Paris has so much to offer those who visit….world-class museums, abundant cafes, amazing shopping, picturesque scenery…and of course delicious food. One thing they are missing….French people. I recently spent a week there on vacation with the family and I noticed there are two significant groups of people in Paris….tourists and immigrants…..with the French disappearing into the background as a minority.
Over the past few years the conflicts around immigration in Europe have come to light in various ways. Countries such as France with significant number of immigrants have seen protests, riots, and new laws. And it’s not just France that is struggling with this but it’s all of Europe. As one who has now lived in both a European country and a nearby non-European country I can see both sides of the issue and I struggle to know what is right.
I see the side of the immigrant. They live in countries with unemployment rates often as high as 60%. They have education but no work….they struggle to make it daily….and they see no hope for this changing any time soon. They see Europe as the closest land of opportunity…and they go for it. Sometimes legally…often times illegally.
I also see the side of the host country. They see the immigrants enter into the country…often times illegally. The immigrant usually does very little to integrate into the host culture. They don’t learn the language…they don’t adapt their dress….they don’t take the time to understand the new norms and expectations…and they usually take advantage of the social benefits without contributing to cover the cost. They move into neighborhoods and slowly the locals move out. The result is neighborhoods with graffiti, drugs and high crime.
The conflict isn’t going away any time soon so I wonder…can the church help? Could the church in these cities befriend the immigrants and help them integrate? Free language classes…integration assistance….helping register kids for school…helping them understand the culture….helping them to fit in? Is anyone doing this? Can it work?
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Did you find any churches?? I mean churches who actually live out the gospel in Paris?? I have been here a little over a year and THAT is the hard part. True Christ-Followers are few and far between. I do see and agree with what you are talking about. I read somewhere that in 10 years Paris will be less than 50 percent French. (and will continue to decline!)
I saw this when we lived in Ireland, except in Ireland there was a greater degree of integration than what you’re describing. I think the larger cities are where integration fails to happen. Places like London, New York, San Francisco, etc. don’t integrate individuals into the host culture very well, they usually accommodate the entire community into the life of the city so you get “China Town”, “Little Italy”, the “Muslim Quarter”. These places are a life unto themselves.
Another question is, how far should churches help people assimilate into their host country without violating scripture. There are certain aspects of the cultures I’ve lived in where I’m glad the immigrants didn’t pick them up. In fact, I’m not sure I see this talk of assimilation in the New Testament as much as commands of living lives that reflect Jesus so that the people around are surprised by the Christian’s Christ-likeness.
This is happening in some urban centers in the U.S. as well (e.g. NYC). I would propose that one approach the church undertake would be to be a blessing to the immigrant communities. This could take lots of forms including language tutoring, skills development, etc. Through incarnational discipling, believers can encourage new believers to be a blessing to others including the host country. Instead of promoting assimilation, we can encourage being a blessing to those in our community. Did I mention incarnational as an important part of this?
A few weeks ago NewsWeek ran an article documenting the same phenomenon in Venice. big time out of time buyers are buying up choice real estate. This in turn drives the prices up so that the local Venicians are moving out. Whats worse is that the people who are buying the houses only use them in the summer and they stay “shuttered” the rest of the year.
Tragic on a number of levels