Chicago pastor on housing migrants in his church: ‘This is your new home.’
Seventeen churches are partnering with the Johnson administration to provide temporary shelter for hundreds of migrants across Chicago.
As winter sets in, a new partnership between the city and local churches called the Unity Initiative will house newcomers on a temporary basis in an effort to help address the migrant crisis in Chicago.
Reset checks in with Chicago Sun-Times reporter Michael Loria and Rev. Jonathan de la O, pastor of Starting Point Community Church in Belmont Cragin, one of the congregations participating in the project.
Below are a few questions and answers with the pastor from Reset‘s interview. They have been edited for clarity and length.
What pushed you to get involved?
There was a pastor friend of mine. In early May, he was asking me what we were doing as a church for the second wave of migrants. The first wave came in August 2022. And he says, “Hey, this is going to be bigger. What are you guys planning to do?” We’re a small church. We’re like, you know, we’ll pass out clothes and whatnot. And then he said, “Hey, would you be interested in housing people?” And I said, “No, I don’t know how that’s going to work logistically. And practically.” And then he told me go to the police station. Check it out. And that’s when I went. And little by little, the Lord was convicting me to say, hey, we need to open up.
When did you realize how important this work is?
I was sharing earlier today about a gentleman that we received from Police District 14. I was in the basement showing them where the showers were at, with the kitchen where they can cook, and opening cupboards and cabinets. And, one gentleman, when I opened the cabinet, he saw all the snacks and all the food and all the supplies that he hadn’t seen, maybe for years, going back to his days in Venezuela. And the term “taken aback” is usually used figuratively right? “I was taken aback.” This guy literally took a step back because he was overwhelmed by what he saw. And that overwhelmed me. And immediately he just started crying. We were meeting there for the first time. We just had a couple of conversations before. And so, my instinct was to go and embrace him and tell him ‘you’re safe here” and “this is your new home.”
How do you feel about this city-church partnership?
I feel good. We go to church on Sundays, and we sit down and receive. It’s almost like going to sports practice. We know the drills. We know the exercises. We got to execute it for game day. And this is game day now. It’s time to put into practice what we’re preaching.
What does the transition process look like?
We saw that the shelters were picking up women, children and families and left a lot of guys at the stations. And so, we decided to do only men. And these guys have been really proactive in trying to find work. About half the guys found it on their own. “Pastor, I got a job. I’m making good money. I’m gonna move out.” I say “Cool man. It was great to have you.” We take a picture, commemorate the moment. I say “Invite me to have coffee and sweet bread at your apartment whenever you’re ready.” And other guys say “Pastor, can you help me find an apartment?” Believe it or not the most success that we found are people who have moved out of state. Miami. I have New Mexico. I have someone who just moved out this week to Hawaii. Leaving Illinois completely. Our bandwidth is only so long. We only commit to certain things. And when we can find apartments and whatnot, we do.
Click the audio player to hear the full interview with Michael Loria of the Sun-Times and Reverend Jonathan de la O of Starting Point Community Church.
More From
Reset with Sasha-Ann Simons
Chicago pastor on housing migrants in his church: ‘This is your new home.’
Seventeen churches are partnering with the Johnson administration to provide temporary shelter for hundreds of migrants across Chicago.
As winter sets in, a new partnership between the city and local churches called the Unity Initiative will house newcomers on a temporary basis in an effort to help address the migrant crisis in Chicago.
Reset checks in with Chicago Sun-Times reporter Michael Loria and Rev. Jonathan de la O, pastor of Starting Point Community Church in Belmont Cragin, one of the congregations participating in the project.
Below are a few questions and answers with the pastor from Reset‘s interview. They have been edited for clarity and length.
What pushed you to get involved?
There was a pastor friend of mine. In early May, he was asking me what we were doing as a church for the second wave of migrants. The first wave came in August 2022. And he says, “Hey, this is going to be bigger. What are you guys planning to do?” We’re a small church. We’re like, you know, we’ll pass out clothes and whatnot. And then he said, “Hey, would you be interested in housing people?” And I said, “No, I don’t know how that’s going to work logistically. And practically.” And then he told me go to the police station. Check it out. And that’s when I went. And little by little, the Lord was convicting me to say, hey, we need to open up.
When did you realize how important this work is?
I was sharing earlier today about a gentleman that we received from Police District 14. I was in the basement showing them where the showers were at, with the kitchen where they can cook, and opening cupboards and cabinets. And, one gentleman, when I opened the cabinet, he saw all the snacks and all the food and all the supplies that he hadn’t seen, maybe for years, going back to his days in Venezuela. And the term “taken aback” is usually used figuratively right? “I was taken aback.” This guy literally took a step back because he was overwhelmed by what he saw. And that overwhelmed me. And immediately he just started crying. We were meeting there for the first time. We just had a couple of conversations before. And so, my instinct was to go and embrace him and tell him ‘you’re safe here” and “this is your new home.”
How do you feel about this city-church partnership?
I feel good. We go to church on Sundays, and we sit down and receive. It’s almost like going to sports practice. We know the drills. We know the exercises. We got to execute it for game day. And this is game day now. It’s time to put into practice what we’re preaching.
What does the transition process look like?
We saw that the shelters were picking up women, children and families and left a lot of guys at the stations. And so, we decided to do only men. And these guys have been really proactive in trying to find work. About half the guys found it on their own. “Pastor, I got a job. I’m making good money. I’m gonna move out.” I say “Cool man. It was great to have you.” We take a picture, commemorate the moment. I say “Invite me to have coffee and sweet bread at your apartment whenever you’re ready.” And other guys say “Pastor, can you help me find an apartment?” Believe it or not the most success that we found are people who have moved out of state. Miami. I have New Mexico. I have someone who just moved out this week to Hawaii. Leaving Illinois completely. Our bandwidth is only so long. We only commit to certain things. And when we can find apartments and whatnot, we do.
Click the audio player to hear the full interview with Michael Loria of the Sun-Times and Reverend Jonathan de la O of Starting Point Community Church.
More From
Reset with Sasha-Ann Simons