Posted on 12/11/2025 1:17:09 AM PST by Morgana
As the Trump administration is reportedly preparing to deploy 100 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to Minnesota, home to an estimated 87,000 people with Somali ties, Lutheran church leaders are pushing back against federal immigration enforcement actions with evangelism.
Last Tuesday, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said ICE agents are being deployed to the Twin Cities to specifically target the Somali community, which has faced allegations of rampant fraud involving the state’s benefit system after federal prosecutors charged dozens of individuals with stealing over $300 million from the Federal Child Nutrition Program through Feeding Our Future, a Minnesota-based nonprofit.
The state's Democratic Gov. Tim Walz conceded that the total amount stolen through these fraud schemes could be as much as $1 billion. An audit is expected to be released to the public in January 2026.
The alleged fraud schemes drew controversial remarks from President Donald Trump during a Cabinet meeting last week, in which he referred to Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn. — who hails from Somalia and has referred to that country's leader as "my president" — as "garbage" and suggested Somalians "come from Hell."
Trump described Somalia in the Horn of Africa as "barely a country" and accused refugees in the Twin Cities of having "ripped off that state for billions of dollars, every year, and they contribute nothing." The president also threatened to strip temporary legal protections from Somalis living in Minnesota.
In response to the president’s remarks, some Christian denominations and organizations, including the left-leaning Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and Lutheran Heritage Foundation (LHF), condemned what one leader described as Trump’s “anti-immigrant rhetoric” and urged Lutherans in Minnesota to stand up for their Somali neighbors.
The LHF, a registered service organization with the Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod (LCMS), is a mission organization dedicated to translating and publishing the foundational books of the Lutheran faith into nearly 190 languages, including Somalian.
Dinku Bato, LHF regional director for Africa, is part of a group of Lutheran pastors and lay leaders working to figure out how best to share the Gospel with their Somali neighbors in the Twin Cities, home to the world’s largest Somali population outside the country of Somalia.
LHF began translating Martin Luther’s “Small Catechism” into Somali in the early 2000s, and since then, distribution has “taken place cautiously” within Somalia and more widely among Somali communities in neighboring African countries, Europe and North America, Bato said.
While he wouldn't comment specifically on ICE's enforcement actions or Trump’s comments about Somalia, Bato said he believes Lutherans have a duty to receive anyone as a neighbor.
“When immigrants, Somali or otherwise, arrive in our communities, we receive those opportunities with gratitude,” he recently told The Christian Post. “And the beauty of a book is that it travels with the reader. Even if someone must relocate, whether within the U.S. or internationally, that book continues teaching and proclaiming Christ wherever it goes.”
To date, LHF has published seven different books in the Somali language, with more than 100,000 copies printed. While Bato said LHF itself doesn't typically conduct one-on-one evangelism, they often provide books at no cost to missionaries, congregations and individuals at various events, including an LHF conference in July focused on Somali outreach.
Following that event, Bato recommended that evangelists may want to avoid handing out the Bible or other books to Somalis because a “book can be a problem for Somali people when they bring them into their homes.” He even warned attendees against sharing the Gospel “unless it’s an emergency and a person is dying. Instead, relate to them. Pour coffee, invite them to dinner. That is a good thing.”
When asked whether he believes the Gospel presentation is central to Somali outreach, Bato said, “For many Somalis, if you begin a conversation by immediately presenting the Gospel, the discussion ends before it begins. The person may shut down or walk away because of fear, cultural pressure, or past experiences.”
The vast majority of foreign-born Somalis living in Minnesota are not only naturalized U.S. citizens, but also identify as Sunni Muslims. Since 2007, Minnesota has been home to the recruitment of young Somali men by the Islamic State and al-Shabaab terror networks.
Is the Somali outreach done by Bato and others bearing fruit in Minnesota? Bato said there are no reliable statistics on the number of Somali Christians in the U.S., largely in part because of Somali culture.
“The primary reason is that most Somali believers do not worship publicly. Instead, they gather in small, informal home groups due to the social, economic and familial consequences they may face if their Christian faith becomes known,” he said.
Despite keeping a low profile, Bato says there are “a few” Somali Christian fellowships in Minneapolis and the Columbus, Ohio, area, along with scattered “individual believers across the U.S. But when asked if he could provide any specifics on how many Somali Christian fellowships are located in Minnesota, Bato declined.
“These are people I stay in touch with, share resources with, and visit when possible,” he said. “But any broad numerical estimate would be speculative and potentially unsafe.”
I would consider this group as having qualified itself for telling Jesus that they fed the poor and took care of the sick, only to have Christ say, “I did not know you.”
Point well taken.
they are suppose to convert them, yet they are afraid of...what?
“Dinku Bato”. The sound my garbage disposal makes when it’s stopped up
There are some.
There are some decent ones but those were the ones who were agriculturalists living in the countryside, who came in the earliest wave. When the Navy did the food distribution made sure food got to them, but when Clinton was elected he took the relief operation out of the Navy’s hands and put the UN in charge and the army..
Then instead of getting food directly to the people in the rural areas suffering most from drought, it was given to the urban gang leaders and Khat sellers in Mogadishu.They then became powerful warlords bbecause they, and not the Navy, controlled who did and did not receive a is.
The early refugees were people who were rural and persecuted, suffering from gangs of urban thieves and being deprived of food. After Clinton, however, the warlords like Aidid pretty much determined who would get out of that hell hole, and he was a muslim nutcase, so the flow of refugees went from the persecuted, to people who had been the persecutors, the Islamicist radicals. And those latter ones , the Islamists, were brought over in such numbers that they control and intimidate here just as they did back in Somalia. That theft of a billion dollars was essentially what they did to their fellow Somalis back home too.
The warlords, of course, were aligned with Al Qaeda, and the money they have been stealing has been going overseas to finance even more terrorism against those who are not islamists.
Lutheran Services is one of the most corrupt scam agency which has profited handsomely facilitating the Somali invasion.
Yes.
The church run college up there actually pushed out the guy who was probably their best Christian professor, Rev Gregory P Schulz, due to their irrational wokeness and he ended up starting a woke-free seminary school in Kenya where they actually do teach Christianity, without timidity.
Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota – Refugee Services Offers Welcoming Presence and Vital Resettlement Resources to New Minnesotans
October 23, 2024
Bridging Agency Partner Spotlight
Featuring Lynn Mullin, Director of Refugee Services, Metro Region
There are 43.4 million refugees worldwide. Less than one-half of 1% of the world’s refugees each year find a safe haven through resettlement in another country.*
Minnesota organizations like Lutheran Social Service – Refugee Services provide a welcoming presence, a qualified staff with cross-cultural competence, and a collection of critical services that support refugees who resettle in Minnesota.
Lynn Mullin, Director of Refugee Services in the Metro Region, works alongside a team that coordinates housing and resources for refugees before their arrival and in their initial months as residents. . .
LSS Refugee Services serves families from all over the world. Currently, the largest group comes from Somalia. New arrivals also come from Afghanistan, Burma/Myanmar, Democratic Republic of Congo, Latin America, Sudan, Syria, and elsewhere, according to Lynn.
Individuals who receive refugee status in the United States are eligible for services through the federally-funded U.S. Refugee Admission Program: Reception and Placement within the U.S. Department of State.
Each fiscal year, a presidential determination sets a target number of refugees to be admitted for U.S. resettlement. In fiscal year 2024, which ended on September 30, 2024, the United States resettled 100,000 individuals. The presidential determination for FY25 is 125,000.
“It’s been a busy year,” Lynn said. “2024 will be the first time in five years that we have resettled 100% of the individuals we anticipated and planned for resettlement in Minnesota.”
LSS Refugee Services provides a variety of services to refugees within the first five years of arrival to the United States. This includes Reception and Placement for the first 90 days upon their arrival. Individuals and families may also be eligible for a matching grant program that provides an additional eight months of support including employment assistance and cash benefits.
Lynn’s team focuses on accessing important resources that help create stability for refugees as they transition to life in Minnesota. They work within short timelines, sometimes not knowing of a family’s arrival until two days in advance.
The team has a dedicated housing specialist who builds relationships with property owners and secures housing options for incoming families.
“The housing search is complicated,” she says. “When refugees arrive in this country, they don’t have the documentation that property owners are accustomed to seeing. They have no rental history or jobs. They have only $1,250 per person. We have property owners we partner with who are highly reliable and will help expedite the housing process.”
Once housing is secured, LSS Refugee Services is expected to provide a federally-regulated list of household goods, which includes basic items, such as beds with frames, a dining room table and chairs, living room seating, kitchen and cleaning supplies, linens, and more. . .
* * *
The federal government provides local resettlement agencies with a one-time sum of $2,375 per person. These initial refugee resettlement funds help pay for some of a household’s basic needs, including initial housing, basic furnishings, initial food, and clothing. Persons with refugee status may receive part of these resources in cash, and part in payments made to third parties on their behalf. . .
Hebrews 9:27
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment
| Denomination | Approximate Baptized Membership (as of ~2024/2025 data) | International Affiliation |
| ELCA | 2.68 million | Lutheran World Federation (LWF) |
| LCMS | 1.7–2 million | International Lutheran Council (ILC) |
| WELS | 340,000–375,000 | Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference (CELC) |
| LCMC | ~300,000 | Global Confessional & Missional Lutheran Forum |
| NALC | ~175,000 | Global Confessional & Missional Lutheran Forum |
““Dinku Bato”. The sound my garbage disposal makes when it’s stopped up”
I think it’s more like the sound of Jar Jar Binks farts.
When asked whether he believes the Gospel presentation is central to Somali outreach, Bato said, “For many Somalis, if you begin a conversation by immediately presenting the Gospel, the discussion ends before it begins. The person may shut down or walk away because of fear, cultural pressure, or past experiences.”
Martin Luther would no longer recognize the “Lutheran” world.
I was born a Lutheran in Minneapolis. Hard for me to imagine the shitshow it is today.
There are a fair variety of Lutheran churches. Missouri Synod was pretty faithful to Luther’s teaching, as I recall.
It has been some time.
“But when asked if he could provide any specifics on how many Somali Christian fellowships are located in Minnesota, Bato declined.
“These are people I stay in touch with, share resources with, and visit when possible,” he said. “But any broad numerical estimate would be speculative and potentially unsafe.”
UNSAFE??!!
Why??!!
He even warned attendees against sharing the Gospel “unless it’s an emergency and a person is dying.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Really? So is that an acknowledgement that hearing the Gospel is essential?
I got news for Bato... he is dying and in fact we all are dying right from the first breath we took.
Hebrews 9:27 “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:”
As for it being an emergency, no one knows exactly when death will arrive.... but after it happens, there will be judgement.
Why don’t the LUTHIES take a page from the MUZZIES? Convert or die!
This is a “smear by association “ job directed by the very respectable Lutheran Heritage Foundation.
CP has purposefully misrepresented LHF as “left leaning”.
I have been a supporter, contributor and advocate for LHF since its foundation; and worked to see LHF being included as an RSO (Recognized Service Organization) in the LCMS.
The LHF is not associated with LSS or any ELCA related “services” group that takes US grant money.
LHF runs a tight ship without help from Uncle Sugar.
Sadly, the Christian Post indulgences in “orthodox Lutheran Bashing” at every opportunity.
Disconnect and read the LHF part on its own and you would have a completely different view were it not associated with “the Left-leaning ELCA” in the story.
I can safely say that the administration of the LHF does not consider the ELCA as “Lutheran” in any sense.
Errata: “directed AT the Lutheran Heritage Foundation”
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