- Pastors of mid-sized churches are more likely to agree than those from small churches. Two-thirds (66 percent) of pastors of churches with between 100 and 249 attenders agree. About half (54 percent) of pastors with less than 50 people in their congregation agree.
- Two-thirds (63 percent) of pastors under age 45 favor a pathway, as do a little over half (55 percent) of those ages 45-54.
One of the numbers from 2014 is pretty encouraging. Seventy-nine percent of pastors think Christians have a responsibility to assist immigrants, even ones here illegally.
While it’s encouraging that 79 percent of pastors think it’s important for Christians to care for the immigrants in their communities, the percent of pastors actively leading their churches to do so is a bit discouraging.
Even though 79 percent of pastors think it’s important for Christians to care for the immigrant, a significantly smaller percentage of pastors are leading their churches to be involved in doing so.
In 2010, only 31 percent of churches were personally involved in helping immigrants in their local communities. Thankfully, that number is on the rise. In 2011 it only rose to 33 percent, but in 2012 it jumped to 41 percent, and this year, approximately 47 percent of churches are helping immigrants in their local communities.
Pastors understand the need to care for the immigrant, but only about half of them are doing anything about it.
Noel Castellanos said in a blog post earlier this year:
When we speak about God’s love for the stranger, it is not a conversation that is based on any one particular verse pulled randomly from an ancient text, but a striking truth that is rooted in the entire revelation of God’s salvific activity that culminates on the cross. This indeed is Good News to the poor, and to all believers redeemed by the radical love of Jesus.
Research shows that pastors agree that the government must do something about reforming our immigration policies. We can (and probably will) peaceably disagree about the way the government should act.
But regardless of what President Obama does tonight, Christians must agree that we have a responsibility to love and care for the immigrant.
