SANCTUARY
things, that the term sanctuary “not only means the provision of shelter but is a response to raids, detentions, deportations and the criminalization of immigrants and refugees.”
It’s not a mandate for the nearly 10,000 congregations — 169 in Florida — to take action. A church council will study the issue and release a report in 2022 that offers guidelines and clarity on what it means to be a “sanctuary denomination.”
But the declaration has caused confusion and caution by church members about its meaning and intent.
At St. Philip Lutheran Church in Mount Dora, members are discussing appropriate methods of support for immigrants and refugees in the community, according to Pastor Johan Bergh.
“We are not taking any action right now,” Bergh said. “I will be asking us to look more directly at how we might approach this issue in a positive way.”
Bishop Pedro Suárez, of the Florida-Bahamas Synod in Tampa, said the declaration isn’t a political statement — it’s one of faith.
“Immigration laws have been broken for so long,” said Suárez, a voting member at the assembly. “But at this particular time, it’s just that we see some things that are unfair and instead of criticizing, we want to see — what can we do? Can we work with those that, for whatever reason, are risking to be separated as a family?”
Joe Conner, pastor of Lamb of God Lutheran Church in Haines City, said congregation members were surprised when they first heard about the declaration through the national media. After he mentioned the decision during a Sunday service, a congregation member later called him to resign from the Polk County church, he said.
“I think people are generally concerned how people
are being treated at the border,” Conner said, but the church is “like the United States — we probably have people who have strong feelings one way and half the other.”
The church’s decision was slammed by a panel of Fox News contributors, who criticized the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America for encouraging people to break the law by sheltering undocumented immigrants facing deportation. “Churches ought to minister to everyone regardless of their immigration status, but there’s a difference between ministering the people and assisting people in breaking the law,” said one of the panelists, Robert Jeffress, senior pastor at First Baptist Church in Dallas. “The church has no business in doing that.”
But Suárez called any “misguided” interpretations about the church’s declaration “nonsense.”
“Of course, we’re not encouraging people to break the law at all,” he said. “We’re trying to work together with the government because there is an immigration crisis.”
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement typically avoids enforcement activities in “sensitive locations” such as places of worship, schools and healthcare facilities, but exceptions are made for threats to national security and public safety, according to the agency.
“If [a church] wants to have somebody living in their quarters, we’re not going to punish any congregation for doing that,” Suárez said. “We’re not encouraging it but we’re not sanctioning it either.”
Various denominations have a lengthy history of offering sanctuary to refugees and asylum seekers in places of worship. The sanctuary movement in the 1980s involved hundreds of congregations providing shelter and resources to Central American refugees.
Two years ago, as President Donald Trump took office,
a “national sanctuary movement” of more than 800 faith communities formed to assist “marginalized communities targeted by discrimination and deportation through prophetic resistance.”
Meanwhile, Lutheran synods and congregations are grappling with their role after the declaration amid heated immigration politics. Every congregation will decide how and if they choose to respond to the declaration, church officials said.
Some congregations nationwide already march against the detention of children and families, distribute “know your rights” cards to undocumented immigrants and recommend legal resources for immigration cases.
Conner said his congregation members are primarily focused on helping immigrants through advocacy by writing letters to their representatives and supporting nonprofit organizations that provide food and resources such as English-as-a-second-language classes to migrant workers.
This isn’t the first time the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has taken a proactive stance on immigration issues at a churchwide assembly.
In response to the growing number of Central American migrant children fleeing violence and poverty alone, the church established a network in 2016 called Accompanying Migrant Minors with Protection, Advocacy, Representation and Opportunities or AMPARRO, a nod to the Spanish word that means “protection.”
The program includes strategies such as attending immigration hearings with migrant children, who may otherwise be on their own to navigate the complex legal system.
“We’re just trying to be faithful and generally to love our neighbor,” Conner said. “We’ve done things to try to help people get a foothold in this country.”