U.S. IMMIGRATION -- CALL TO MISSIONS?

Acts 2:1-5. When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.
Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.

I was meditating on this passage today when I read an article on Rick Warren's site called "A small town church with a ministry to the whole world." Highlands Fellowship in Abingdon, VA, started a ministry to pastors and leaders outside the U.S. by inviting them to their church for a three-day conference once a year.

As I read this article, I started thinking about the tendency of our smaller churches to be inwardly focused and started wondering what I could do to help them catch a vision for reaching out, maybe not to pastors from Belarus, but to someone. And then it struck me that we have a world-wide mission on our doorstep that everyone is talking about but no one -- at least in my part of the world -- is really impacting, namely immigrants.

Our area is filled with immigrants -- legal, illegal, transient, permanent -- mostly from Mexico and central America. Limited attempts have been made by our UMC District and conference to reach out to them, but the attempts have been focused on bringing them into fellowship with the UMC by starting Hispanic services in our larger UMC congregations. The big problem with this, in addition to the fact that we have only two Hispanic ministers in our district to minister to thousands of immigrants, is that most of these immigrants are not permanent, not even seasonally.
It's hard to get them involved in a church when they are leaving in a matter of weeks.

So, what would be the best way to impact them positively for Christ? What about focusing on raising leaders from among their own ranks, giving them training in theology and ministry, and encourage them to form migrating fellowships that go where the people are? Men and women with a call on their lives from God could be identified through the Hispanic fellowships already developed and then invited to participate in a multi-week leadership training class that would meet one day a week during a time when they are not working. Once trained and once their eyes have been opened to the ministerial possibilities in their midst, these called men and women can carry the word of God with them where they go, planting the seeds of faith and new fellowships where possible.

When I was meditating on the passage from Acts, it struck me that the timing of Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit was perfect. It coincided with a time when the city of Jerusalem was filled with "God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven." These God-fearing Jews carried back with them the Word of God and the Holy Spirit and were the first missionaries of the new church.

Is it any coincidence that our towns and communities are filled with men and women from other places? Only God knows how great an impact one immigrant, changed by the power of the Holy Spirit, could have on his friends, his family, and even his nation. Perhaps the "Billy Graham" or the "Apostle Paul" of Mexico is in our midst today. Perhaps all it will take to fill them with a desire to evangelize and carry the word out is someone first reaching them with the Word of God and with leadership and ministerial training.