Thursday’s workshop, “Finding hope through action: Caring for immigrants in our community and our call to embody love,” outlined precise preparation and action to be taken by congregations and individuals committed to welcoming and nurturing immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers, and many others in various categories.
The Deportation Defense Response Team provides the following update on the numbers of Church of the Brethren immigrant members and attenders affected by detention or deportation. For the most part, we cannot provide names, but we can share the data we have as of Aug. 12.
The Deportation Defense Response Team is inviting pastors, church leaders, allies, and brother and sister immigrants to participate in a webinar on the “Importance and Process of Applying for Asylum” led by attorney Margaret Blot.
While some of us were at the Church of the Brethren Annual Conference, on Saturday, July 5, our church member Armando Leonel Reyes Rodriguez was deported. Armando has given me permission to share his story.
Calling all lawyers! The Deportation Defense Response Team, a new ministry initiated by four Church of the Brethren districts, is working to defend our Brethren family against the increasingly escalated risk of detention and deportation in the US.
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.