9:17 a.m. Baptists say illegal immigration law won’t change their mission

MOORE, Okla. (AP) — Oklahoma Baptists say the state’s new immigration law will not stop them from ministering to people regardless of their immigration status.

“While we do not intentionally harbor or employ illegal immigrants in our work, neither do we screen or profile individuals before we minister to them in the name of Jesus,” said a statement adopted Tuesday by delegates at the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma’s annual meeting.

Leaders said the “Ministry to All People” resolution is an answer to clergy and lay concerns that the new law might hamper ministry. The bill seeks to bar illegal immigrants from obtaining jobs or public benefits and penalizes those who harbor or transport them.

“While we as Christians are under Biblical mandate to respect the divine institution of government and its laws, let it be known that House Bill 1804 related to illegal immigration will not change our ministry to any people. We will continue to work with all of our churches and missions to accomplish this task,” the resolution states.

The Rev. Anthony Jordan, the convention’s executive director-treasurer, said the resolution aimed to send two messages.

“First we wanted to say to our churches they should not worry about serving and ministering to people,” Jordan said.

“The law was certainly not designed to keep us from ministering to people, but even if it was, we have a higher responsibility to meet the needs of hurting people. We want our people to understand you don’t have to back up at all.

“Second of all is to say to any person...that we want to share the love of Christ with every person, no matter documented or undocumented.”

The Rev. Robert Wilson of Ardmore, chairman of the resolutions committee, said the statement was carefully worded to avoid any inference to civil disobedience nor did committee members want it viewed as an “anti-immigration reform law” statement.

Randall Adams, leader of the Baptist convention’s church outreach team, said about 100 of the approximately 1,700 Southern Baptist churches in the state are predominantly Spanish-speaking congregations.

In recent weeks, other Oklahoma denominations have come forward with public statements of opposition to HB 1804, calling it “unjust.” The Oklahoma City Archdiocese adopted a “pledge of resistance” against the law and presented signed copies to Gov. Brad Henry’s office.

The Oklahoma Conference of Churches, representing 16 Oklahoma denominations, called the law a “disastrous effort” in its statement of opposition. The conference includes the Roman Catholic, United Methodist, Presbyterian Church USA, Episcopal and Evangelical Lutheran Church of America denominations, among others.

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