Lutherans Open Their Church Doors To Immigrant Families

[AlphaCentauri]

For Howard Lamont being welcoming to
the immigrant population is "simply part of the Christian
message."

"Congregations must develop a passion to reach out to
strangers," said Lamont, a member of Holy Cross Lutheran
Church, Spring Branch, Texas, a congregation of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). "Jesus would not have us
build walls around our churches," he said.

Lamont said he's been impressed with Houston's growing
diversity since moving there in 1977. People from Africa,
Asia, Central and South America, and Europe, moved to the
city and work across the economic spectrum, he said.

Lamont is co-chair of an immigration task force of the
ELCA Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod. He said the task force
contacted Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS) to
help congregations of the synod welcome and respond to the
needs of immigrants.

http://www.wfn.org/2009/06/msg00135.html

[Lydia Leftcoast]

1. This is nothing new; Lutherans were sponsoring refugees

back in the 1940s and have had Spanish-language versions of their hymnal and service book since about the 1960s.