Forming Faith Blog

The Language of Immigration (On Immigration)

Posted on July 2 2025 by Gregory Rawn

Immigration is a hot-button topic, now and throughout human history. In this first of a series of blog posts on immigration, I focus on helpful—and unhelpful—language.

An silhouette image of adults and children leaving a tunnel and moving toward a sunrise. How we talk about immigration matters.
Current Events, Ancient History

You would have to be living as a hermit not to know that immigration is a “hot button” issue right now. This might be especially true (or at least loudest) in the United States, but it is a serious issue throughout the world. And it has for most of human history, at least as long as people have had anything that they’ve thought of as “our land” and divided others between insiders and outsiders. The ancient Greeks and Romans definitely had an issue. Their word for these outsiders was “barbarian,” from the unintelligible (to the natives) languages they spoke that sounded like “bar-bar-bar.”

Travelers: Immigrants and Refugees in the Bible

The current urgency of the issue inspired us at Spirit & Truth Publishing to start working on a five-lesson unit on this issue immediately, rather than waiting until the fall as we usually do. This unit, Learning Together: Travelers, will be released in August 2025 (if not earlier). Our Learning Together series is a set of unrelated five-lesson units intended for both elementary ages and intergenerational groups and can be easy-to-use, theologically sound, and inclusive options for family/intergenerational events, VBS, camps and retreats, Sunday school classes, and more. Learning Together: Travelers teaches what the Bible tells us about immigration in the Bible from the Torah to the stories of Abram and Sarai, Moses and the Israelites, Ruth and Naomi, and the Holy Family.

The Importance of Language

As I started my research into immigration and the Bible, I was frustrated by the words different translations used for “immigrant.” The same Hebrew word ger is translated variously as “alien,” “stranger,” “foreigner,” and “sojourner.” While all of these would be considered accurate, they have different, and I argue unhelpful (at best), connotations.

I particularly take issue with the NRSV’s use of the term “alien.” That’s a defined legal term (at least in the United States), but for most people (especially kids), “alien” brings to mind strange beings from a different planet. This is a quintessential “othering” term, and one that literally dehumanizes immigrants. “Stranger” is better, but it still has negative connotations in terms of “stranger danger” and strange as “not normal.” “Foreigner” is better still, since we often have a positive sense of visiting foreign countries, given the popularity/exclusiveness of international travel. “Sojourner” is basically an archaic term at this point, so it is singularly unhelpful.

I’m not quite sure why they never use “immigrant.” Strong’s Lexicon describes ger as:

A person who had left their homeland and settled in Israel, often due to economic hardship, famine, or conflict.*

That sounds like an immigrant to me.

Defining Terms

Precise terminology, especially with an attempt at neutrality, is important in any controversial issue, and this is no exception. Here is what we use:

  • Immigration: The topic about the movement of people from one country to another. (Note: A topic (like immigration) can be an issue (controversial or not). A person (like an immigrant) cannot be an issue, because they are a human being.)
  • Immigrant: A person who has moved from one country to settle in another for any reason. 
  • Refugee: A person described by the internationally recognized legal definition of “individuals who have fled their home country due to a well-founded fear of persecution based on race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.” 
  • “Desperate” immigrant: A term I use myself to describe people who are not precisely refugees, but who flee a country because of a desperate or dangerous situation, whether that be famine, severe and persistent economic hardship, criminal violence, etc.
Blog Series

It is my intention here in my blog to reflect on the topic of immigration in a series of three blog posts, of which this is the first. The working titles of the other two are:

  • Love Immigrants as Yourself 
  • Faith, Politics, and Human Rights

So, until the next post…

In Christ’s love,

Gregory Rawn (Publisher)

*Strangely enough, in between the date when I first copied the above definition from Strong’s Lexicon at biblehub.com (February 2025) and now, the “Usage” and “Cultural and Historical Background” sections disappeared. So, I got the quote at https://biblehub.com/hebrew/1616.htm, but it’s not there anymore.

Order Faith Formation Resources

Planning for the 2025-2026 program year? Our Narrative Lectionary (Year 4, 2025-2026) and Revised Common Lectionary (Years C & A, 2025-2026), not to mention our non-lectionary Living the Word: Classroom (PK-2nd, 3rd-6th) resources are online and ready to order, with the Fall and Winter lessons available for immediate download! If you don’t have much time for full-length children’s Christian education, then check out our Kids Mini Lessons for the NL and RCL.

Are you looking for resources for VBS, family/intergenerational events, or Sunday school? Check out our newest Learning Together unit: Celebrations!

Celebrations is a recommended VBS curriculum by Building Faith (and the only curriculum they reviewed from a small, independent publisher)!!!

Learning Together is a series of five-lesson units on a variety of topics. You can read outside reviews on both our Do Justice and Created to Care units! Our faith formation resources are easy to use, theologically sound, and inclusive.

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