Welcoming the Stranger

"A fresh, compelling call from Scripture to live out the gospel with boldness and courage in the twenty-first century. A significant pivotal guide for the church in these times."
-Jo Anne Lyon, general ambassador for the Wesleyan Church

"In the next forty years there will be an estimated 132 million Latinos in this nation, and a critical concern for our community is fixing our broken immigration system. Welcoming the Stranger is a must-read that helps us to embrace a biblical response to this critical issue."
-Noel Castellanos, president of the Christian Community Development Association

"Biblical, urgent, readable. An excellent introduction to this complex moral issue. All thinking evangelicals should read it."
-Ron Sider, founder and president emeritus of Evangelicals for Social Action

"Immigration stands as the metric of whether or not America embraces social justice in the twenty-first century. In Welcoming the Stranger Jenny Hwang and Matt Soerens contextualize the narrative of an issue that requires analysis and discussion not from the extremes of political ideology but rather from a platform of truth, justice and compassion. Jenny and Matt equip us with the necessary acumen to reconcile Romans 13, the rule of law, with Leviticus 19, treating the alien as one of our own. Accordingly, the universal Christian symbol is the cross. The cross is both vertical and horizontal, redemption and transformation, conviction and compassion. This book will challenge us to meet at the point of convergence, the great intersect, where John 3:16 meets Luke 4, immigration via a biblical worldview."
-Reverend Samuel Rodriguez, president, National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, The Hispanic NAE

"Drawing from their experience in the trenches, Soerens and Hwang challenge their readers to move beyond the all-too-contentious and simplistic debate and think critically and biblically about what it means to love our immigrant neighbors. Clearly written and theologically informed, Welcoming the Stranger combines evocative stories of real people and the complexities of their lives with lucid explanations of immigration policy. Soerens and Hwang's book offers balanced yet impassioned analysis that is so rare but so essential to help Christians bring their faith to bear on this vexing policy issue."
-Amy Black, professor of political science at Wheaton College, author of Honoring God in Red or Blue

"Justice, compassion and truth are too often missing from the immigration debate in this country. Welcoming the Stranger provides all three with comprehensive information on every aspect of the current problem, its roots and commonsense solutions. Every Christian seeking an informed response to this critical issue should read this book."
-Jim Wallis, president, Sojourners

"Here is a book for every Christian and every church leadership team interested in one of the greatest mercy/justice issues of our time: how will the church care for immigrants in our midst? The authors write with sensitivity concerning the volatile emotions on all sides of the debates as they offer essential information designed to help us formulate responses to this very complex issue. Welcoming the Stranger inspired me to expand my heart of compassion and take action."
-Paul Borthwick, author of Great Commission, Great Commandment

"My friends Jenny Yang and Matthew Soerens have done the church a service by pointing our attention to the biblical expectation that we should care well for the stranger among us. Rather than reducing this conversation down to talking points, they have provided a thorough, researched, and biblical examination of a topic that's often hotly contested. I would encourage you to take the time to read and consider the explanations they offer. I think you'll find it practical as you attempt to live out a Christian calling in a challenging culture."
-Micah Fries, senior pastor at Brainerd Baptist Church, Chattanooga, Tennessee

"This work by Yang and Soerens is vital for our time as it maps out a pathway of hospitality for those who are seriously seeking a biblical response to issues of immigration. Confusion abounds as we wrestle with issues that are extremely complex with no simple solutions. Opposing voices are polarizing, leaving Christians in need of a guide that helps us reflect Christ well to a world that is watching. This is that guide!"
-Carla Sunberg, general superintendent of the Church of the Nazarene

"Matthew Soerens and Jenny Yang have put the 'rubber to the road' for Christians when it comes to the topic of immigration and refugee policy. Welcoming the Stranger has become a widely read explanation of a biblical response to immigration. It's refreshing to read Christian authors address a global crisis in a decidedly Christ-like manner. Soerens and Yang lead the reader through a logical argument for a compassionate policy shift on this volatile topic. I can genuinely say after reading this book, that maybe there is hope that the church will once again welcome the stranger."
-Reid Ribble, former member of Congress representing Wisconsin's eighth congressional district

"While Sorens and Hwang may not answer all your questions about the correct response to current immigration policies and, indeed, may even raise more complex questions, they do show us that, if we are to act justly, we will have to consider all its complexities."
-Jim Miller, The Daily Sentinel, July 31, 2010

"Welcoming the Stranger offers an introduction to the many aspects of immigration and the controversies surrounding it."
-Elizabeth Pearson, The Christian Librarian, vol. 53, no. 1

"Welcoming the Stranger lays the groundwork for and practically equips Christians to continue practicing what it means to follow Christ's commandment to love God and love neighbor in a fallen world."
-Kyle Navis, Latin American Theology, vol. 4, no. 2

"Soerens and Hwang argue persuasively that immigration has been and is valuable to the United States."
-Marvin Olasky, WORLD, August 15, 2009

"Soerens and Hwang advocate a generous, biblically based invitation to all immigrants to take part in America. This book will not persuade all Christians to support liberalized immigration laws, but even the skeptical should find the authors' approach useful."
-Tony Carnes, Christianity Today, May 2009

"Soerens and Hwang have injected justice, compassion, and truth into what needs to become a new conversation on immigration--values that are often in short supply in this debate."
-Glen Peterson, Sojourners, June 2009

"Soerens and Hwang do an impressive job making a complex and charged issue accessible for the average reader."
-Ben L., Book Bargains and Previews (bookbargainsandpreviews.com), April 2009

"In this highly engaging, well researched and documented book, Soerens and Hwang team up to survey and analyze the history of immigration in the United States and attempt to solve many of the problems that immigration faces through well-reasoned argumentation and personal experience. Most importantly, they do all of this not through the eyes of partisan politics, but rather through the lens of the Christian worldview. Welcoming the Stranger is a timely and important book at a point in America's history where the immigrant population is considerably growing and many Americans seek to 'do something about it.'"
-Daniel Seatvet, Christianity in Culture Examiner (examiner.com), March 20, 2009