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Going forward, we have decided to tighten our efforts by focusing on a particular polarizing issue, approaching it from as many angles as we could imagine and delivering stories, case studies, and observations from pastors and faith communities across the state. We are a small research project. Like congregations, we cannot tackle every issue. But, also like congregations, we can do something.

Our first issue is immigration, one of the most cited issues that pastors mentioned when we asked them which polarizing topic was most relevant or divisive in their congregation. Turn on any news station or read a piece of print or digital journalism, and you are likely to see something on immigration, and very rarely will it be neutral or nuanced. We will not need to convince anyone that immigration is a polarizing issue in America. Not everyone in Indiana is affected by it to the same extent, but it shapes the context in which we live and in which these pastors conduct their ministries. When congregations seek to discern their appropriate role in the broader community, ongoing social change will always be part of the context.

Over the next several months, all of our new research efforts will be aimed at learning and telling the stories of congregations in Indiana dealing with immigration in some way. We are currently visiting congregations across the state to learn firsthand how they are facing this complicated social issue and will begin releasing reports, analyses, and stories soon. Here are some examples of stories we are already following:

• In Seymour, a proposed economic development plan hit a wall when a large subsection of the community objected strongly to an Immigrant Welcome Center.  Many pastors were blindsided when some of their members showed up at the City Council meeting to protest the new center.
• A mix of congregations, non-profit organizations, and for-profit investors are building “The Refuge” in Fort Wayne, a converted office building that will now house Haitian immigrants and provide a variety of resources to them. 
• A small congregation in South Bend offered sanctuary to an undocumented new mother and her infant, allowing her to live in their community house across the street from the church.
• Pastors near the Illinois border are dealing with demographic change as Mexican immigrants become a much larger part of their corner of Benton County, a farm county that is more than 90% white, non-Hispanic. 
• Pastors in the Wabash Pastoral Leadership Program traveled to the Texas/Mexico border to learn about immigration, asylum, and refugee status. Project Director Art Farnsley accompanied them to gauge their reactions as they learned about border crossings, political asylum, and service to refugees.
• Bridge of Grace Ministries is a Latino-led service center in southeast Fort Wayne.  Prior to the 2024 election, we held a Listening Tour session there to learn about concerns from the Latino clergy community.
• Faith-based schools across Indiana are adjusting to recent changes in Indiana’s school voucher program that allow them to serve many more immigrant students. For many Catholic schools this has meant Latino students, but on the south side of Indianapolis, it has meant Chin students for some Protestant schools. In some cases, the congregations that run these schools are shrinking even as the schools are growing.

We plan to dig deep into these stories—and to learn new stories—as we study congregations facing this divisive, often emotional, issue.  We also hope to add important context for pastors whose congregations are doing the work of discernment. We will examine the history of immigration in Indiana and the role religion has always played in that. We will share information about immigration that has proved helpful to Indiana pastors struggling with the issue.

We are not experts on immigration as a legal issue, but we are watching what congregations are doing and we understand the questions they are asking. We will always consider the big picture—how does congregational response to immigration effect society—but we will approach this by telling the stories of real pastors and congregations doing ministry in the context of social change linked to ongoing immigration.

As part of this new, tighter, focus, we have enlisted a team of pastors who will help us formulate the right questions and will also read and comment on the analysis we produce before we publish it. We mean to create a feedback loop where we are always trying to blend our data and analysis with the pastors’ concerns for their specific situations.

We encourage everyone to contact us with questions about any of our analysis, reflections on ways their congregation deals with immigration, or ideas for other stories we should know about. We understand this is a tense, emotional issue for many people. Our job is not to take political or theological sides—plenty of others already have that job. We want to help people understand what is happening in Indiana so pastors and their congregations can make better informed decisions as they seek to discern their missions.

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