This reflection was written by Principal Jesse Zink for this week’s Wingèd Ox, a weekly news digest distributed to the college community. You will find reflections from previous weeks here.

Dear colleagues,

Earlier this month, the Institute for Canadian Citizenship, a think-tank, and Deloitte, a consultancy firm, released the report, “Talent to Win: Employer perspectives on immigrant underemployment and the immense upside of solving it.” It’s based on research they did with businesses across the country about how they are adapting to Canada’s growing immigration levels.

In short, their conclusion was: not great. Businesses are underutilizing immigrant talent and this is exacerbating labour shortages and depressing potential economic growth. The report cites several reasons for this but a couple jumped out at me. One executive they interviewed said, “We still think immigrants need to adapt to us. But to bring in new ideas and win, we actually need to adapt to them. Until we figure this out at scale, immigrants who find work in Canada will continue to be disappointed and the incidents of culture misfit will only grow.” Another obstacle was Canada’s sense of itself as superior to other countries: “Many immigrants come from the upper/professional classes of societies and economies that are developing much more quickly than Canada,” they write. “We would do well to learn from immigrants about how our standards can improve.” Underwriting all of the challenges is what the report’s authors call Canada’s “culture of non-ambition” that “creates barriers to embracing the new ideas newcomers bring once hired.”

I think you can see where I am going with this. There is no indication that the authors spoke with any church leaders but perhaps they should have. Immigrants are reshaping churches across Canada right now. Clergy ordained overseas are coming to Canada and seeking to minister here. Immigrants are joining our congregations and taking leadership roles. Immigrants are also forming new churches, offering new ecumenical partners to the congregations we will serve. And of course, as we reflected on at our retreat in September, we are no strangers to immigration in this college community.

But it’s not clear to me that our churches know what to do with these newcomers. To what extent are we asking immigrants to become more like the people who are already in churches? To what extent are we learning from the wisdom and experience that these immigrant Christians bring with them? To what extent are we dismissing ideas because it’s “not the way we do things”?

The authors of “Talent to Win” are driven by a sense that there is a missed economic potential in how Canadian businesses are relating to immigrants. What are we missing out on in the church? Perhaps it is the opportunity to witness fully to the gospel of Jesus Christ, good news that draws all people, “from all tribes and peoples and languages” (Rev. 7:9), into one body in Christ and offers itself in service to a divided and hurting world.

At least to me, that seems worth being ambitious for.

Faithfully yours in Christ,

Jesse Zink
Principal