“O holy night, the stars are brightly shining …”

It’s long been one of my favorite Christmas hymns. Sung well, it gives me chills every time.

At the same time, the song is such a ubiquitous feature of the Christmas season that it easily can be ignored as so much seasonal background music.

And then comes along a unique arrangement of the well-worn classic that jars me back into the present. And that’s what happened to me Sunday morning during our church’s worship service.

Hearing a hymn anew

The song progressed as usual from the opening line through the first verse and chorus—a duet singing smooth phrases sliding from one into the next through “o night divine.”

The choir rose to sing the next verse, which happens to be the third verse. Nothing unusual so far.

The orchestra crescendoed.

“Truly
he taught us”

Staccato with a hard stop.

Smooth: “To love one another;”

Stop.

Smooth: “His law is love and his gospel is peace.”

The men only:

“Chains shall he break”

Staccato with a hard stop.

Smooth: “For the slave is our brother,”

The women joined in to sing the next phrase forcefully, crescendoing on the last word:

“And in his name all oppression shall cease.”

Hard stop.

Backed by the soft music of strings and wind instruments, a whole world opened in my mind.

How the hymn got me

I’ve always sung and heard sung the lyrics to “O Holy Night” as a celebration of fulfilled promise. The Messiah has come and will make all things right. Oh. Night. Divine!

But the phrasing and its delivery Sunday morning shifted the subject importantly. And here’s the gotcha.

I was being addressed.

Yes, his law is love and his gospel is peace. Yes, Jesus will break every chain. Yes, the slave is our brother. But …

“In his name all oppression shall cease.”

“In his name …”

“Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips” (Isaiah 6:5 NASB).

Are we not those who pray in his name, gather in his name, claim to act in his name?

And yet, has oppression ceased?

You might think I’m overreacting, that I’m taking things too far. And I might agree with you if not for the previous line and its scriptural context.

“Truly he taught us to love one another.”

Yes, yes, he did. And he expects us to obey his teaching and to teach others to obey his teaching.

So, we gather in his name and pray in his name and identify ourselves with his name.

And yet, oppression has not ceased.

The chill is no longer the involuntary frisson of awe-inspired cold across the skin. The chill now is the bone-cold of holy fear.

Lord, we have taken your name in vain. We have proclaimed the wonder of your incarnation, the power of your death and resurrection, and the joy of your salvation. But though we have taken on your name, we have not done all you taught us.

How the hymn gets us

We have conformed to the principles and values of this world. In so doing, not only have we not broken all chains and ended all oppression, we have put many in chains, and we have fueled oppression.

We want the best price for ourselves, whatever it may cost someone else. We want comfort and security, whatever it may take from someone else. We want what we want, whatever it may do to someone else to get it, to have it.

Joy to the world, indeed.

Yes, Lord, the world lay long in sin and error pining. We, your people called by your name, have lain long in our sin and error, thinking we were exempt from such confession and repentance.

Hard stop.

How the hymn redeems us

If this were the end of the matter—or even just the end of the hymn—well, talk about a Debbie Downer just in time for Christmas.

Ah, but if this were the end of the matter, there wouldn’t be Christmas. And there wouldn’t be “O Holy Night.”

As the instrumental interlude gave way to the choir softly intoning, “Sweet hymns of joy,” my vision was swallowed up by the final proclamation:

“ … in grateful chorus raise we …
Christ is the Lord! O praise his name forever!”

No, all chains have not been broken … yet. No, all oppression has not ceased … yet. Nevertheless, his law and his gospel are not without effect and are still in effect. And his call still stands to carry forth in the character of his name.

Therefore,

Let us fall on our knees. “Let all within us praise his holy name.”

Let us not just sing “sweet hymns of joy.” Let us live them.

Let our words and our deeds, let our thoughts and our actions embody the hope, the peace, the joy and the love—the release from all captivity, the freedom from all oppression—our namesake Christ Jesus taught us.

May our lives be how “his pow’r and glory evermore” are proclaimed.

Eric Black is the executive director, publisher and editor of the Baptist Standard. He can be reached at eric.black@baptiststandard.com. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.

BROWNSVILLE—Texans on Mission assembled a “dream team” of volunteers to bring Christmas—and its Christ-focused message—to the Rio Grande Valley Dec. 13-19.

“This year’s annual Christmas in the Rio Grande Valley really featured a dream team of volunteers,” said Sabrina Pinales, director of missions and discipleship with Texans on Mission.

“We had a group of 11 students from Go Now Missions, a six-person team from Watermark Health, eight members of Grapevine’s First Baptist Church, and a group of new and repeat volunteers.”

The volunteers concentrated their efforts in the Brownsville, Mission and Donna areas. They also partnered with local churches Iglesia Bautista Horeb and Casa de Oracion Church to reach into several communities, many of them with underserved families.

Billye Rhudy of Coryell Community Church in Gatesville noted it was her second time volunteering with the Christmas in the Valley event, along with her husband, Sam.

“Part of our purpose is to serve the community,” she explained. “And we want the community to know that Jesus loves them.”

The group held several events designed to benefit the communities they served.

Volunteers:

• Painted the interior of Casa de Oracion and built a new fence on its property.
• Served lunches to teachers and staff of local schools.
• Distributed Christmas gifts such as toys, warm blankets and food donated statewide through Texans on Mission.
• Built and assembled beds for families.
• Held medical clinics.

All of these ministries, Pinales said, “worked together to bring the Christmas message and our Texans on Mission brand of help, hope and healing to the Valley.”

Olber Roblero, pastor of Iglesia Bautista Horeb, said the team also magnified the efforts of his congregation to reach into their surrounding community.

“Texans on Mission is helping our church and the community in different ways. First of all, they are helping us build relationships with the schools and the community and the church itself. So, by doing that, we are showing Christ’s love to the people who don’t know Christ yet.

“The other way they’re helping us is to strengthen the relationships that we already have with the resources they’re bringing all the way from the north, from all over the place and from different churches, and putting together a team to be able to come here.”

Providing for those in need

During one of the community distributions, the team gave toys, blankets and food to children determined to be unaccompanied immigrant minors from two area shelters.

For Billye Rhudy, it was an opportunity to speak her faith to this special group.

“Our heart is always with those who are disenfranchised and those who come across and don’t have a home,” Rhudy said.

The Watermark Health team provided health clinics two days at Iglesia Horeb. Team member and physician assistant Megan Landon, who provided consultations to families, said the team sought to “provide the community with resources to navigate the U.S. healthcare system.”

The team dealt with “complaints that patients might have, such as pain or chronic conditions that patients need to be followed up with, such as diabetes or high blood pressure. We’re also seeing things like viral illnesses, coughs, colds, flus.”

The team saw more patients than the clinic’s daily capacity, she said, leading her to believe “that the people here need access to healthcare that is affordable or free, and it’s difficult to get that in the U.S. sometimes.”

The Christmas in the Rio Grande Valley effort fit the mission of Watermark Health, a ministry of Watermark Church in Dallas, Landon said.

“We exist to glorify God and make disciples. So, we want to make disciples of all nations,” she said. “By serving here, we want to share the hope we have in Jesus Christ, and so we’re hoping to tell people about the salvation and joy they can receive from knowing Jesus.”

Serving the community

Go Now Missionary Angelica Martinez, a student at the University of Texas–Rio Grande Valley, paused from her duties serving brisket lunches to teachers at Senator Eddie A. Lucio Jr. Middle School to share her perspective on the Go Now Missions team experience.

“We’re serving our community and the teachers, showing our faith and expressing to them how much Christ loves them,” she said.

Cal Vande Zande of Grapevine’s First Baptist Church was part of a team that built and distributed beds and mattresses to families in need “on the very first day. And that was by cutting lumber to dimension, cutting it all to size, and then building a bed to make sure that it worked, and then practicing putting it together.”

The team distributed and assembled the beds the next day, Vande Zande said, explaining conditions in the homes “varied quite a bit.”

“Some of the homes were nice, other ones not so much. There was one room that we got into where there was just barely enough space for the bed, and it was very difficult for the people to put the bed together, but they got the job done,” he said.

Claire Golema, another Grapevine’s First Baptist member, helped assemble and distribute the beds as well.

“I got to go out and give out two of the beds to the children, and they were just so excited to have a bed,” she said. “I can’t imagine not having my own bed or even my own room, and these beds were going into basically the first room you walked into in the house, but they were so excited that they had a bed, that it was theirs.”

Golema also helped serve lunches to school teachers, an act she said “really opened the conversation between them and the church that is across the street, that perhaps they pass every day and didn’t realize was there. And so, that’s been a really good way to reach out to them and to help them to know that God isn’t just in a building. God is outside of the building.

“I hope that they would see that God can change things—that he’s relevant for their life. I think that’s my prayer—that people would see God differently because of what we’ve done this week.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: The 3rd and 4th paragraphs were updated, along with the 4th paragraph in the “Providing for those in need” section, when additional information was made available.

Many human rights advocates greeted the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad with relief and optimism, but some groups focused on international religious freedom view Syria’s future with more questions than answers.

The overthrow of the Assad government signaled the end to more than 50 years of Baath Party rule in Syria. During Assad’s two dozen years as president, the government had a well-documented history of arbitrary arrests, torture, enforced disappearance and the use of chemical weapons against his own people.

“After over five decades of brutality and repression, the people of Syria may finally have an opportunity to live free of fear with their rights respected,” said Agnes Callamard, secretary general of Amnesty International.

“This historic opportunity must be now seized and decades of grave human rights violations redressed.”

Similarly, Lama Fakih, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, called the regime change in Syria “an unprecedented opportunity to chart a new future built on justice, accountability and respect for human rights.”

Questions about fate of religious minorities

An analysis by International Christian Concern likewise noted Assad and his administration treated the people of Syria brutally and systematically stripped them of basic rights and freedoms.

However, ICC raised questions about how religious minorities will be treated in a government heavily influenced by Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, leader of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, an Islamist nationalist group.

The United States has recognized Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham and its predecessor organization, Jabhat al-Nusra as foreign terrorist organizations, and it offered a $10 million bounty for al-Jolani.

Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham originally was an affiliate of al-Qaida but later severed ties with the group. Al-Jolani spent eight years as an ISIS fighter in Iraq.

Encouraging signs in recent days include orders to protect religious minorities and the willingness of rebel fighters to allow continued Christmas observances.

“The initially positive signs in Aleppo do not, however, suggest that Syria is entering a new period of interfaith tolerance or widespread religious freedom,” the ICC analysis states. “Reports from the capture of Damascus include incidents of rebels inquiring into the religious identity of residents, suggesting that religion may continue to act as a point of tension.”

Al-Jolani has “much deeper roots as a persecutor of religion than a promoter of its free practice,” the ICC report states.

“Should al-Jolani continue to signal support for the rights of Christians and others, that would be a fundamental shift for the better. But that outcome is far from guaranteed, and a reversion to his old ways under ISIS and al-Qaida would be disastrous for these already vulnerable communities that suffered so much under Assad,” the report concludes.

Prayers for ‘stability and security of all Syrians’

Wissam al-Saliby, president of 21Wilberforce, offered prayer “for the stability and security of all Syrians, and for a transition to the rule of law where all citizens are treated equally before the law.”

“We’ve seen in other contexts in the Middle East that political transitions are risky and can lead to violence,” he wrote in an email to the Baptist Standard.

Up to this point, “traditional Christian communities in Syria” have enjoyed the freedom to worship, al-Saliby observed.

“The secular government treated them on equal footing with Muslims. Will this continue under the new rulers of Damascus?” he asked.

“Indicators to watch for include the safety and protection of Christians, the freedom for Christians to practice their rites, the right to a personal status law, and the right to manage their endowments, educational, medical and social institutions.”

During the period of political transition, as the new government takes shape, it also is important to see the degree to which Christians and other religious minorities are included, he added.

Muslim converts to Christianity present “a much more delicate” issue, al-Saliby wrote.

“Many Middle Eastern countries recognize the historic Christian communities but deny non-Christian citizens the right to espouse the Christian faith,” he stated.

“Since the start of the Syrian civil war, tens of thousands of Syrians, in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Syria, have accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior in an unpreceded movement of the Spirit. Some church planting in Syria is now led by these Christians. How will the new rulers of Damascus accommodate for this group? Will they have to go underground?”

How will other nations respond?

Another unanswered question is how other nations will respond to the political changes in Syria. To date, Christians in Syria have been outspoken in criticizing American and European sanctions, al-Saliby noted.

“The impact of sanctions contributed to many Christians leaving the country in search of better economic conditions. Now that the regime has changed, will Western governments remove sanctions that have hindered the economy and reconstruction of Syria?” he asked.

Refugees International reports more than 6 million Syrians are refugees and at least 7 million are internally displaced.

“Mass refugee repatriation will be a slow and delicate process, contingent on factors including restoration of legitimate and effective governance, security conditions, an effective recovery and reconstruction effort, resolving complex housing and property rights disputes, and substantial humanitarian investments,” Etant Dupain, spokesperson for Refugees International, wrote in a Dec. 17 email.

“None of this will materialize quickly, and refugee-hosting governments should expect repatriation to proceed gradually as sustainable conditions for safe return begin to emerge within Syria. Moves by some European governments to halt asylum processing for Syrians are ill-advised and should be reversed until political and security conditions stabilize.”

Continuing humanitarian crisis

In the meantime, Dupain added, “Syria remains in the grips of a major humanitarian crisis.”

“All of the humanitarian needs that existed just three weeks ago are still present in post-Assad Syria. What has changed now is that humanitarians have the access to begin addressing these needs, albeit for an unknown window of time,” Dupain wrote.

“In that window, it is critical that the humanitarian response rapidly scales to surge in aid and capitalize on the current window of opportunity.”

Elijah Brown, general secretary of the Baptist World Alliance, noted his organization heard “from multiple sources a sense of cautious optimism that real and lasting positive change may be on hand” in Syria.

“There are initial indications that religious freedom for all people will be respected, even as we have also received requests to pray for protection, preservation and provision,” Brown said.

“The BWA joins in prayer for the reunification of families separated as refugees, for the strengthening of religious freedom for all people, and that in this Advent season, that the message the angels proclaimed at Jesus’ birth will once again resound, ‘and on earth peace.’”

PLATEAU, Nigeria (BP)—Christians in Nigeria plan to celebrate Christmas amid fear of a repeat of violence that claimed at least 160 lives in Nigeria’s Middle Belt at Christmastime in 2023 and dozens in northern Nigeria during the holidays in 2022, international religious liberty advocates reported.

After unsubstantiated warnings were dismissed and led to bloodshed last year, residents are alarmed by warnings in Plateau and Benue states, Open Doors said Dec. 16.

“This year again, there are stories going around that there will be a repeat of last year,” Open Doors quoted a source in Plateau State, but did not give a name. “People are scared. What happened to Christians was painful. It caused a lot of heartbreak and distrust in our communities.”

Samuel, a Christian from the northern state of Kaduna that borders the Middle Belt, told International Christian Concern he suspects many churches will use security forces during Christmas services. Dozens of Christians were murdered in his hometown at Christmas of 2022.

“Threats are reported to the authorities, but some people don’t trust the security agencies and feel the need to defend themselves instead,” ICC quoted Samuel, using an alias to protect the identity of the Christian enrolled in college in the United Kingdom.

“Some security agents are corrupt and either allow the attacks to happen or even help the attackers. On top of that, many Christians in the North believe that some politicians sponsor these attacks for religious or political reasons.”

In 2023, suspected Fulani militants attacked 26 Christian villages in Plateau state Dec. 23-25, killing at least 160 in a coordinated, military-style assault, it was widely reported, lamented and decried.

Some reports, including one from the Catholic News Agency, put the death toll at 198, based on information from local news sources and human rights activists. No group claimed responsibility for the attack.

At least 5,000 Christians were displaced, eight churches were burned and two clerics were among those killed, including a Baptist pastor and nine members of his family, Christianity Today reported.

Christmas has long been dangerous for Christians in Nigeria, despite their sizable share of the population at 46 percent.

On Christmas Day in 2012, Boko Haram bombed churches in five cities in northern Nigeria, killing dozens and injuring others. Boko Haram led the way in trying to establish a caliphate across northern Nigeria, progressing for more than a decade before being pushed back during the presidency of Muhammadu Buhari in 2015.

The group remains active in the north with jihadist offshoots, while militant Fulani whom others identified as bandits have surged in the Middle Belt, according to religious liberty advocates.

Nigeria remains the deadliest country for Christians, with more than 50,000 killed between 2009 and 2023. Of the 4,998 Christians killed for their faith in 2023, more than 80 percent of them were in Nigeria, Open Doors reported in its 2024 World Watch List of the 50 most dangerous places for Christians.

Surviving Christians remain resilient and hopeful despite the widespread death and displacement, Open Doors reported, telling of a congregation that returned to the ruins of its bombed church building to worship at Thanksgiving.

In Mangu, the capital city of Nigeria’s Plateau State, 280 worshipers gathered at what remains of their church to worship after a September 2023 attack blamed on Fulani militants killed and displaced many in the community, Open Doors said.

“Satan, you can’t make me compromise my faith,” Open Doors said the worshipers sang in their local Mwaghavul dialect. “One day God will deliver us as he did the Israelites.”

Preaching from John 16:33, the pastor encouraged congregations to “be hopeful, courageous and resilient,” Open Doors said, reminding them, “In this world, they will keep facing persecution and tribulation, but be of good cheer, God has overcome the world.”

Advent directs the church’s attention to the prophets, those servants of God who taught Israel to anticipate the Messiah and who shaped how Jesus conceptualized his messianic ministry.

More specifically, Christians often turn to Isaiah 40-55, noting how the suffering servant is key to God’s plan to redeem his servant Israel.

But as I have reflected upon—and struggled with—Isaiah 54 over the past few weeks, my reactions have been less about hope, joy, peace and love. Rather, I have found myself mired in the minor chords of Advent, a musical score too often neglected, but that I have found necessary to my continued growth as a disciple of Jesus.

Humility

Like other oracles in this collection, Isaiah 54 posits a grand future for Jerusalem and its people. The promises of God are so remarkable, they cannot help but evoke difficult questions in the heart of the sensitive, historically aware reader.

• Is the God of Judaism and Christianity nothing more than a mirage?

Israel has shown remarkable—perhaps even miraculous—resilience as a nation, but it never has experienced the golden age described in the prophets. Moreover, the nation has experienced hardships that seem to be precluded by the predictions of texts like Isaiah 54. Have God’s words failed?

• Was Jesus’ understanding of the Messiah’s ministry wrong? Is that why some of the prophecies of Isaiah 40-55 seem so incongruous with what actually has taken place over the last two millennia?

Clearly, we cannot ignore Isaiah 53’s portrayal of a suffering servant who brings redemption, but can we privilege this rendition of the Messiah’s work over others that seem to present him as a conquering warrior who works within the present historical and political realm to create a kingdom that will attract “the nations” to Judaism and its Torah?

• Or are the dispensationalists right?

N.T. Wright is just one of many New Testament theologians who argue—persuasively—the prophecies of Scripture are fulfilled in Christ alone. But what if this reading is really a gross violation of how the prophets expressed themselves?

There are answers, of course, to these questions, ones scholars have labored for generations to construct, refine and defend.

But when we are confronted with the evidence afresh, when we ourselves must wrestle with God’s message to his people, we cannot be surprised when others—atheists, orthodox Jews, dispensationalist Christians—find our explanations less than satisfactory.

And this is not all bad, for it inculcates in us a humility that paves the way for love and leaves open the possibility of unity within the body of Christ.

Lament

Our awareness of human history, when placed alongside the hopeful visions articulated in Isaiah 54 and elsewhere, also should motivate us to lament.

The sad and sordid tale that is the human experience often is summed up in how “the nations” have treated ethnic and religious Israel. When we see the mistreatment heaped upon this group of people throughout the past 2,500 years, we see a reflection of both our own suffering and our own inhumanity.

This terrible history is why Christ had to come into our world. It is why he had to suffer the deprivations that so often characterize our experience. It is why he had to die a death he did not deserve. The fact he loves us—and loves Israel—enough to make that sacrifice is worthy of celebration, but the need for it is worthy of lament.

Moreover, I lament the fact no one ever has experienced the blessed material, social and emotional existence described in these prophetic expressions of hope. My soul yearns to know there is some group of people somewhere who have lived for generations on end saturated by the blessings of this life and protected from its griefs.

Even if I cannot live that experience myself, it would comfort my aching heart that someone else had. It would strengthen my faith to see a monument to God’s faithfulness in a city drenched in pearls and overflowing with happy, healthy children—even if that city were not my own.

The fact that even the wealthiest nations on earth teeter on the brink of historical irrelevance, and that the nation to whom these words were spoken has faced attempted eradication on numerous occasions, breaks my heart.

It forces me to place my own, private grief in a much larger and more disheartening context. It draws out of me that biblical art so often ignored in our happy-go-lucky, cookie-cutter churches—the art of memorializing the human experiences of suffering, confusion, frustration and loss.

Desperation

But lament is not enough.

Reading the promises of God in Isaiah 54 pierces my heart with a desperate longing to see those promises come true.

It isn’t just about wanting to see the evidence supporting my faith. It isn’t just about wanting to be able to draw a discernable line from the words of Scripture to the events of history.

It also is about the practical consequences of God’s vision coming true for individuals, families and communities who suffer. It is about seeing the old made young again. It is about seeing the disabled soldier prance on renewed legs. For me, it is about seeing.

The fulfillment of these promises would improve not just the quality of life of this or that person. It would justify their faith in a God who loves his people and keeps his word.

It would vindicate those who needlessly suffer, whether in the gas chambers of a concentration camp or under the thumb of some sex-trafficking degenerate. It would signal the restoration of a moral order that is the prerequisite of lasting peace, an order that guarantees a future without sin and death.

Advent calls us to look back on what God already has done, but it also calls us to look forward. It calls us into the desperate struggle to see God’s kingdom consummated on earth (Matthew 6:10) and God’s creation comforted by the perfect discharge of God’s will (Romans 8:19-22).

We feel this desperation every day (Romans 8:23-25), but Advent gives our desperation room to breathe. It surfaces the longings we so often suppress just so we can get through the day. In so doing, Advent turns our attention once again to the God who can satisfy those longings.

Wade Berry is pastor of Second Baptist Church in Ranger and resident fellow in New Testament and Greek at B.H. Carroll Theological Seminary. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.

Almost 75 years after a couple donated 112 acres of Round Rock farmland to enable Texas Baptists to build a home for abused and neglected children, Texas Baptist Children’s Home has changed a lot, but one thing has stayed constant.

“Children remain at the heart of all that we do,” said Debbie Rippstein, president of Texas Baptist Children’s Home, a part of Children at Heart Ministries. “We just don’t deliver services the same way.”

When Texas Baptist Children’s Home opened on the property Louis and Billie Sue Henna donated, the original campus consisted of three cottages, an administrative building and a superintendent’s residence.

The cottages initially housed up to 20 children—in itself, an improvement over the dormitory approach generally followed by children’s homes at that time.

But by the late 1970s, the children’s home realized it needed to change its approach. A young woman who had grown up at Texas Baptist Children’s Home was going through a divorce. Recognizing her inability to provide for her children, she asked about placing them at the children’s home.

“That’s when Texas Baptist Children’s Home said, ‘We need to do something different,’” Rippstein said. “So, our first family cottage opened in 1979.”

‘It’s what I’ve known my whole life’

Amy Maples’ parents became a host family at the children’s home when she was 5 years old.

“I thought it was amazing. Our cottage was filled with a steady rotation of playmates for me,” said Maples, now program director for Family Care at Texas Baptist Children’s Home.

Her experience growing up in that environment fueled her desire to make ministry to vulnerable children and their families her life’s work.

“It’s what I’ve known my whole life. I can’t imagine not serving others and the kingdom of God,” she said.

The Family Care program at Texas Baptist Children’s Home provides a safe and secure place where mothers and their children can live together, experience healing from trauma, and transition into independent living.

The residential program at the Round Rock campus now has capacity to serve up to 41 families—more than 100 mothers and children.

Clients begin their stay in 6,000-square-foot cottages that house up to five families, along with resident staff supervision, before eventually graduating to more independent living arrangements.

Families have private and secure sleeping quarters and baths, with shared kitchen and laundry spaces and multiple living rooms.

“They find the shared living arrangement stabilizing, since many of them are coming out of trauma,” Maples said.

Focus on long-term holistic health of moms and children

The program focuses on the long-term physical, emotional and spiritual health of mothers and children. While some graduate from the program in 18 months, others may stay longer.

Staff work with mothers to help them set goals in terms of education and employment. Mothers learn how to save and manage money, along with other life skills. Counseling benefits the emotional wellness of families.

Clients are encouraged—but not compelled—to participate in Bible studies and discipleship programs.

“We want to see them grow in their relationship with Jesus,” Maples said.

Volunteer mentors from area churches meet individually with mothers to identify areas in which they want to grow personally and to study Scripture with them.

“They share their faith in a caring—not a pushy—way,” said Melanie Martinez, vice president for programs and services. “They are a reflection of Christ and his love.”

Rippstein noted exit surveys of clients from Buddhist, Muslim and other non-Christian backgrounds “felt respected and appreciated the services provided.”

Once mothers graduate from the residential program and move on to live independently with their children, Texas Baptist Children’s Home continues to provide after-care services.

“We’re still here for them, even when they move off campus,” Maples said. “They’ll always be a part of our family.”

In addition to Family Care, Texas Baptist Children’s Home also offers:

• Home Base, a program that provides a safe haven for young adults who are aging out of foster care or facing homelessness.
• Welcome Home drop-in resource center, which includes a food pantry, hygiene supplies, a washer and dryer and computer access for clients ages 18 to 24 who no longer qualify for juvenile service and youth programs.
• Hope Counseling Program, offering no-cost, trauma-informed counseling at three locations in Round Rock and Georgetown

Looking to the future

Texas Baptist Children’s Home is part of Children at Heart Ministries, a family of ministries dedicated to transforming the lives of vulnerable children and families.

They are Gracewood in Houston, offering family care and family relief to single mothers and their children; and Miracle Farm near Brenham, a ranch where at-risk teenage boys learn Christian values.

Looking ahead, when funds become available, Texas Baptist Children’s Home plans to relocate its residential program to what is the now the back side of the campus—the northeast part of the children’s home property.

Currently, the buildings face Highway 79—which is slated for expansion—and are easily accessible from I-35.

“It’s a move to enhance the safety and security of our residents and staff. It also will more than double our capacity, allowing us to serve 90 families,” said Todd Roberson, president and CEO of Children at Heart Ministries.

However, Roberson has been quick to dispel the fears of some community residents who were concerned change might mean the loss of familiar, comforting sights. The children’s home iconic chapel will remain in place. And cattle will continue to graze on part of the campus acreage.

Relocating cottages away from major thoroughfares in a more secure environment will position Texas Baptist Children’s Home to serve vulnerable families moving into the next 75 years, Roberson said.

“We want to set up for success those who come behind us,” he said.

Mission trips often reveal contrasts—differences between things at home and those far away. Mikey Osborne and his family saw Christmas differently on a recent trip to Uganda.

“It was pretty humbling to see kids get excited over things I wouldn’t normally even buy,” Osborne said. “It’s an awakening to see a different perspective on gifts. It’s easy to think you’re going to Africa to fix things, but I feel like Africa was kind of fixing me.”

Osborne coordinates Texans on Mission’s discipleship and outreach efforts, which include writing materials for evangelism and personal Christian growth.

Some of those materials are used regularly in Uganda as part of Texans on Mission’s Water Impact ministry, but Osborne never had been there, and more materials were needed.

“Groups meet every week, and they’re using some older material that I think could be a little more strategic,” Osborne said. “Their teachers are brilliant and handle the materials well, but we need to put better materials in their hands.”

In Uganda, Texans on Mission works through its ministry partner, Texans and Ugandans on Mission, which has a number of employees focused on drilling water wells and strengthening communities. During Osborne’s trip, the ministry held a Christmas party for those employees and their families.

Mitch Chapman, director of Texans on Mission Water Impact, said he has been amazed at the quality of work and commitment to Christ exhibited by the workers.

“I had not, however, had the chance to interact much with their families,” he said. “The Christmas party gave us a chance to honor these workers before their families and to bless them in a way beyond their normal compensation.”

Simple requests for needs, not wants

The party lasted all day, with food being served throughout and gifts being given at the end of the day, Osborne said.

Angie Osborne said being part of the Christmas party was “one of the greatest blessings” of the trip.

“Seeing the requests some of these children had for Christmas—for needs rather than things for fun—was so touching, and it was amazing to see the joy they had when they received them.”

Mikey Osborne said the children “had been asked in advance what they would like for Christmas, but the most humbling thing was that multiple kids had asked for a goat or a pair of goats for their family.”

He found that strange until he learned a goat “actually gives the family another area for commerce. … Some of the kids specifically asked for a goat in hopes it would help them raise money to further their education.”

The Uganda ministry, supported by Texans on Mission, came through for the children, providing vouchers for the purchase of a number of goats.

The children also received other gifts.

“We gave out bicycles to almost every kid,” Osborne said. “The kids were overwhelmed.”

One of the fathers said his child “was so excited that he literally slept with their new bike, holding their new bike all night,” Osborne said. “And the bikes weren’t even new. They were used. Some of them were in good shape, but not great shape.”

The ministry also provided mattresses to families.

“I don’t remember how many mattresses we gave away, probably 35 to 40,” he said. “And the mattresses excited the kids because they didn’t have mattresses.”

Osborne contrasted this with his own Christmas shopping plans this year.

“I’m trying to figure out how to buy my son a new baseball bat, and he’s already got one, while the kids in Uganda want a mattress,” he said.

Access to clean water

Besides the Christmas gifts, Texans on Mission Water Impact is providing more substantial gifts for families—water wells, sanitation classes, micro-financing and, most importantly, spiritual nourishment.

“When we’re talking about Texans on Mission water ministry, we’re talking about total impact in a community,” Osborne said. “It’s everything from sanitation all the way to discipleship.

“You have to have water to survive, and these people haven’t had a good source of water at all.”

Angie Osborne noted the “most impactful part of the trip” for her came “when they took us to one village where a new well had just been installed.”

Leaders took the Osbornes to “the little creek” where the people had been getting their water before drilling of their new community well.

“It is a moment I will always remember and an image that will always stick in my mind,” Angie Osborne said.

“It was heart wrenching to think that people would walk over a mile to get water from this nasty source where animals also drink and do other things. It was then I realized how powerful and life-changing” Texans on Mission’s work is in Uganda.

“One well alone is providing clean water to over 400 people,” she said, adding Texans on Mission “put in over 60 wells this past year.”

“That is a huge impact, and thousands of people are being reached” because the Ugandan team does more than provide clean water, she noted.

Spreading the gopsel

“We witnessed the gospel being introduced at each well site to all these people who are flocking there for clean water,” she said. “A Bible study is led each morning while the well is being drilled for the local community, and then local people continue the Bible study weekly.

“Hundreds of people are now attending regular Bible study and have come to know Christ through the installation of these wells.”

The Texans on Mission-supported ministry does more than drill wells. Mikey Osborne said the work “goes well beyond giving people clean water, because not only are we giving people water, we’re teaching them sanitation.

“Not only are we teaching them sanitation, we’re teaching them how to save money,” he continued. “Not only are we teaching them how to save, we’re teaching them how to care for one another. Not only are we teaching them how to care for one another, we’re sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ, the living water, and teaching them how to raise up disciples in their own community among their own people.”

The recent trip will help Texans on Mission know how to produce more evangelism and discipleship resources. And Osborne was impressed with the ability of ministry leaders in Uganda. He talked about one leader, Moses.

“I got to see a guy named Moses, who, by the way, one of the best speakers I’ve seen,” he said. “He was unbelievably engaging. He spoke in the local language. The Spirit of God was on that man in such a way. He spoke with authority but also in an engaging manner. It was humbling to watch.

“Moses gave you the sense that he has been given the great responsibility of sharing the greatest gift in the world, and he was full of joy in getting to hand it out for you.”

The entire experience deeply moved the Osbornes.

“To say we were overwhelmed is an understatement,” Angie Osborne said. “We went to help change Uganda, but Uganda changed me.

“It is hard to wrap my mind around the fact that in 2024 people are still living in those conditions. It was eye-opening to see that there are thousands of people who live out in the middle of nowhere in little huts with no water, electricity, plumbing or any conveniences we have.

“We got to see the work that Texans on Mission is doing and were blown away.”

People hurt us. That is a simple fact of life.

A beloved child may reject his parents and their faith. Churches may not appreciate us and not want us around anymore. A boss might fire us. Siblings might drop out of the family and seek new loved ones for holidays. Friends choose different friends for fun activities.

We are left wondering where the ones we invested our lives in went.

I do not know what will help in all circumstances, but a few things have worked for me through many years of prayer and emotional and spiritual struggle as I dealt with complex interpersonal conflict. I offer these for your consideration.

Things that helped me

Accept your pain and live with it a while, if you are dealing with a long-term situation. Whenever we cannot solve a problem immediately, accepting it and not fighting it reduces stress.

Try not to obsess about the situation. This is a tough one, because thoughts cannot be controlled totally. Continue to lift the situation and loved ones to God—no matter how long this takes.

Visualize yourself letting go of what happens. “See” in your mind your hands letting go of the burden, and let yourself see the problem and person float toward the Lord. This is one skill that has released pain in my heart and given me freedom.

If you continue to see the person who hurt you, try to emphasize and build on any positive interactions. Show appreciation for any kindness or courtesies. Frequently, we make the negative a mountain and the positive a molehill, when the opposite should happen.

Consider the person’s brain chemistry and past experiences. Everything we do arises from thinking, and all thoughts track back to brain health. Each person works with what he or she has physiologically and emotionally. We are not all equal in terms of the body and mind.

Look back into the family of the person who hurt you, if you can. Who modeled behavior for this person? Who raised this person, and did abuse or trauma occur in that family?

Often, mental illness and suicide are hidden in families—even in our own. The effects of unspeakable “secrets” still touch family members more deeply than we can imagine.

Many people behave rudely, never conveying to others how they came to be the way they are. They may not know the cause of their inherited tendencies toward undesirable behavior.

Life is not fair, but it can be better than fair.

Ways God helped me

As time passes, we are able to gain perspective we could not grasp in the heat of anger or rejection. After months and years, we gain new friends and jobs and a new confidence born of faith and experience with God.

Look for God’s hand, for his work. Do you see the person who hurt you doing better? If so, rejoice. Your long nights of praying through a terrible situation has borne fruit.

Are you doing better? I honestly can say God has improved my life over time, in spite of anything any human tried to do to me. God’s work absolutely trumps everything. No evil intention can stand against him.

When we realize our blessings come directly from God’s hand, we can be more empathetic and tolerant of others. We can send them a Christmas card with a message of peace and hope.

Try to be around the one who hurt you—if this is possible. Talk less. Listen more. Avoid any topics that might lead to conflict. Aim to have a peaceful, tolerable experience with the hurtful person—hopefully with other people around.

Practice grace. Forgive many times. Keep praying. Stay aware of your true emotions, and stay current with confession of your sin. Sometimes, we are more responsible for problems in a relationship than we first realize.

God has a way of revealing the entire picture when we are open to accept it. There is no eternal shame in confessing we were immature and unwise in younger years and made mistakes. Everyone who has not died has grown and changed.

We all are in the same boat of sin. Stay humble. Be able and willing to apologize. Apology feels free and clean, opening a path for the future.

When you need time and space away from conflict—away from the one who hurt you—take it. Make time and space for your own healing and peace of mind.

If you need to go to a different church, go with a loving, forgiving heart.

God does not require us to be around difficult people constantly, but he does require us to reflect Christ in all our dealings with others. That could mean Christlike interaction or simply leaving the door open for God to work in the future.

How Jesus helped me

Can we love someone we cannot be around all the time? My experience tells me yes. We can love their soul and the person they are, made in the image of God. We can love their potential for Christ and the good things they have done in the world, even if they were not good to us.

If this person is a Christian, we can love Christ in him or her.

Can Christ be a bridge between Christians? Surely, yes. We are commanded to be unified and love one another.

Some of the love we find in life is easy love that feels good and right. Other love is tough, and we have to pursue it, then sort it out. I have known both kinds.

Loving an enemy requires a generous love. For a time, that may be only a praying love.

Do not lose heart. Do not give up. Though we were apart from God, mired in deep sin, God poured out his agape love plan who is Jesus. Jesus breaks chains we think are immovable.

Ruth Cook is an educator assistant for an English-as-a-Second-Language class and is a longtime Texas Baptist. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.

It’s not easy to be a Christian, but where might surprise you.

We publish a lot of news and opinion articles about religious liberty—specifically, violations of religious liberty.

We publish these articles because one of our three core commitments is historic Baptist principles. And one of the most historic of Baptist principles is a dogged commitment to religious liberty.

Baptists arose in a so-called Christian context in which fealty to a conjoined state church and government not only was expected; it was enforced. Some of our forebears experienced the ire of churches and governments who would not abide our beliefs and practices.

Some of our forebears were deemed rebellious, called Dissenters, and were imprisoned, tortured or even executed for believing—and practicing—such things as a person should be baptized only after making a personal decision to believe in Jesus.

Baptists see the lack of religious liberty for one person somewhere as a threat to religious liberty for all people everywhere. And so, we defend religious liberty, not just for ourselves, but for all people.

Much of what we published just this last week tells this story. These stories point to places where it’s hard to be a Christian—at least, in one sense.

Places Christians suffer

We tend to think it’s hard to be a Christian in places where Christians suffer for being Christian.

For example, many of us remember stories of severe repression of Christians in the Soviet Union, which included Ukraine. After the fall of the U.S.S.R. and Ukraine gaining independence, Christian churches and missions flourished in Ukraine.

Today, Baptists and other Christians in Ukraine worry about new religious repression there by Russia. Such repression already is happening in Russian-occupied areas of southeast Ukraine. Even so, Ukrainian Christians report the church in Ukraine is growing. Some say it’s thriving.

Christians in Palestine—the one in the Middle East, not East Texas—have endured significant pressure and worse, and not just for several days. They face a unique set of difficulties related to being Palestinian and Christian in Israel or Israeli-occupied territory.

In addition to news about what is happening with Christians in Gaza since the most recent war began, we have published the viewpoint of a Palestinian Christian living in the Middle East. Part of his view is captured in his Advent series you can read here.

A few days before we in America stuffed ourselves with gratitude, a Baptist in northeast India was arrested for violating the Assam Magical Healing (Prevention of Evil) Practices Act. The charge? That he preached the Bible to children.

Our brother remained in custody for 14 days—while we consumed the leftovers of our Thanksgiving feast.

Christians have faced persecution frequently in various places throughout India, as another story we recently published reports. Search our website, and you will find more recent and similar stories. And not just in India, but also in Nigeria, Myanmar/Burma and elsewhere.

Two senses

No doubt, it’s hard to be a Christian when to identify with Christ very likely will cost you your reputation or standing in the community, your relationships with family and friends, your business, your education, your freedom, your health and safety and that of your family, and even your life or the lives of your loved ones.

In this sense, there are plenty of places in the world where it is very hard to be a Christian.

And yet, we encounter story after story of people living in these places and facing these conditions—not the prospect of these conditions, but the ongoing reality of these conditions—whose trust in Jesus is unshaken, who testify of joy and hope, who praise God even while suffering.

These testimonies give witness to people unmoved from what it means to be a Christian—a committed follower of Jesus, no matter what.

Such stories suggest we may be using the wrong sense to define what makes it hard to be a Christian. Is there another sense in which it is hard to be a Christian, a sense many of my readers and I don’t experience and, as a result, ignore to the detriment of our souls? Yes, there is.

Where it’s hard to be a Christian

The other sense in which it is hard to be a Christian is less about suffering in the world than it is about the willingness within.

The place where I know it’s hard to be a Christian is within the person who rejects Jesus; the person who refuses to believe; the person who is apathetic about following Jesus; the person who thinks he or she has done all that is required; the person who has grown cold, cynical, jaded to Jesus.

It’s hard to be a Christian in a cold heart.

It’s also hard to be a Christian in a distracted heart.

It’s hard to be a Christian when a person doesn’t give a moment’s thought to Jesus; when a person is busy, busy, busy; when a person fills the time with scrolling, video games, and other entertainments and distractions.

God knows. Boy, does God know. God has known since at least the day he went looking for Adam and Eve in the Garden: “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9).

God knew all through the Old Testament: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me” (Isaiah 29:13).

God knew this when he gave his Son—Immanuel, God-with-us—who would be rejected, despised, crucified.

God knows this still.

We who live without struggle in one sense are filled with it in another sense. We may not experience religious persecution like our brothers and sisters elsewhere, but we may be taking our religious liberty for granted. And it may be showing up in a cold and distracted heart.

Eric Black is the executive director, publisher and editor of the Baptist Standard. He can be reached at eric.black@baptiststandard.com. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.

WACO—“How can we disciple our young people well on matters of biblical sexuality?” Gary Stidham, director of training for Texas Baptists’ Center for Collegiate Ministry, asked a Texas Baptist group.

Stidham raised the question during a breakout session held in conjunction with the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting last month.

Stidham credited Sean McDowell, a professor at Talbot School of Theology, with observing that prior generations wanted to know about Christianity, “Is it true?” But Generation Z is asking, “Is it good?”

The shift from intellectual questions to moral questions among young people means churches must be sensitive in how they discuss matters of sexual identity, if they want to reach Gen Z.

Today’s critique of the church by those outside the faith isn’t so much that Christianity is illogical or unreasonable, but that it is unloving and uncaring toward people on the margins—particularly women, immigrants, people of color and those in the LGBTQ community, Stidham noted.

But if church leaders want to help students and young families love the gospel, the church and the word of God, “we have to tackle issues around sexual morality, because that’s where the culture has gotten so far off the rails in the last few decades,” Stidham said.

Stidham suggested to address this conversation, Christian leaders should talk about the subject of sexuality holistically, starting with Genesis; make affirming marriage a priority; celebrate chastity, singleness and celibacy; teach wise dating; and fight pornography aggressively.

Stidham served as a campus missionary with Baptist Student Ministries at the University of Texas in Arlington for 21 years. He now oversees 60 campus missionary interns for their first couple of years out of college serving with BSM. His doctoral work focused on LGBTQ issues.

He noted 12 years ago, after a time when the BSM at UT Arlington had “gotten really good at gathering large groups” but was not seeing very many college students come to Christ, “God led us to shepherd a really powerful evangelistic movement.”

As a result, the BSM began to see at least one student a week come to Christ, a trend, Stidham noted, “that continues to this day.”

One thing his team at UT Arlington began to realize was these new Christians’ “lives were messy,” and they came with “a lot of baggage to unpack, and a lot of that baggage had to do with gender and sexuality issues.”

While Stidham acknowledged issues about sexuality “have always been around,” the increased cultural focus on sexuality and gender identity means issues around sexuality are even more present and complex. In fact, sexual confusion and brokenness permeate Gen Z.

Increasing numbers

Gallup reported this year 19 percent of Gen Z (ages 12-27) identify as LGBTQ, compared to about 10 percent of Millennials, 5 percent of Gen X and 2 percent of Baby Boomers.

A recent Barna poll reflects an even higher percentage, with 39 percent identifying as LGBTQ and half of that number identifying as bisexual.

But more Gen Z identify as same-sex-attracted than who act upon that attraction, Stidham pointed out. Most of this generation who claim a bisexual identity only date the opposite sex. They “want that identity, so they say they’re bisexual, even though they don’t act upon it.”

What has led to the burgeoning numbers who identify as LGBTQ? First, Stidham noted, is the “straight-up reality that there are people who are same-sex attracted.”

From ancient times all the way up until now, in a “complicated mix of nature and nurture,” he said, there are people “who didn’t ask for it” or “wake up and decide one morning, ‘I’m going to like people like me (same sex).’”

Another factor is the epidemic of loneliness affecting this generation. Sexual identity has coalesced into a “movement of belonging for disaffected youth,” where they can find connections that eluded them outside of the LGBTQ community.

Another contributor is social pressure, especially for people who in years past would have been described as “tomboys” or “sensitive boys.” Now, there is pressure for such natural personality differences to be understood as signifiers of homosexuality or gender nonconformity, he explained.

Mental health and LGBTQ are related, Stidham noted, pointing out there is a “tremendous correlation” between anxiety and depression and LGBTQ identity. And neurodivergence—autism spectrum disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder—has an even higher correlation to LGBTQ identity than anxiety.

“Almost every one of the reasons means what these young adults don’t need is our scorn and a wagging finger. What they typically need is our arms welcoming them in.

“They need patience. They need help meeting Jesus, so that with discipleship they can unpack all the confusion,” he noted.

Trying to “own the liberals” isn’t the way to love LGBTQ people. Instead, loving the teenagers who struggle with confusing messages about sexuality is how to reach LGBTQ people, he said.

Powerful forces, talked about in Colossians 2:8, are working to indoctrinate Gen Z. In every generation, Satan wants to capture the minds of the people and move people away from God. Stidham sees the increase in LGBTQ identities as evidence of an ongoing spiritual battle with “elemental forces.”

Stidham pointed to “radical individual autonomy” that came out of the sexual revolution of the 1960s as being at the heart of why LGBTQ has become such a heated issue. So, he cautioned pastors against playing into a “nobody can tell me what to do mindset.”

Core identity realignment

For a good many people, sexuality has become the ultimate identity, seen as being at the very core of who they are.

“I’m not a man who happens to be same-sex attracted. I’m a gay man,” Stidham gave as an example to clarify this idea.

Because sexuality has assumed such a preeminent place in identities, in order to disciple young people, church leaders must learn how to speak thoughtfully and with nuance about these issues.

Christian students want to talk about these issues, Stidham noted. They want to know the truth concerning sexuality. In fact, “they’re more eager to hear than we are to share.”

These conversations should be approached by church leaders with genuine questions, seeking to understand what students are hearing and feeling about matters of sexuality and identity.

“We are ministers and missionaries, not political pundits,” Stidham noted. There is a culture war happening, “but don’t be a culture warrior,” Stidham urged. “The reason we talk about these issues is to help people come to Jesus.”

1 Corinthian 6:18-20 demonstrates sexual morality is profoundly important to our spirituality, he said.

When Christian leaders are discipling students on matters of sexuality, they should stress the flourishing that can come when identities are found not in sexuality, but in Christ.

ELDORET, Kenya—Thirty-six Kenyan teenage boys and young men came together in November for a leadership training camp. At the end, 13 of them accepted a challenge to lead future gatherings locally and start encouraging other boys and men.

Six Kenyan churches brought together the group in Eldoret, about 200 miles northwest of Nairobi. Five adult leaders of Texas Royal Ambassadors, a ministry of Texans on Mission, provided the training.

The camp grew out of an RA-led meeting earlier this year.

“Pastors went home intentionally looking for young men in their churches they believed were leaders and wanted to get them some training,” said Savion Lee, state RA coordinator.

Those attending the camp learned leadership skills through adventure recreation and team building challenges.

“The lessons highlighted unity and cooperation, responsibility and the importance of prayer in everything we do,” Lee said.

Steve Darilek, a long-time RA trainer from Bridgeport, likened the camp in Kenya to the annual RA Leadership Training Camp held in Texas.

“We use a lot of different things … to produce leaders and raise a passion” for leadership among youth, Darilek explained. “It looks like it’s just fun and games,” but there is a spiritual application.

“We hope they will take it back to their churches, to bring about change and open the eyes of their youth group,” he said.

The Kenya group included young men ages 14-23, Darilek said.

“They were very, very respectful,” he said. “I was impressed with their ability to stay focused,” even when language translation created challenges.

As the camp drew to a close, Lee said the pastors “put out the vision and asked who would be willing to help coordinate recurring meetings in their towns. Thirteen young men responded to that invitation.”

Since the regional meeting, the 13 already have held an initial meeting coordinated via the WhatsApp digital platform.

The Texas RA leaders and Kenyan pastors have the same hopes for what happens as a result of the camp.

“They wanted a group of young men to become leaders and to come back to their church and assist them in leading others to Christ … and to be leaders in their church,” Darilek said.

The pastors want the young men to know Christ, “speak Jesus,” give testimony of their faith and unify their group within their church, Darilek said.

The RA approach used in Kenya included the sharing of personal experiences.

“The Lord has done many things in all of our lives—the most important of which is our salvation,” Lee said. “Learning how to share your personal testimony can give courage to any young man, boy, man, whomever, to share about who God is and who Jesus is and what Jesus has done for them.”

The young men in Kenya “were interested in learning from us, especially about Scripture,” he said.

“I look forward to seeing how the encouragement they received through the camp will make an impact with their families and with their churches,” Lee said.

Heated rhetoric related to immigration is all around us. As both a longtime Houstonian and a Baptist minister, I view immigration as an incredible opportunity—not an invasion—for the church, our city and the nation.

Multiculturalism drives growth

For at least half a century, the leaders of South Main Baptist Church, where I serve as a minister, have been aware Houston’s multiculturalism drives our growth.

There are myriad reasons for this, including our relative proximity to the Mexican border, a strong tradition of refugee resettlement, the presence of the largest medical center in the world and the job creation of the energy industry.

Quite simply, Houston would not be the strong, vibrant city it is today without the roughly one-quarter of its residents who are foreign-born and the nearly half who speak a language other than English at home.

Becoming more culturally diverse

Some see South Main Baptist Church as fairly traditional, perhaps nudged in that direction by the presence of an organ. However, South Main has a history of considering how we are part of the larger world and how our faith calls us to engage with it. More than 50 years ago, church members recognized Houston was becoming more culturally diverse.

As part of that recognition, we considered how we should welcome those from other nations into the fabric of our city.

This has been expressed in various ways, including a program called SMILE—South Main’s International Learning Experience—which offered language classes, guidance on how to shop in a new country, and basic life lessons such as how and where to enroll children in school. Most importantly, the program created space to build real and lasting relationships.

At other times, South Main operated clinics for refugees and helped groups of migrants—first Chinese, then Korean, Hispanic and Cambodian—start and build their own churches.

So, while we may sing hymns accompanied by an organ, we do so while sitting around a “Table of Nations.”

Examining cultural rhetoric

More recently, we’ve realized the current cultural rhetoric surrounding migrant issues isn’t guided by faith, prompting us to take a deeper look at how our church is called to engage in this conversation.

To that end, some of our small-group Bible communities have incorporated this topic into their weekly study. This involves examining migration terminology, looking at Houston’s demographic makeup through a macro lens, and considering the reality of who migrants really are and how they’ve blessed our church and the city through a micro lens.

Most importantly, it involves exploring the scriptural basis for welcoming strangers into our community. In doing so, we’ve rediscovered in our midst doctors, students, researchers, artists, lawyers, blue-collar workers, parents and children who have come to our city and our church, adding depth and vitality.

Just this week, in one of these Bible communities, I was blessed to host a panel of four church members—each from a different country and each with a different story. That conversation was part of a deeper dive into how our church is called into the world and how the world has been called into Houston.

It was fascinating, heart-wrenching and compelling. Most of all, it was an eye-opening recognition that, while discussing immigration policy, border security and migration is difficult, it also is rewarding. We are better, fuller and more well-rounded for having that conversation together, face-to-face, guided by our faith.

Blessings of immigration

Our church in Houston certainly has been blessed by the arrival of immigrants, as have other congregations across our city. Immigrant congregations represent a rare bright spot of growth amid an overall picture of decline within American Christianity.

Immigration has impacted our community profoundly, bringing people from every nation to our doorstep. This shift has created a unique opportunity for us to live out our faith by welcoming and ministering to a diverse community.

As our city becomes more multicultural, we’ve experienced growth, new perspectives and a deeper understanding of the gospel’s reach, all thanks to the arrival of immigrants.

Secure borders

To be clear, I—and almost all Christians I know—affirm the government’s role in ensuring secure borders. However, a secure border and a closed border are not the same, and rhetoric that conflates them only serves to divide us.

Our country cannot accept everyone who arrives at the border. However, in fairly enforcing the law, we must not slander those who come, especially those arriving out of desperation. Taking in more immigrants through legal channels and with careful vetting actually could benefit our economy.

Moreover, loaded terms like “closed border” and “invasion” do not help unite the Christian community around this pressing issue. In fact, such terms likely push us further apart and obscure the fact many Christians agree on immigration reform.

A survey of evangelical Christians conducted by Lifeway Research earlier this year found almost all Texan evangelicals believe in secure borders, and more than 90 percent also agree our policies should respect the God-given dignity of all people and the unity of the family.

What we don’t need is dehumanizing, slanderous rhetoric that mocks the biblical teaching that each person is made in the image of God and therefore deserves to be treated with inherent dignity.

Instead, we should recognize how immigrants have been a blessing to our churches, cities and nation—and together, find ways to build systems and pass policies that leverage the present immigration opportunity.

J Hill is minister of missions at South Main Baptist Church in Houston, where they seek to feed the hungry, clothe those that need clothes, welcome the stranger and tend the sick. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.