Diego Diplomacy Council brought leaders from 22 countries to San Diego. The delegation included government diplomats, educators, journalists and religious leaders. Many are cabinet level officials.

Alliance San Diego’s Immigrant Rights Consortium, of which I am a member, asked me to be one of four panel members to meet with these dignitaries. While there are many who could better address foreign policy, this simply was too great an opportunity to pass up.

The objectives of these world leaders coming to San Diego included gaining a deeper and more detailed understanding of the U.S. foreign policy-making process, and examining public and private sector policy stakeholders and the range of perspectives they bring to the foreign policy debate.

The delegation included diplomats from Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belize, Bosnia/Herzegovina, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Ecuador, India, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Malaysia, Norway, People’s Republic of China, Poland, Russia, Sri Lanka, Tonga, Tunisia, Turkey, Uruguay, and the Vatican.

You will not offend me if you ask, “What in the world could I possibly offer such a distinguished group of world leaders?” But after praying about it, God assured me there was a reason for my participation.

Once our two-hour forum began, it became apparent we all have something in common. Every nation is dealing with immigration and refugees. San Diego is the busiest border crossing in the world. Where better for world leaders to come, share ideas, and learn from each other how we may all work together in both a just and humanitarian way to address this issue.

While my panel colleagues addressed the legal and human rights issues, I was able to share what Christ Ministry Center, our congregations and charities, have been able to do to meet the basic needs of refugees once they arrive in our community.

Our refugee work was in full swing shortly after I arrived here in 1998.We helped the Chaldean Christians who fled Iraq and settled in nearby El Cajon. The majority of my neighbors in Spring Valley are Chaldeans. Since then, we have assisted Haitians, Ethiopians, Eritreans, and people from such places as Sierra Leone and the Marshall Islands. And oh yes, a few Hispanic/Latino refugees as well.

I was able to speak from the Judeo-Christian faith perspective of how God loves all mankind. How nations deal with immigrants and refugees is a spiritual matter, I said. It exposes how we see one another; either as brothers and sisters, or as criminals and sub-standard people. I shared with them the words of Jesus in Matthew 25 that how we treat the “strangers in our midst” (sojourners, immigrants and especially refugees) has profound and eternal consequences.

I was able to share with them the Fount of Blessings (MyFount.com) and how it holds the potential to help anyone in need find the basic necessities they need, especially immigrants and refugees, who often arrive with little more than the clothes on their backs.

Richard Parker, author of “Lone Star Nation: How Texas Will Transform America” gives the most cogent and objective perspective on American immigration. He begins with recalling mankind has “migrated” from the very beginning of history. All of our ancestors, even those of Native Americans, most likely immigrated here from somewhere else. Within America, migration has been a reality from the Colonies to “the West”, and from the dust bowl to California. Now, Parker says, another migration is underway from California to Texas.

Texas is not known as the most hospitable place for immigrants, he suggests. Parker makes a sobering prediction when he asserts that if Texans (and many other states) continue to deny education, health care and full participation in the economy for their Hispanic/Latino population, that means within the next couple decades the new majority Hispanic/Latino population will be poor, uneducated, unhealthy and jobless. No society in history, Parker states, has survived when the majority population is poor, uneducated, unhealthy and unemployed. The same may be said for all America where 63.1% of all Americans on Social Security and more than 70% of all Baby Boomers are white. The median age of U.S. Hispanics is 27. Do the math.

One thing liberals and conservatives can agree upon: Our immigration system is broken. How we fix it is a matter we will debate and decide, even if we do nothing. Whatever that decision will be, it will have for us all the same profound consequences. Mark me down for trying to welcome and help those who come in need.

Food for thought. For Christ's Sake,
Bill Jenkins