Refugees

ELCA Church Council Action CC02.04.11

Passed by the 2002 ELCA Church Council.

Resolved
To encourage synods and congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to learn about the treatment of refugees in the United States and utilize available study resources, such as the “Message on Immigration” and the social statements, “For Peace in God’s World” and “Freed in Christ: Race, Ethnicity, and Culture;”

To express hope that congregations will be communities of welcome for people who are refugees and immigrants;

To encourage members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to pray for refugees and their families and for those who minister to refugees on behalf of this whole church, including Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service and Lutheran social ministry organizations;

To urge members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to advocate for just immigration and refugee settlement policies; and

To request that the Presiding Bishop of this church send a letter to the President of the United States, the Secretary of State, and the Commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service expressing this church’s concern related to:

1. the treatment of refugees by this country since the terrorists attacks of September 11, 2001;
2. the decline in refugee admissions;
3. the increase in the number of unused resettlement places over the last ten years; and
4. the process for admittance of unaccompanied minors, the most vulnerable refugees.