On Friday, July 5, six panelists presented a hybrid equipping session titled Strangers No More: Ministry with Immigrants, Refugees, and Other Newcomers. They shared about their experiences with welcoming ministries, what their congregations have done for newcomers to the United States, and what advice they have for communities hoping to start engaging in this ministry.
We’ve all read the statistics: record-setting numbers of refugees and internally displaced persons throughout the world. Reading the statistics may tug at your heart, but one family’s story can call us to action.
Making connections is one of my life’s joys, and the Christian Citizenship Seminar (CCS) held on April 11-16 in Washington, D.C., was a place to make them.
The Christian Citizenship Seminar (CCS) planned for Washington, D.C., on April 11-16 will bring senior youth and their adult advisors together in the nation’s capital to engage the theme “And They Fled: Advocating for Just Immigration Policy” (Matthew 2:13-23).
The Church of the Brethren’s Office of Peacebuilding and Policy was one of more than 150 faith-based organizations and groups that signed a significant letter to Congress on the issue of immigration. More than 660 individual faith leaders also signed the letter, which was facilitated by the Interfaith Immigration Coalition.
The next Church of the Brethren Christian Citizenship Seminar (CCS), for senior high youth and first-year college students and their adult advisors, will be April 11-16, 2024, in Washington, D.C. The 2024 theme is “And They Fled: Advocating for Just Immigration Policy,” drawing from Matthew 2:13-23.
Children’s Disaster Services (CDS) deployed a team of three volunteers to Oak Park, Ill., to aid children and families among asylum seekers who have been sent to Chicago from the southern border of Texas. The team served from Monday, Nov. 6, to Thursday, Nov. 9, caring for 51 children.
The October online offering from the Ventures in Christian Discipleship program at McPherson (Kan.) College will be “From Ukraine to Central Kansas: A Positive Refugee Experience” to be presented by the McPherson (Kan.) Church of the Brethren Welcomers Group. The course will be held online Saturday, Oct. 28, from 10 a.m. to 12 noon (central time). Continuing education units (CEUs) are available.
Brethren Disaster Ministries has directed grants from the Church of the Brethren’s Emergency Disaster Fund (EDF) to respond to multiple crises in Haiti, support continued Brethren Disaster Ministries work following 2022’s summer flooding in the central United States, aid displaced Ukrainians with disabilities, provide school kits for displaced children in the Democratic Republic of Congo, provide flood relief in Rwanda, and support a summer program for migrant children in Washington, D.C.
An emerging Church of the Brethren denomination is in process of formation in Mexico, reports Global Food Initiative manager and Global Mission staff Jeff Boshart following a trip to Tijuana in mid-April. Documents to make the group an official church in the country are being submitted to Mexican authorities, beginning a process that is expected to take several months.
