I put crisis in quotes just because I’m unsure what constitutes a crisis anymore–certainly politicians try to whip support for whatever is their latest pet issue by declaring it a crisis.  But on to the post.  I just returned from a short term mission trip in Honduras Saturday night, and am really glad to be back in the US of A!  Our family and church learned a lot, and I think we did some good in an impoverished nation.  But as I return back to the U.S., and find the immigration crisis seemingly growing further, I have a couple of thoughts to offer, based on my experience in Honduras–especially important since many of the immigrant children are Honduran and without parents.

First, I had heard reports that Central American countries were broadcasting to their citizens that now is the time to head to the U.S.  So I asked our Honduran interpreter about it late in the trip once we had developed a great relationship.  Are they doing that?  His response was no–there is no official government support for going to America. But without my pressing further, he said, “but…how do you say it…amnesty?…yes the Honduran people have heard about amnesty and many know that it is the time to try to go to America.”  Yes this is a data point of one.  But I considered him a reliable reflector of the knowledge of the people he is around–and we were around some of the poorest of the Honduran people.  So my conclusion is that despite protestations by the president, yes his policies are significantly contributing to the crisis.

Second, many Christians are taking the stand that the best way to help these people is welcome them with the arms of Christ.  I’m not so sure. Certainly we need to reflect Christ’s love for all people, but I think it would be more loving for those Christians in America concerned about the Honduran people to be more willing to go help the Honduran people make their own country worth living in.  Truly there is little opportunity for many of them in their native land, and the squalor they live in is far worse than most of us would allow our pets to live in–and these are people made in the image of God.  Yes we must do more to help, but doesn’t the cultural mandate require us to have growing image bearers taking dominion in all parts of the earth?  Isn’t the best answer for us “to go therefore, and make disciples of all the nations,” even the nation of Honduras?  And if we disciple–yes disciple, not just evangelize–these people, will not Honduras be so transformed that the Honduran people would take Godly dominion of their own land?