Across the nation, immigrants in our communities are under attack. Our own congregations have experienced firsthand the devastating injustices committed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Many members have been unjustly detained and deported, and many more are living in fear—afraid to attend church services, work, or go to necessary medical appointments.
This summer, Jesus Lounge Ministry, an Atlantic Southeast District church in Delray Beach, Fla., has been very active in supporting members and their families with their paperwork and immigration documentation.
The delegate body received the final report of the Standing with People of Color Coordinating Committee, following a study/action process begun by the 2022 Annual Conference.
A pre-Annual Conference workshop to gain skills in developing intercultural relationships was led by Darla Deardorff, founding president of the World Council on Intercultural and Global Competence and UNESCO Chair on Intercultural Competence.
The annual Revelation 7:9 Awards were presented to eight individuals this year, in an event held during the Mission and Ministry Board’s pre-Conference meeting on July 2 in Greensboro, N.C. Intercultural Ministries director Founa A. Badet presented the awards.
Members of two congregations in the Church of the Brethren’s Southern Ohio and Kentucky District and one congregation in Pacific Southwest District were deported in the last two weeks, to Honduras, Nicaragua, and El Salvador. Please pray for their families left behind in the United States and the church communities that continue to support them.
Intercultural Ministries Frontliners: A volunteer opportunity for Church of the Brethren members as liaisons in their districts, working alongside the Intercultural Ministries office to help carry out the vision of togetherness as described in the compelling vision
In response to concerns raised by congregations in their districts related to potential detention and deportation among members of the Church of the Brethren, a group of church districts is working cooperatively to provide resourcing and support to affected congregations and to the whole church.
The Church of the Brethren has signed the “Ash Wednesday Ecumenical Declaration: Defending Refuge” as one of the Covenant Members of Church World Service (CWS).
Here is an update on the lawsuit filed on Feb. 11, 2025, on behalf of the Church of the Brethren and more than two dozen other Christian and Jewish religious denominations and associations, in response to the Trump Administration’s rescission of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) “sensitive locations” policy that had restricted Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from conducting immigration raids, arrests, and other enforcement actions at houses of worship.