What can you learn from the past to help shape the work of the present and future?
This topic is of special interest to members of the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship. Since last June, the organization has been focusing on the call to defund police in light of several law enforcement shootings of people of color and the ongoing conversation about inequity in the U.S.
Presbyterian mission co-worker Jan Heckler approaches education in Madagascar with a deep passion in her heart and a learned wisdom, “I was called by the Lord in 1999 to go to Africa,” Heckler says. She followed that call to a country where 92 percent of the people live on less than $2 per day.
There is activity everywhere – small-groups meeting around the campus, meals being prepared in the kitchen, day laborers waiting to be picked up for work, and even someone living on the grounds. Most of what happens at Southside centers on the congregation’s deep-rooted commitment to love of neighbor and care for the stranger.
Dubbed the birthplace of the sanctuary movement and situated 60 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border, Southside is the epicenter of the Christian Church’s response to the United States immigration struggle. And Southside is, some assert, one of the best models for what the Church needs to do as the nation wrestles with immigration reform.
Three top leaders of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) have sent a letter to members of the U.S. Congress insisting on the enactment of "comprehensive immigration reform this year."
In their April 29 letter, General Assembly Moderator Bruce Reyes-Chow, General Assembly Stated Clerk Gradye Parsons and General Assembly Mission Council Executive Director Linda Valentine said "we are keenly aware of the devastating effects our broken immigration system has on the lives of individuals, immigrant and non-immigrant families, and our communities."
Citing Leviticus 19:33-34, the three PC(USA) leaders said "as Christians we cannot stand by idly" while legislation such as the statute …