Immigration

More Resources for a Deeply Formed Spiritual Life

Theologies of the Multicultural Church

At the 2012 Missiology Lectures, Soong-Chan Rah spoke about our need to develop cultural competency to address the changes in ethnoracial diversity in the world and in the church.

When God Calls | Jaewoo Kim

Jaewoo Kim, reflecting on refugee and immigrant experiences, speaks about rooting ourselves in Christ when we are forced or called into new places, cultures, and relationships.

Dignidad Más Allá del Estatus

Formada por la historia de migración de su propia familia, Rosa Cándida Ramírez sirve fielmente a su comunidad local de inmigrantes

Dignity Beyond Status

Shaped by her own family’s story of migration, Rosa Cándida Ramírez faithfully serves her local immigrant community

Introduction: Migration

Kirsteen Kim, Paul E. Pierson Chair in World Christianity and associate dean for the Center for Missiological Research, introduces this issue’s theme: migration

Migration and the Prophets

Carly Crouch, former David Allan Hubbard Professor of Old Testament, examines how displacement in the books of Jeremiah and Ezekiel shapes our theology of God’s relationship to God’s people

COVID-19, ICE, and the Betrayal of Latino Children

Lisseth Rojas-Flores, associate professor of clinical psychology, writes about the trauma inflicted on Latino youth by both the pandemic and the immigration system, as well as the Christian responsibility to work toward change

Recognizing Stranger Angels: Challenging Territorial Impulses

Alexia Salvatierra, assistant professor of mission and global transformation, calls on us to develop grace-full impulses—and to overcome our territorial impulses—to love the strangers in our midst

Migration Amidst Social and National Distancing: A Barrier or Opportunity for Mission During a Global Pandemic?

Martin Munyao, lecturer at Daystar University in Nairobi, reflects on the pandemic’s impact on migrant communities and the need to rethink missions and ministry in a socially distant world

Migration in World Christianity: Hospitality, Pilgrimage, and Church on the Move

Kirsteen Kim, Paul E. Pierson Chair in World Christianity and associate dean for the Center for Missiological Research, reflects on the theology of hospitality and its need to be reimagined in light of a theology of migration

Response | Alexia Salvatierra on Immigration Reform and Integral Mission

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In response to Richard Flory’s lecture “City of Dreams,” Alexia Salvatierra, assistant professor of integral mission and global transformation, talks about what we can learn from LA’s recent history of immigration reform.

Q&A | Richard Flory and Alexia Salvatierra

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Richard Flory and Alexia Salvatierra discuss LA’s history of immigration, religion, and culture in a Q&A moderated by Kirsteen Kim.

Q&A | Lisseth Rojas-Flores

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Lisseth Rojas-Flores discusses migration, cultural violence, and the church’s role in immigration policy in a Q&A moderated by Kirsteen Kim.

Gioacchino Campese on Catholicity

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In his lecture “Catholicity: Migration, Religion, and World Christianity,” Gioacchino Campese, professor of the theology of human mobility at Pontifical Urbaniana University, considers the church’s eschatological call toward catholicity in the context of our changing and globalized world.

Q&A | Gioacchino Campese and Cecil M. Robeck Jr.

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Gioacchino Campese and Cecil M. Robeck Jr. discuss missions, ecumenism, and world Christianity in a Q&A moderated by Alexia Salvatierra.

Zayn Kassam on Muslim Migration in the United States

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In her lecture “Faith Resources: Muslim Migration to Los Angeles,” Zayn Kassam, John Knox MacLean Professor of Religious Studies at Pomona College, speaks about the positive influence of Muslim migrant communities in the US, even against the oppressive American realities of racism of Islamophobia.

Response | Matthew Kaemingk on Sustainable Hospitality

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In response to Zayn Kassam’s lecture “Faith Resources: Muslim Migration to Los Angeles,” Matthew Kaemingk, assistant professor of Christian ethics, considers what is required for our communities to cultivate and sustain the virtues of hospitality and neighborly love—particularly against xenophobia and white supremacy.

Panel | Faith-Based Responses to the Immigration Crisis

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Isaac Cuevas, Rabbi Aryeh Cohen, Salam Al-Marayati, and Nancy Yuen discuss responses to the immigration crisis from interfaith and interdisciplinary perspectives in this panel discussion moderated by Alexia Salvatierra.

Jason Sexton on California, Borders, and Belonging

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In his lecture “Borders: Citizenship in California,” Jason Sexton, visiting research scholar at the California Center for Sustainable Communities at UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, surveys California’s—and LA’s—history of shifting borders and invasive violence, and asks what belonging and citizenship mean in such a place.

Darren Dochuk on LA’s Protestant Migrations and Religious Transformation

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In response to Darren Dochuk’s lecture “Errands in the Wilderness,” Robert Chao Romero, associate professor of Chicana/o and Central American studies at UCLA, explores the history of Latino protestant communities in Los Angeles and the churches, institutions, and theologies that arose from them.

Response | Robert Chao Romero on Latino Protestants in LA

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In response to Darren Dochuk’s lecture “Errands in the Wilderness,” Robert Chao Romero, associate professor of Chicana/o and Central American studies at UCLA, explores the history of Latino protestant communities in Los Angeles and the churches, institutions, and theologies that arose from them.