What is the Church’s Calling to Care for People on the Move?

Refugees, immigrants, and asylum seekers—these are millions and millions of people who are in the midst of a crossroads between despair and hope, and they’re looking for places where the church can meet them where they’re at. In the following Q&A, experts in the field discuss the church’s call to love people on the move and what each of us can do today.

This article was originally a panel discussion at Mission 2025, an RCA Global Mission celebration event. Watch the video or read the lightly edited content as follows.

JJ TenClay, coordinator for RCA Global Mission’s Refugee Ministries:

Q: Why do you care about people on the move?

Rev. Angel Lopez, collaborator with Frontera de Gracia (Border of Grace, ministry on the U.S.–Mexico border), educator, and advocate for immigrants:

Why do I do this? I wonder where the heart of God is all the time. I wonder where the presence of God is all the time. And if I believe that God cares and is concerned about the people on the move, about this border and all the borders, I should be concerned with that as well. That’s why I’m doing this, and I hope to do it till the end of my life.

Related: Welcoming the strangers in our midst: the biblical mandate and examples

Hannah Kummer, social worker with Mediterranean Hope (Rome, Italy):

I’m a second generation missionary. My parents are also missionaries in Italy, so I grew up there and I know what it feels like to be a foreigner in a different land, what it means to be a child in a different country, what it means to feel different. I had friends in school who were Albanian refugees and so we were friends together in an Italian community. Reflecting on it now I can see how we were treated differently, how an American foreigner was treated differently than an Albanian refugee, so that’s a reflection of identity and what kind of identities we hold in our communities. I carry that with me in hope and hold firm in my identity in being a part of the church—the global church—in this reality.

As missionaries we’ve been invited by God to walk alongside people who’ve been uprooted from their homes often in very traumatic ways and who are on a journey in search of refuge and welcome. Can you each share a story of how you’ve seen God at work in the lives of people on the move?

Angel: I will say that they have changed me as well. Even the way I read the Bible has changed because of the people on the move. When the Bible talks about angels, demons, miracles, freedom, forgiveness, courage, it’s important for me to consider the people who are traveling. The experience of leaving somebody behind or carrying somebody with you that you don’t know, or being betrayed by someone. Those are feelings that we see in the Bible and also at the border.

Related: Encountering grace at the border and finding a home

We saw that at the border a couple years ago: a group of trusted friends started the pilgrimage to the north, and they crossed probably eight borders and were about to cross the last one, which is the Mexico–USA border. This is the last border they needed to cross, and they crossed it and as soon as everybody crossed, one of the friends fell ill and fell down without being able to move any bones or any muscles, without even being able to talk. So what do you do? What should you do? I was wondering how excruciating that moment would be for everybody. This group of friends finally decided to leave this person behind, but I was wondering about them—how they’re doing right now or how is this man doing? Does he feel betrayed or does he feel relieved that they left and could carry on with their dreams in the north?

So this is the story of that person, left behind, who eventually arrived at our shelter. In the shelter there is a lot of blessing. In this story we began to hear something from the Bible—the night that Jesus was betrayed, he took bread and shared it with his disciples. So all these things begin to change your heart, your sense of reading the Bible. And then in the shelter we begin, even if you are not acquainted with the Bible, we’re wondering, “What would you do?” And the first thing that we learn is to stop judging anybody because we are on the journey here and we don’t know what’s the next story that you’re going to be part of. It changes me and then the people around me. It’s beautiful.

Related: Worship in a refugee camp stunned me

Hannah: The reality in the Mediterranean is that thousands of migrants are dying at sea. This is an overwhelming reality. And those that do arrive have a very difficult, if not impossible, journey towards legal status. So what Mediterranean Hope has done is to pursue safe and legal arrival into Italy through the sponsorship of churches. This also seemed impossible, but there was a legal way through the EU law that they were able to identify and experiment and pilot. Over the course of eight years, they were able to develop a refugee sponsorship program that has now welcomed up to 4,000 asylum seekers into Italy. This seems like a large number, but of course it feels like a drop in the bucket in the grand scheme of things. But the program has grown. What started as just a seed that was planted on the hearts of church leaders has now grown and expanded; it’s an ecumenical program also, alongside the Catholic church. And the secular world has seen this model and it’s multiplied, not just in Italy but also throughout Europe. We see God’s faithfulness in growing something that was born in the hearts and calling of the church and now has expanded and become a best practice. And this is so exciting to bear witness to and to be a part of and to join into this phase.

We know that the Bible tells us time and time again to love the stranger, the foreigner, and the sojourner. How can we as Christ-followers encourage others in our communities and around the world to center the love of Christ and how we think and speak about migration and people on the move?

Angel: I believe that relationship blurs the borders of indifference and ignorance. I believe that all the prophets and especially Jesus preached in word and deed about this. Jesus went to the temple, he went to the market, to the streets, to the lake, to the borders, to the sea, to the people’s house and ate with them. He ate with the strangers. I’m sure he would eat with Mexicans as well, but he ate with the poor and rich. He touched clean and unclean people and welcomed everybody and challenged everybody at the same time. And they said, “Can you be my friend? Can you be my pastor, my leader, my teacher? Can you be the Savior?” I think if we believe in this God, I think we should do what he’s doing or what he did: be with the people and touch the people, hug the people, eat with them, and cry and laugh and pray and hope and be hopeless sometimes as well. I think this will change us. We’re not only going to see people on the move but we’re going to see a church on the move as well.

Hannah: I think this question is not just a question about issues; it’s a question about us and them. It’s a question about identity, it’s a question about belonging. I’m not the first person to say that we belong to a global church, a global body of believers across the world, and so when we are in touch with our identity, we can recognize that we’re a part of something that is beyond borders, and that’s the conceptual side. The actual reality is if you look at the person next to you at church, if you look at your pastor, if you go to your Bible study, if you walk down the street and attend a neighbor church, the global church is among us and not just out there. So that is our identity, and caring for others isn’t really others; it’s us, and the ministry is shared. The outreach is shared beyond what we imagine.

JJ: If we believe that we are called to bring the good news of God’s love to people living in Mozambique or Mexico or Myanmar then we must also believe that we are called to share the love of Christ with them when they leave their homes to journey to new lands, whether that journey is voluntary or in response to very real threats to their lives and liberties. Even bodies of water, man-made borders, and barbed wire fences cannot separate people from God’s love, nor should they detour us from loving our neighbors who are seeking refuge.

Besides changing the narrative around issues of migration and people on the move, share some other ways individuals and churches can join us in providing compassionate, Christlike care for people on the move or living in diaspora.

Angel: Something that I have learned over the years that I have been working in the field and in this case, if we work with people on the move, with migrants, we say two things. One, I want to start with one person or one family, and two: don’t give up. We have lived this part. There are a dozen, hundred, and thousand families at the border and we want to help everyone. But start with one. That’s the challenge. We made that mistake both in Holland, Michigan, where I’m a pastor, and also at Border of Grace, in Frontera de Gracia, and we burnt out. We got tired right away. There’s no more resources. Now what are we going to do? And they got frustrated as well, asking things like “Why didn’t tell me you didn’t have anything? Why do you call me? There’s nothing here. I should have stayed there.” So it is important for each one of us to start with one—one person or one family.

And the second part: don’t give up. That for me is very important, and it should be important for you. I have to be reminded every time I make this mistake because I’m going to do it and I know I’m going to do it again. For example, last year we helped around 40 families in Holland and many, many families in Frontera de Gracia, but one or two of them were a little frustrating to work with, and we asked, “Why are we helping them?” And we tend to think about those one or two people that make us a little bit crazy but we forgot that we have 38 families that we were blessed to help. They were blessed by the church and they were blessings to us. So when you are frustrated, remember that: don’t give up. But also start with one in your own neighborhood.

Hannah: I am nodding my head and smiling because I’m having stories come to my mind. I think what activates the church unfortunately is crisis. A lot of times people get involved because someone comes to them and says, “This person is sleeping at the train station. Where should we house them?” So the church jumps into gear and doesn’t know it isn’t equipped, doesn’t have the ground work to do this and then they realize, “Oh, wait, we could be doing something here. Wait, there are people who are interested in helping. We just don’t know what to do.” I think we’re here to help lay the groundwork so that we can do something really well, so that we can care in a holistic way.

The other point is that I think in the face of such overwhelm, in those moments when we’re not in the crisis, when we’re just seeing the whole big picture, we’re sitting back and saying, what could I possibly do? I think that does cause us to freeze up and say, “I can’t. I’m already busy. I’m already stressed. I’m already overcommitted.” And that’s all true and that’s valid, but I think that then that calls us back to our calling and we have to ask ourselves, is our calling to be hyper-productive people always doing, always saving the world? The answer is no. And the fact is we’re dependent on the Lord, we’re dependent on the Holy Spirit to put something on our hearts, which then calls us to trust and obey. And knowing that if we are in line with the Spirit, that the Lord will provide. We can’t know if we say yes to something that everything else around it will work out. No, we just take a leap of faith and hope and say, “Okay, I’m going to say my yes because I feel the Spirit putting it on my heart to say yes to this piece in hope and in expectant faith that God will provide the next piece.” And if we are in the vine, we can see the other branches mobilize. We can see the Holy Spirit speaking and we trust that the Holy Spirit is speaking to other believers too, and that can be a well-oiled machine in time. So I just want to encourage everyone to take that first step, whatever it is. Maybe signing up to be a driver for medical appointments, or maybe it’s helping a kid get registered in school. Those are things that are easier, that aren’t overwhelming, but they get us unlocked from that freeze of overwhelm.

Related: No one is called to everything: respecting different participation levels

In Romans 12, Paul talks about being joyful in hope. I was really encouraged with this passage just a few weeks ago with the woman at the train station. Often we feel fear with hope and we don’t know what the future holds. If I step out in faith, what does this mean? But actually Paul tells us to be joyful in hope, trusting that a good God will be faithful as he always has been.

JJ: The last thing I want to say is that we as the church need to do a better job of saying to people that are on the move or have a migration background that you belong. And so I want to say that personally today: you belong. We love you, RCA Global Mission loves you, God loves you. And we all need to do a better job of not only saying those words but also showing that through our actions. This is what the church is called to do, so let’s take this information and let’s repent for the ways that we have not always shown welcome and belonging to those who are on the move or have a migration background in their histories. Let’s take that knowledge and let’s move forward together.

Take a step

Is the Holy Spirit prompting you to take a step in response? The following links give a wide-range of simple steps to take as you faithfully follow God’s call to move forward in compassion and hope to care for people on the move.