2012 Immigration Testimony Kansas Legislature

Testimony Regarding HB 2712

Bishop Scott J. Jones, Kansas Area of The United Methodist Church

I wish to offer my support for House Bill 2712 and to speak on behalf of The United Methodist Church on the subject of illegal immigration more broadly.

Along with my colleague bishops from other churches and many other Christian groups, I am urging the Kansas Legislature to make Kansas a place that treats immigrants with the kind of hospitality and humane consideration that has been a hallmark of our state for more than 150 years.

We have repeatedly articulated three principles:

1. All persons are beloved by God and should be treated with dignity and respect. Leviticus 19:33-34 commands us to welcome the alien among us.

2. Kansas needs immigrants for a variety of reasons. Our economy, our culture and our way of life are enhanced by increased diversity. Just as immigration from Germany, Sweden, Norway, Russia, Korea, Vietnam and other countries has shaped our state for 150 years, so new immigrants from different countries will help us in many ways. We should welcome them and focus our efforts on genuine hospitality.

3. We must respect the laws of our country. We are a country of laws and respect for law is crucial to our way of life. Scripture also commands us to respect and obey governmental authorities. We are a nation shaped by the rule of law. An economic and demographic situation that creates millions of persons who are not able to live with the full protection of the law is both unjust and detrimental to our future development. We should call upon the Federal government to find a legal way to resolve this situation for the benefit of all concerned.

House Bill 2712 exemplifies these principles. It recognizes we need these workers for our Kansas economy. It provides a way for them to contribute their labor and to receive the protection of our laws. It also recognizes the rule of law. It provides the kind of welcome we want to provide.

As a spiritual leader, I want to point to a larger need we have. Kansas needs people. We are worried about population decline in our rural counties. We need people with good values and strong family traditions. Our state is a better place with people who bring new ideas, new energy and new traditions to our communities.

On the other hand, you are considering some bills that I believe violate Christian principles. House Bill 2578 violates the biblical value of hospitality which has been a hallmark of our Kansas culture. By creating a hostile environment, we are sending a message that all persons of Hispanic origin are not welcome in our state.

House Bill 2576 has the same effect with an additional problem. It may criminalize my behavior. The United Methodist Church, the Roman Catholic Church, the Lutheran Church and many other Christian bodies are evangelizing Hispanic persons and welcoming them to Christian worship. I have preached the gospel in front of groups of Hispanics, ministering to their spiritual needs and offering to help them make Kansas a home for their families. I know many of these people and they are people with strong family values. But I cannot vouch for their immigration status. Do you expect me to ask for proof of citizenship as they enter our churches? If I preach the gospel or teach them English, and it turns out they are undocumented immigrants, am I guilty of harboring them and thus of a felony since there are more than 10 of them in the group? Please don’t send me or my preachers to jail for our obedience to Christ.

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Council of Bishops: For the Sake of a New World, We See a New Church: A Call to Action

Look! I’m doing a new thing: now it sprouts up; don’t you recognize it? I’m making a way in the desert, paths in the wilderness. Isaiah 43:19, CEB

We see a new church. It is a renewed church that is clear about its mission and confident about its future, a church that is always reaching out, inviting, alive, agile, and resilient. We see a church that is hope-filled, passionate, nimble, called of God, and courageous. It is a church that is passionately committed to the doctrine, mission and vision of the Wesleyan movement. This church takes risks to reach new people for Jesus Christ, and it searches continuously for creative ways to help each person grow in grace, love, and holiness.

While this church is not yet here, we see a thousand signs of its emerging. We see it in radical hospitality, where spiritually hungry people everywhere are offered a saving relationship with Christ. We see it as the hearts of people are warmed by the awakening of renewed spiritual presence. We see it in passionate worship, where new generations sense the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. We see it in small groups embodying intentional faith formation. We see it in pastors who find ways to reach young people and in annual conference leaders who dare to try different ways to serve congregations. We see it in general agencies learning new ways to network our Connection. We see it in the Council of Bishops opening itself to evaluation and establishing episcopal learning groups. We see it in risk-taking mission and justice. We see it in the efforts to end deaths from malaria, to start new faith communities, to participate in ministry with the poor, and to develop new leaders. We see it in extravagant generosity, as people share their resources in response to disasters.

Especially in Africa andAsia, we find multiple examples of Wesleyan evangelism, discipleship, and witness for social justice. In theU. S.andEurope, however, we recognize that our church’s strength and vitality have diminished over the last several decades. Both Europe and America face cultural trends that are very difficult. We confess that at times we have lost our way, substituting maintenance for mission, bureaucracy for vision, and passivity for passion.

Paragraph 120 of The Book of Discipline is clear: “The mission of the Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Local churches provide the most significant arena through which disciple-making occurs.” We also know that local churches are a significant arena for community and world transformation. And paragraph 33 of our Constitution is equally clear: “The annual conference is the basic body in the Church.” The annual conference is the most important vehicle for creating and sustaining vital congregations.

We have studied our church and used independent consultants to give us information we needed about our church in the U.S. Our operational assessment identified a growing lack of trust among the parts of our Connection. It told us we have significant deficiencies and will have future difficulties because of our current pattern of economic contributions. It recommended more defined leadership roles, streamlined connectional structures, and better management systems. Our congregational vitality study used our own data to identify vital congregations and what drives them.

The Council of Bishops and Connectional Table both endorsed this core challenge: “To redirect the flow of attention, energy, and resources to an intense concentration on fostering and sustaining an increase in the number of vital congregations effective in making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.”

We can see a new church, and to get from here to there the Connectional Table and Council of Bishops urge the People of The United Methodist Church to make several strategic commitments:

Engage in a return to our spiritual roots to reclaim the soul of our churches through intentional commitment to practice the means of grace.
Give the highest priority to 10 years of energetic and sustained effort to increase and sustain the number of highly vital congregations.
Invest in raising the standards of performance and results of leadership at all places in the UM Connection and employ key metrics as important contributing tools for cultivating continuous learning and improvement.
Redirect our investments of talent, time and money in ways that demonstrate an emphatic emphasis on building blocks for vital congregations, including:
- At least $5 million from the 2013–16 General Administration or World Service Funds for use in theological education in the Central Conferences.
- At least $5 million from the 2013–16 General Administration or World Service Funds for use in developing lay leadership under 35 years old.
- Up to $50 million from the 2013–16 General Administration or World Service Funds for use in recruiting and theologically training UM clergy under age 35 and for use in creating “new places for new people” across the UM mission field.
- Streamline and realign the governance and staff structures of program and administration agencies in order to increase focus on support of Annual Conferences in increasing and sustaining the number of vital congregations and provide for more integrated, efficient, nimble, and responsive operations.
- Reform the Council of Bishops

The most important changes will not result from legislative action but require different actions and patterns of leadership by bishops, clergy, and laity in their conferences. These changes must be grounded deeply in the spiritual disciplines of prayer and fasting. These changes have already begun, and the Call to Action is already starting to be employed in many congregations and conferences. Among the non-legislative actions that are required are the following:

The Council of Bishops reorder its work and internal processes to:
- Make the work of supporting resident bishops in fostering congregational vitality the central agenda for the Council.
- Support Jurisdictional and Central Conference Committees on Episcopacy in adopting stronger and more transparent measures (metrics) and procedures for the accountability of bishops.
- Work with appropriate general church offices, seminary leadership, and Boards of Ordained Ministry to strengthen support for our seminaries, addressing curriculum requirements and clarifying expectations.
- Annual Conferences strive to improve their recruitment and support of the most fruitful and effective young clergy.
- Bishops and Cabinets strengthen their clergy recruitment, formation and appointment processes to improve vitality.

But some steps require legislation at General Conference. Therefore, the Council of Bishops affirms and approves the direction recommended by the Connectional Table and the Interim Operations Team. We urge the General Conference to take the following actions:

Give Annual Conferences freedom to organize their structures for greater fruitfulness.
Permit the mid-quadrennium reallocation of money from the general church funds for a sum up to $60 million for purposes related to the challenge of creating and sustaining an increase in the number of vital congregations.
Provide for the Council of Bishops to elect a non-residential bishop as President of the Council to help reform the Council and focus its energies on the core challenges.
Create aUMCCenterfor Connectional Mission & Ministry under one board of directors to combine the functions of the Connectional Table and nine general agencies: GBCS, GBGM, GBHEM, GBOD, GCAH, GCFA, GCORR, GCSRW, and UMCOM. They will be organized into offices of shared services (functions such as GCFA, UMCOM, and GCAH) and offices of congregational vitality, leadership excellence, missional engagement, and justice and reconciliation. This will help us align resources for greater effectiveness and efficiency.
Move the functions of GCCUIC to an office of the Council of Bishops, clarifying what have been overlapping responsibilities and improving our ecumenical efforts.
Set aside UMW and UMM as self-funding official UM membership-based organizations.
Provide a support system for collecting consistent information for all annual conferences about their financial practices and recommend to resident bishops and others strategies for reducing costs and increasing effectiveness.

We see a new church. It is a church that is clear about its mission and confident about its future, a church that is always reaching out, inviting, alive, agile, and resilient. We ask all United Methodists to join us as together we work to do the “new thing” God intends for our church and discover the path God is making for our future.

For more complete information about the work of A Call to Action, go to www.umccalltoaction.org and www.umvitalcongregations.org.

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