The Simple Pastor
By Phil Whittall, church planter, blogger & book reviewer
RT @lukedvd: Hope his resignation from the England manager job will allow @JoelVirgo to focus on his church duties #nomorehairdye 1 day ago
I live in one of the least racially diverse towns in Britain, I think Shrewsbury is 98.5% white British and my guess is, on the whole, probably doesn’t take too kindly to immigrants (it is after all still legal to shoot a Welshman with a bow and arrow. You have to be on the right bridge and they have to be smuggling, but still…). So I’m not in the best of positions perhaps to comment on race relations and immigration
I feel fortunate to have travelled reasonably widely and that over the years our small church has had Americans, South Africans & Kenyans as well as the usual mix of Irish, Welsh, Scots and Brits. That’s a good thing, the more the merrier I say.
On the whole I would like to see a Britain that does a great job of welcoming, integrating and assisting genuine asylum seekers. Those who are fearful for their life because of their lifestyle, religious or political views should find a safe haven here. We should be generous in protecting and aiding them to contribute to our national life and an efficient, speedy and fair process would be great.
At the same time we live in an ageing population that would like to retire at 50 and live to a 100, there’s a need for economic immigration at all levels of society – ie those taking low paid jobs, as well as for the highly qualified. We should be proud of a society that people from around the world would want to live in and grateful of their contribution.We just need to work out to manage that so it is worked out fairly for all people and so that our nation benefits culturally and economically.
We have a long history of immigration from the Romans, Normans, Vikings, Jews, Huguenots, from across the old empire and Poles from the second world war. So let’s get rid of some pure British nation notion and tell the BNP to get lost. That’s my own personal view but what principles can a biblical perspective give us on this issue:
Principle 1: God is a God of the nations - God created the diversity of this world, God intervened in our diversity of culture, languages. God will welcome all tribes, tongues and nations. If that is God’s heart then ours should be the same.
Principle 2: Jesus died for the whole world - It’s a pretty simple point but Jesus died for the Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Iraqi, Afghani, Somali, Kiwi, Aussie, Romanian, Polish, Moroccan, Kenyan, Sudanese, Palestinian. I may not be able to preach the Gospel to them in their country so I welcome the opportunity to introduce to them to Jesus in mine.
Principle 3: God gave laws to protect the foreigner – When God instructed His chosen people on the wise ruling, governing and administration of their nation, He made specific laws to protect the sojourner’s rights and ensure they were free from oppression (Ex 23:9, Deut 10:18 for example). The prophets included oppression of the sojourner alongside that of widows and orphans in their warnings to Kings to act justly (Zec 7:10). Essentially because they are a sojourner they are more vulnerable so be careful how you treat them. Not every privilege of the citizen was available to them (you could charge them interest for example) but they were free to build their lives, raise families and do business in Israel and the law applied to them in equal manner. I don’t see any good reason to get rid of that principle.
Principle 4: Fear, greed, selfishness are poor motives – Often our attitudes to immigration are driven by fear of the different, fear of losing out, fear of others taking what should be ours, fear that they will get what we think we deserve. It’s not an attractive set of attitudes and can’t see how we can honour God like that. Travel has shown me a few things, one is that most people just want somewhere safe to work, earn enough bread to raise their family, give their kids a good education and mind their own business. I’m minded that that’s not an unreasonable ambition in God’s world (1 Thess 4:11) and hospitality is a better than hostility as an approach.
Granted their will be some who will try to take advantage of that but that’s just sin, something which us Briton excel in all by ourselves and that’s why we have law enforcement. Some management of the process is helpful and some clear thinking about what rights, benefits, privileges those who seek a life here can enjoy. Perhaps a sliding scale of access to them as certain targets of integration are met – rewarding the long rather than the short-term but let’s be open-hearted rather than close-minded to the world at our doorstep.
So maybe assess what people say in the light of some of these things as our leaders debate immigration.
I believe Jesus when he said 'life does not consist in the abundance of our possessions'. I believe he offers something better. This blog is mostly about that search.
I'm also a husband, a father, church planter, keen runner, reader, and motorcyclist. These and a few other things make guest appearances from time to time.
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