Jesus Christ has commanded us to love God and love our neighbours as we love ourselves.
Who are our neighbours? How can we show our love to them?
What are the many ways and circumstances where we can testify how loving we are to our neighbours?
People from many nations are coming to New Zealand to live and work.
Let us get some ideas from the paper “Position Paper on Immigration for Vision Network NZ” by Dr Andrew Butcher and Dr George Wieland.
We got this from the Baptist Churches of New Zealand website. The paper gives the following ideas that Christians may consider for attitudes and actions:
God’s purpose:
Migrations of people and peoples play a significant part in the Biblical story of salvation. In what ways may we see the saving purpose of God in the mobility of people today? How may the church in New Zealand partner with God in what he is doing?
Mission:
The gospel is for all nations. How may the church in New Zealand make use of the special possibilities for reaching peoples and nations presented by immigration to New Zealand and circular or onward migration?
How many churches in New Zealand draw upon their bicultural history and relationships to engage multi-culturally?
God’s care:
Those who today undergo migration, whether drawn by hope or aspiration or driven by need or oppression, can find their own experiences reflected in the Bible. God understands! How may the people of God communicate God’s care for migrants?
Justice:
Justice matters to God. Immigrants, without the knowledge, facility with language, and the networks of support that many in the host community enjoy, are particularly vulnerable to injustice. How may Christians work at national, local, and personal levels to ensure justice for migrants?
Generosity:
God cares for the needy and requires his people to live generously. What may Christians do so that immigrants may experience the generosity of God?
Inclusion:
God directed his people to give opportunities for immigrants to participate fully as members of the community. How may Christians facilitate the inclusion of immigrants into New Zealand communities?
Family of Christ:
Believers in Christ are one family with all other believers, and we are instructed to welcome each other on that basis. How may the churches in New Zealand welcome other members of Christ’s family who arrive as immigrants?
Victims of persecution:
For some believers in Christ now as in New Testament times, migration has been forced by religious persecution. How may their Christian family receive them with hospitality, encouragement, and help?
Seeking the welfare of the city:
Both exiled Israel in the Old Testament and the persecuted church in the New Testament were told to live responsibly in the communities among whom they went to live and to seek their good. How may New Zealand Christians assist Christian immigrants to enter into the life of and contribute to the good of this country?