PCA ministry apologizes for controversial website as concerns persist

The Presbyterian Church in America’s Mission to North America last week took down a webpage that shared information advising illegal immigrants on ways they could avoid authorities.

The organization deleted the page after receiving alarmed and critical messages from Christian leaders within the denomination. In the organization’s apology statement, MNA Coordinator Irwyn Ince said he and other church officials “repent and apologize” for providing information that could help individuals subvert the laws put in place by governing authorities. But the criticism continued.

Some conservative leaders argued that the fact that the information made it onto the webpage at all was evidence of a politically and socially left-leaning agenda at work inside Mission to North America. Some accused the organization of treason.

MNA is one of many church ministries reckoning with how to support immigrants in their congregations and community programs as the Trump administration ramps up immigration enforcement. While some church leaders view immigration advocacy as an essential component of their gospel witness, others argue that even well-intentioned initiatives to protect illegal immigrants subtly endorse lawbreaking.

The Presbyterian Church in America is the second-largest Presbyterian denomination in the country and is made up of about 2,000 congregations. Those congregations work together in local presbyteries and then send representatives to an annual General Assembly. That General Assembly can then authorize the creation of agencies such as the Mission to North America, which assists congregations with activities such as church planting, charity work, and responding to disasters. It also helps congregations with ministering to immigrants.

The removed page on the MNA site included links to other organizations’ sites—many of them left-leaning groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union—containing advice about how to handle interactions with authorities and prepare for the possibility of being deported. A section answering frequently asked questions, with information taken from World Relief, warned illegal immigrants against carrying documents showing their country of origin. It also instructed them to refuse to speak to authorities without first conferring with a lawyer and advised them not to open the door if authorities asked to enter their residence.

Another tip encouraged illegal immigrants to consult with an immigration lawyer before applying for asylum in case doing so would draw attention to the fact that they are living in the country illegally.

The rank-and-file of the Presbyterian Church in America, a majority of whom consider themselves conservative, are not pleased with the information erroneously posted on the MNA website, MNA Permanent Committee Member Zachary Groff told WORLD.

Groff agreed that the organization should not have posted the information and said he was glad to see the webpage was, rightfully, taken down. The PCA has no business being affiliated with organizations such as the ACLU that have radical, anti-Christian agendas, he said.

But he noted that the Mission to North America wasn’t posting this information in a vacuum. About 1 out of every 10 congregations affiliated with the Presbyterian Church in America is involved in some sort of immigrant-friendly ministry, Groff said. These ministries work with many legal immigrants but also, sometimes, illegal immigrants.

“Those particular resources had been posted in response to specific requests from churches serving immigrants in their community outreach and evangelism programs,” MNA Coordinator Irwyn Ince told WORLD. Loving immigrants both inside and outside the church is an important part of MNA’s work, Ince said: “Simply put, we want to help our churches to holistically love all of their neighbors in Jesus’ name.”

When asked for a response to criticisms saying that the webpage’s publication resulted from a social and political leftward drift at MNA, Ince said the organization remained committed to Scripture and to the PCA’s constitution.

“I do not believe that the offending publication was influenced by a progressive or liberal spirit within the PCA,” Zachary Groff said. He, too, emphasized that Presbyterian churches wanted to love their neighbors and that MNA only sought to support them in that work.

Gabriel Salguero, pastor and president of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition, declined to comment on the MNA’s webpage or statement. He said churches and ministries have an essential role to play in advising immigrants on how to engage with authorities, and he pushed back against characterizations of advocacy as “mission drift.”

“We are asking people to respect the rule of law but also examine if that’s the best we can do. Christians call for reform of the law all the time,” Salguero said, “We’re advocating for … bipartisan, commonsense immigration reform that secures the border, that deals with violent criminals, but at the same time deals humanely with families and children.”

Salguero’s coalition hosted three virtual trainings for pastors and ministry leaders after November’s presidential election. Immigration lawyers explained immigrants’ constitutional rights and shared tips on how to avoid escalating interactions with authorities. They encouraged the leaders to remind immigrants that they have the right to remain silent and can ask Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents for a judicial warrant before letting them inside their home.

That’s different from encouraging immigrants to avoid or mislead ICE agents, Salguero said. “Nobody’s asking for people to break the law,” he added. “It’s actually teaching them how to comply with the law.”

Attendees also discussed how to help church members prepare for the possibility of them or their loved ones being deported. “Those are very pragmatic questions that they ask pastors about,” he said. According to Salguero, more than 500 pastors attended the most recent training on Jan. 24.

Elket Rodríguez is an immigration attorney in Harlingen, Texas, where he also serves as a missionary and global migration advocate for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. “If churches ignore the realities immigrants face, they risk offering a faith that’s disconnected from the real-life struggle of the people they serve,” Rodríguez said, though he noted there’s a clear line between obstructing the work of law enforcement and understanding your rights.

Groff said he’s pleased with MNA Coordinator Irwyn Ince’s decision to retract, apologize for, and repent of putting the information on MNA’s website. He said the committee is planning on raising the issue at its spring meetings next month in Atlanta. That could include discussions about how to improve the process for reviewing content before it’s published on MNA’s website, Groff said.

“We simply want to be good neighbors to whoever the Lord brings to our front door as the church,” Groff said. “I think it’s the permanent committee’s role ... to help course correct and provide better guidance on how to best be a resource to the church and to the people served by the church and serving in the church, so that we can all be in submission to lawful authority.”