Strangers No More: The Biblical Mandate for Churches to Stand With Immigrant Neighbors

A Command Hidden in Plain Sight

In Matthew 25:35, Jesus speaks with striking directness: "I was a stranger and you invited me in." The Greek word rendered "stranger" — xenos — carries the full weight of foreignness, of displacement, of someone who does not share the language or customs of those around them. For the earliest followers of Jesus, this was not an abstraction. Many were themselves refugees, diaspora communities, people navigating life at the margins of empire. The command to welcome the stranger was not a suggestion for the spiritually advanced; it was the baseline expectation of a community formed in the image of a God who had, throughout Israel's history, repeatedly called His people to remember that they, too, were once strangers in a foreign land.

Yet in many American congregations today, the topic of immigration is treated as a political minefield to be avoided rather than a theological imperative to be embraced. This reluctance, however understandable, carries a cost — one measured not in polling numbers but in the dignity and safety of real human beings made in the image of God.

What the Old and New Testaments Actually Say

The scriptural witness on this matter is remarkably consistent across both Testaments. Leviticus 19:33–34 instructs the Israelites: "When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt." Deuteronomy 10:18–19 describes God Himself as one who "defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing" — and then commands Israel to follow suit.

In the New Testament, the parable of the Good Samaritan upends every boundary used to define who counts as a neighbor. The hero of that story was himself a foreigner, despised by the very people he stopped to help. Jesus's listeners would have found the choice of protagonist deeply uncomfortable. That discomfort was the point.

The theological through-line is clear: proximity to power has never been the criterion for Christian compassion. Vulnerability has.

Naming the Tension Honestly

A faithful engagement with this issue requires honesty about the genuine complexities involved. Immigration policy in the United States is legitimately contested terrain. Christians of sincere conviction hold differing views on border security, visa structures, asylum processes, and the appropriate pace of legal reform. Matthew 25 Ministries does not advocate for any particular legislative agenda, and congregations are right to resist being captured by any single partisan framework.

However, there is a meaningful distinction between debating policy and dehumanizing people. When rhetoric within a faith community begins to characterize entire ethnic or national groups as threats, burdens, or invaders, it has moved from legitimate policy discussion into territory that contradicts the gospel. Pastors and lay leaders have both the authority and the responsibility to name that contradiction clearly.

The question for the church is not simply "What should immigration law look like?" but "How do we treat the immigrant family sitting in the pew beside us — or the one too afraid to enter our doors?"

Practical Ways Congregations Can Respond

Create a Welcoming Infrastructure

Welcoming immigrants begins with the mundane and the practical. Does your congregation offer worship services or printed materials in languages other than English? Is there a designated point of contact for families navigating the immigration system who need referrals to legal aid organizations? Simple acts of institutional hospitality — bilingual bulletins, multilingual signage, a warm introduction from the pulpit — communicate volumes about whether a church is genuinely open to all.

Partner With Immigration Legal Services

Access to qualified legal counsel is one of the most urgent needs among immigrant communities, particularly those navigating asylum claims or deportation proceedings. Many faith-based legal aid organizations, including Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC) affiliates and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service partners, actively seek congregation-based volunteers for document preparation, interpretation, and client accompaniment. Your church building may also be able to serve as a free meeting space for legal clinics.

Establish or Join a Sanctuary Network

The sanctuary movement in the United States has deep roots in faith communities, dating to the 1980s when churches sheltered Central American refugees fleeing violence. Today, congregations across the country participate in sanctuary networks that provide physical refuge, rapid-response teams when community members face deportation, and public witness on behalf of families at risk. Joining such a network is a serious commitment that requires congregational discernment, legal consultation, and pastoral preparation — but for communities called to stand with the vulnerable, it represents one of the most concrete expressions of Matthew 25 available.

Preach and Teach Deliberately

Xenophobia does not disappear on its own. It requires the active, patient, and repeated proclamation of a different vision. Pastors who preach through Matthew 25 with immigrant neighbors in mind, who invite immigrant congregants to share their stories, and who connect the abstract language of "welcoming the stranger" to the specific faces in the room are doing irreplaceable formation work. Adult education series, small group curricula, and youth programming can all be shaped to cultivate the kind of theological imagination that resists fear-based narratives.

The Face of Christ in the Waiting Room

In Matthew 25, Jesus does not say that the stranger reminded him of himself, or that serving the stranger is a useful metaphor for spiritual growth. He says, with arresting literalness, that the stranger is Him: "Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me."

This is the ground on which Christian hospitality toward immigrants stands — not tolerance, not charity, not even justice alone, but the recognition that the face of Christ appears precisely in those places the world is most inclined to look away. For American congregations willing to take that claim seriously, the work ahead is both demanding and, in the deepest sense, holy.