By Melissa Lauber To ensure their safety and protect the identities of those involved, some names in this story have been changed. “Sometimes there are no more tears to cry,” said Evelyn, a pastor in the Baltimore-Washington Conference. Evelyn has been journeying beside...
by Erik Alsgaard In the early morning of Thursday, Sept. 10, Binsar Siahaan met with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents at Glenmont UMC in Silver Spring, Maryland, because his ankle monitor was not working properly. Or so he was told. Siahaan, who arrived in the United States with...
June is World Refugee Month. This is the time of year we acknowledge the courage and resilience of refugees and their enormous contributions to our community. Every minute 20 people leave everything behind to escape war, persecution, or terror. We can also join together and lift...
By Erik Alsgaard Immigration makes headlines in the United States and around the world. With more than 25.9 million refugees and asylum seekers in the world in 2017, how and if people cross borders and for what reasons have become a political football. To help untangle some of the mess that is...
About two weeks before Christmas, Christie Latona, Director of Connectional Ministries for the Baltimore-Washington Conference, Emma Escobar, Coordinator of Hispanic/Latino Ministries for the BWC, and Julie Wilson, Chair of the BWC's Immigration Task Force, were south of San Diego, Calif., at...
9:00 a.m. The weight of our next steps were made more real as some of those pictured above gave me their valuables for safekeeping. By the time we left the press conference at 10:30-ish, I was in possession of one Bible, three wallets, four cell phones, a wedding ring and a backpack that...
The first official event for the United Methodists engaging in the Love Knows No Borders kickoff event was a visit to Christ Ministry Center led by Rev. Bill Jenkins. Watch the video to learn more about the context of this ministry. This ministry center is a 501c3 with many components to...
I have a confession: this kind of thing makes me very uncomfortable. I have never considered myself a protestor or social activist. While I have marched and helped plan and execute a rally in recent years, I have never participated in an action where civil disobedience was a part of the plan. I...
Our final piece of preparation also felt like a launch into the action: an Interfaith Service on Sunday night. As you can imagine, the sanctuary was full and vibrating with the Spirit. The worship service was on the last night of Hanukkah and Rabbi Brant Rosen (AFSC staff member and...
