Integration is a very hot topic in Sweden, especially with the election results a few months ago. If you don't know, conservatives made some major advances on the platform of cutting immigration.
Below is a link to a very relevant article from the New York Times about the status of immigration and integration in Sweden. We would really encourage you to read it because it describes a major issue we face as we navigate the Swedish context. After you read, please see our comments below.
Integration in Sweden
We have a unique opportunity! As you may have heard from us in the past, we live in a very segregated city. In our section resides the highest population of immigrants, as high as 90%. While we work in one of these sections, we live in a highly Swedish neighborhood surrounded by these communities. As "hidden immigrants", looking European, we have an umatched vantage point of this immigration divide and are often privy to the dialogue of both sides.
Knowing that God wants all people to know him and be reconciled to him, we are committed to this dialogue of integration. Tangibly this means investing in friendships with Muslims (a high percentage of our language classes), reaching out to immigrants through Medvandrarna (our Saturday morning outreach), and building a community center in one of these communities. We also are comitted to helping Swedish Christians and nonbelievers reach across "the line" in service, friendship, and mission. In doing so, we pray not only for them but that we can all be transformed. As it says in Ephesians 2:14-18...
"The Messiah has made things up between us so that we're now together on this, both non-Jewish outsiders and Jewish insiders. He tore down the wall we used to keep each other at a distance. He repealed the law code that had become so clogged with fine print and footnotes that it hindered more than it helped. Then he started over. Instead of continuing with two groups of people separated by centuries of animosity and suspicion, he created a new kind of human being, a fresh start for everybody.
Christ brought us together through his death on the cross. The Cross got us to embrace, and that was the end of the hostility. Christ came and preached peace to you outsiders and peace to us insiders. He treated us as equals, and so made us equals. Through him we both share the same Spirit and have equal access to the Father. (MSG)"
