Letter to the Christian Reformed Church in North America

Dear Harold, thanks for sharing your deep concerns from our CRCNA Latino members and congregations regarding their experience of immigration policy and enforcement from the US administration. CRCNA leaders are deeply troubled by these developments. We will be following up with you and others as we consider next steps. 

Zach

We want to draw the attention of our other readers to a public statement made by the CRCNA several months ago regarding immigration: https://www.crcna.org/news-and-events/news/prayer-and-call-action-immigration

Brother Harold: This letter says "the church must speak". The CRCNA has spoken, and made a clear statement on the subject just 5 months ago. See the link in Dr. King's reply.

Then this letter asks the CRCNA to "not stand idly by" and to take "appropriate action",  and says that the CRCNA  should "respond with the same gospel love that Christ showed to the marginalized and oppressed of his day". 

If you have any specific proposals in addition to speaking out, it would be good to know what they are. 

Dear Rev. Caciendo,

I’m Adrian de Lange; a CRC minister. We have met before at a few occasions: when we celebrated with Classis Rocky Mountain the new partnership with Christian Sebastia and the churches in Venezuela. There, you helped me practice Spanish. We were delegates to synod together in 2022, my last one. But really, I am no one. I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips. 

Thank you for your letter. I can feel your pain in every word, not only in what you wrote, but also because you had to write it—in love for your community and because we have been silent as a grave until now. Synod 2025 made no comment on individuals carrying handguns into worship—now we read and see, more common every day, about armed masked men lurking around places of worship, even entering church and school grounds, in order to steal away beloved hijas and hijos. Beloved of their community, and beloved of God. 

I do not know how our denominational leaders will respond. But I will stand with you. I am no one, yet the Lord is with me; as he is with you. So if we stand together, who can stand against us? And, from here, I will use the plural, “we,” in hope that others will join their voices; but also in the sure confidence that when I speak, even imperfectly, prophetic words, that I am not alone—for we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses.

When the first Christians proclaimed “Jesus is Lord,” they did not mean that he was only in charge of their personal lives—their spirit. They claimed with the Psalmist: “the earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world and all who live in it” (Ps. 24:1). Thus, every human government does not wield the sword under its own authority, but only as a regent of the earth’s rightful king (Romans 13:1)—whether they acknowledge Him or not.

The Word who was with God in the beginning created this world, and our first parents, in order that they and we, their descendants, might live with God’s Son and with one another in Shalom—peace and flourishing. Just as we lament our parents’ rejection of God’s Lordship and their subsequent Fall into sin, which first ushered suffering into God’s good creation; so also we lament the actions of every person and power who attempts to steal God’s gift of shalom from his children who are the rightful inheritors of his gifts. We claim again, as always, God’s good gifts for all his children. His gifts are irrevocable. We acknowledge, that our countries in North America fall far short of the clear instruction in scripture to care for the widow, the orphan, and the oppressed. Instead, we are shocked and lament that the US government has created widows, created orphans, and created oppression, by separating husbands and wives, separating parents from children, and fostering fear and hate between ethnic groups; while countless individuals refuse to do justice in the name of self-interest or self-preservation, built on fear, not faith.

I am a Canadian and an American citizen. Canada and the United States are nations of immigrants. Although both nations celebrate Thanksgiving every year, we easily forget that only a few hundred years ago, the first white people came to the Americas; a land that was not then ours and still today is not ours. The commands of scripture remind us of God’s character and call us to remember: “the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing. And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt.” (Deut 10:17-19). How quickly we forget our own stories and adopt worldly squabbles for supposed greatness. The Lord scoffs (Ps. 2:4).

We condemn the use of racial profiling, which implies fundamental differences between and hierarchies among ethnic groups. We are one human race. By God’s grace, our differences are cause for learning and for celebration; not suspicion or fear. 

We call especially on this US government and subsequent governments to recognize the dignity inherent to all who bear the image of God; and to treat every individual within its borders and jurisdictions with respect. We call on the US government to acknowledge the significant contributions that immigrants and migrants have made to our nation, including (though not limited) to enriching our nation’s economy and culture. And we call on congress and the President to work with all possible haste toward just immigration policies that recognize human dignity and balance expectations of and care for migrants and immigrants to the United States. Although in a different context, we also call on Canada’s current Federal government, along with its Provincial governments and First Nations, to do this same work.

For as long as God gives us life and breath, we are committed to speaking for, supporting, and defending every member of our church family, regardless of their status under the law in their country of residence. For, although we recognize and submit to the authority of the state so far as we are able; our first allegiance is not to the kingdoms or powers of this world, but to the kingdom of God, and to his son Jesus Christ, before whom every knee will one day bow. Our knees bow to him today, first and foremost.

Then, first as citizens of heaven and of God’s kingdom (Philippians 3:20), we call on our church and other true churches, whose first allegiance is to King Jesus, to provide sanctuary, support, and advocacy for all troubled people—that our buildings and even our bodies might be embassies of the kingdom of heaven and small specks of our King’s true shalom in the midst of our world and our nations, which remain choked by violence and injustice. We call on our church and other churches to leverage the resources we have at hand—financial, political, and social—for these things will all one day pass away—in order that we might gain a far greater treasure in heaven and an inheritance that cannot be destroyed, lost, or stolen (Mt. 6:20). That heavenly inheritance will be ours in full in the age to come; but it is ours and yours today, even if only in part.

Finally, as you look to another Sunday, I am sorry that I have only words. And the wrong, insufficient words. Living in Canada, serving only one congregation, there is little that I can do. But my hope is not in myself, nor even in God’s good church—it is in our king. And, whatever answer you hear from men; I pray that you--and all the saints you care for—will see and know that His answer is yes. 

There is so much that is “not the way it’s supposed to be”—both the occasion for your letter and the fact that you had to write in this way. I will continue to hold you up to the Lord, who will not turn away his glorious face from anyone who comes to him for salvation and deliverance—both in the life to come and in this life (John 6:37-40). By God's Holy Spirit, may we be made more and more like him every day.

In humility,

Rev. Adrian de Lange
River Park Church, Calgary (Canada)

The CRCNA is inviting all CRC congregations to hold a time of prayer for immigrant churches and our governments on September 7. We are also inviting all CRC members to attend a virtual prayer vigil on YouTube on September 10 at 7:00 P.M (Eastern). You can find a sample prayer and more information at this post: https://network.crcna.org/topic/justice-inclusion/biblical-justice/immigration/invitation-virtual-prayer-vigil-immigrant

This issue is so important as a multicultural church.  The letter from Pastor Harold should be printed in  full in the Banner.   Their is so much hurt, fear, hardships and injustice among the communities of immigrants that the church has to respond in as many public ways as possible.  Without love for these communities we are just resounding gongs. 1 Corinthians 13.  

In his service

Karl Slomp