Dr. Julia Lambert Fogg, Professor of Religion at California Lutheran University, has published a book: Finding Jesus at the Border, Opening Our Hearts to the Stories of Our Immigrant Neighbors. More info here »
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At the August 2019 Churchwide Assembly, the ELCA became a sanctuary church body. If you have had the opportunity to read the text of the memorial, you will see that it contains important information about what is meant by “sanctuary.”
The memorial directed the ELCA Church Council to provide guidance to all three expressions of the ELCA on sanctuary. Here is your opportunity to give your input. Results from this survey are anonymous. Visit surveymonkey.com/r/PMWFTY6 to participate.
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Refugees and their supporters, including Bishop Deborah Hutterer, went to the Arizona Capitol on Monday to urge the state Legislature to pass a resolution welcoming those who escape violence and persecution.
Among them was Jolie Nabigondo from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. She explained at a news conference that she was imprisoned in the late 1990s and tortured. Nabigondo later fled to Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya before coming to the United States.
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A federal judge in Maryland has blocked a recent executive order allowing state and local officials to refuse refugee resettlement.
The preliminary injunction is part of a lawsuit by three faith-based organizations against the U.S. government over the order.
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In September the synod council, staff, and conference deans gathered in Tucson for a weekend of church business, worship, fellowship, and a border immersion experience. The experience comes out of our commitment to live into our strategic plan of communicating Jesus: “We will grow our public witness through advocacy, integrating our ELCA theology and engagement with current issues and contextual realities.”
The workshop included time to examine our perceptions around border issues, to cross the border and visit our Lutheran-Episcopal ministry, Cruzando Fronteras, and worship with the GCS’s oldest Spanish speaking congregation, Iglesia San Juan Bautista.
View reports, resources, and reflections of the participants.
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The Congregational Vitality Team is reaching out to Directors for Evangelical Mission and their mission partners with a special opportunity to worship together on the beach at the United States – Mexico border.
San Diego, CA, February 18, 2020: This experience will take place the day before the Congregational Vitality Training Event in San Diego in February 2020. Reservations are due by November 15, 2019.
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Bishop Deborah Hutterer joined refugee advocates in response to President Donald Trump's decision to lower the cap on refugee admissions over the next 12 months to 18,000, saying it will hurt Arizona socially and economically.
"Let me reaffirm that refugees do not bring terror when they resettle. Rather, they are the ones who are fleeing terror," Hutterer said. "It's refugees who contribute to our community, both economically and with their passion for this country, (and) bring with them their diverse cultures and backgrounds that only enrich the United States."
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From Mary Campbell of AMPARRO (who recently spoke at the synod council and conference deans workshop), comes this opportunity to join court-approved interviews of Flores class member minors detained at CBP facilities in Tucson, on October 3-4, 2019.
The Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law helps reunify the thousands of refugee children that have been separated from their mothers and fathers. Register here.
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The 2nd Annual Border Ministries Summit provides an opportunity to share information, build partnerships and increase awareness of the important ministries taking place on both sides of the border.
November 21- 23, 2019, St. Philip’s In The Hills, 4440 N. Campbell Ave., Tucson, AZ 85718.
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Miguel A. De La Torre, Professor of Social Ethics and Latinx Studies at the Iliff School of Theology in Denver, CO. Learn more »
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Every year, the President of the United States determines the number of refugees that can be admitted to the country. This is called the Presidential Determination, and is set in early October for the upcoming year.
This October, administration officials will reportedly propose the number of refugees allowed into the United States in 2020 be set to zero.
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Give thanks to God for our church and for our ecumenical and interreligious partners as they work for the humane treatment of all who present themselves at our borders seeking asylum. Give thanks for our agencies and faith communities that have welcomed, engaged and served migrant families. And pray for those migrants, who have arrived in the United States seeking safety, justice, reconnection with families and relatives, and the opportunity to build new lives without fear.
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In this statement, Presiding Bishop Eaton provides clarifications and helpful talking points:
Dear siblings in Christ, as many of you know, last week the ELCA Churchwide Assembly adopted a resolution that, among other things, declared the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) a sanctuary denomination. Many of you are asking, “What does this mean?”
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Many of you know the ELCA Churchwide Assembly convened in Milwaukee, Wisconsin last week. In addition to daily worship, during the business meetings there were many decisions and conversations, including resolutions and memorials. Among the business items addressed included a resolution on the subject of Sanctuary. The Grand Canyon Synod supports/endorses the Background Provided to the Assembly by the Memorials Committee. Please click to read more on this background, and what the resolution on Sanctuary means and does not mean.
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In a key action, the 2019 ELCA Churchwide Assembly voted to approve a memorial that declares the ELCA a sanctuary church. This is the first North American denomination to declare itself a sanctuary church body. As a sanctuary church the ELCA is committed to serving and supporting migrant children and families in communities across the country.
Earlier in the day, the Rev. Elizabeth Eaton, presiding bishop of the ELCA, joined more than 700 assembly members and others in a march and prayer vigil to the Milwaukee Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office.
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Pastor Tom Dunham of writes: “On Monday, July 22, two semi loads of clothing arrived from Pennsylvania at Streams in the Desert Lutheran Church in Tucson. The 44,000 pounds of clothing was unloaded by hand and stacked in the church’s storage shed in less than 3 hours. Members of Streams and many other area churches, totaling 50 volunteers, worked hard in the summer heat in this labor of love. Over the next three weeks trucks from McAllen, Texas to San Ysidro, California will be arriving to take loads of clothing back to the refugee and asylum centers along the Mexican border. We are truly the church together!”
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For many Lutherans, immigration is a memory that is still alive in ourselves and our families. You may have grown up in a congregation that worshipped in different languages. Your home church might have had German inscribed in the stained glass, or you celebrated a holiday with special foods.
Our involvement with immigration is as old as the Bible.
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Our very own Mateo Chavez, pastor of San Juan Bautista Lutheran Church in Tucson, AZ, will be at Oak Grove Lutheran Church, in Richfield MN, this Sunday. At worship and dinner, Pastor Chavez will be preaching and sharing stories about ministry and work with immigrants and asylum seekers at the Nogales border crossing.
Pastor Chavez is a board member of Cruzando Fronteras, a collaborative border ministry between Episcopal, Lutheran, and Anglican communities on of borders with Mexico, Latin America, and elsewhere.
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Click here to take action to secure funding for humane and just immigration system. Use your voice as funding decisions are made.
The ELCA AMMPARO strategy is a holistic, whole church commitment by the ELCA to accompany people who are forced to flee their communities seeking protection from suffering or violence. As church together we work toward just and humane policies affecting migrants in and outside the United States.
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In a tight timeline before July 9, consider making a public comment to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), on a proposed rulemaking that would prohibit mixed-immigration status families from living in federal affordable housing programs.
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Recent news stories of appalling conditions at immigrant detention centers and of deep human sorrow on our country’s southern border have many of us desperate to be part of change.
Lutherans have a deep-rooted history in refugee and immigrant issues. One of every six Lutherans in the world was a refugee or displaced person after WWII. The God-given dignity in all people and value of family unity have been cornerstones of ELCA faith-based advocacy, and we understand that many immigrants, as well as their families, are both afraid and confused by recent developments. Here are some ways Lutherans have acted and can continue to respond.
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