Fuller Seminary Holds Prayer Walk for Immigration Reform

About 300 students, faculty members and staff of Fuller Theological Seminary and other church members joined a prayer walk on Monday calling for a comprehensive immigration reform that will allow citizenship to around 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States.

Fuller Seminary President Dr. Mark Labberton, along with other Fuller students and staff, gathered on Arol Burns Mall, Fuller campus about 4:30 p.m. and walked along Colorado Boulevard towards Pasadena City Hall.

“Though we are a nation that sometimes loves thinking of itself as an immigrant nation, when it comes to immigration policy we’re often shut down in a place with a much smaller heart than what God would want us to demonstrate,” Labberton said. “We are asking for a bigger heart and a capacity to look again at undocumented people and understand the reality and depth of human suffering that’s really at stake, and the significance of the need for deep and profound immigration reform.”

Labberton said the movement asked that congress pass legislation that will enable immigrants to attain citizenship through a faster process.

“We ask that action on immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship be taken as soon as possible. We ask this out of the spirit of compassion of Jesus Christ,” he said. “We’re not legislators, we don’t right the code. We’re here to make an appeal of the heart and the mind out of compassion and mercy for people who deserve this opportunity.”

Tommy Givens, Assistant Professor of New Testament Studies at Fuller, said immigrants have suffered enough injustice and that the citizens must not turn a “blind eye” to the needs of the immigrants.

“We say enough is enough! Enough living in fear. Enough being exploited by employers and others. Enough dividing families by deportation,” Givens said. “As evangelical Christians we call upon U.S. lawmakers for an opportunity for our immigrant neighbors’ full participation in society as citizens, for an end to a life of fear.”

Fuller student Jennifer Hernandez noted that immigrants go to foreign countries to seek better jobs and a safer environment, sacrificing their family ties and abandoning their children and communities.

“I strongly believe that Christians should pay close attention to this movement of people, to hear what it is the Lord is trying to tell us through his undocumented children everywhere,” she said. “Just as God heard the cries of his children in Egypt and acted upon such realization, so let us listen to the cries of those who are dehumanized and oppressed by the current immigration system. Let us instead enact a true liberty of spirit and body through the power of the Holy Spirit, the love of God, and Jesus’ example.”

The event is co-organized by nonprofit G92, which calls for a biblical response to immigration; and LA Voice, an interfaith community organization which is part of the PICO National Network working through the Campaign for Citizenship.

Daniel Watts, G92 Coordinator at World Relief, said many Christian students around the country are starting to get involved in the issue of immigration.

“I’ve led over a dozen G92 events and spoken to thousands of Christian students around the country on this important biblical topic, but this was one of the most powerful events I’ve ever been a part of Fuller’s evangelical call for immigration reform could be a watershed moment that spurs evangelicals across the country to join the hundreds of thousands of evangelicals who are already praying for immigration reform,” Watts said.