Sunday of Solidarity for Suffering Children and What You Can Do To End Child Detention

What You Can Do To End Child Detention

Firsthand report of ‘inhumane conditions’ at a migrant children’s detention facility in Texas has stirred people of faith to respond. If you’re wondering what you or your local church might do, consider the following

1. Tell legislators to end child detention.
2. Celebrate Migrants Sunday in your church on the first Sunday of Advent. Learn more here.
3. Join the Rapid Response Team. The RRT is a network of over 300 United Methodists across the US who are working for immigrant and refugee justice. The RRT receives action alerts, policy analyzes, resources for immigrant and refugee communities, and more from advocacy and organizing staff at Church and Society. The RRT also connects United Methodists doing this work to each other to network, to support immigrant and refugee communities, and to lift up one another in prayer, resourcing, and work throughout the connection. To join the RRT, please email the Rev. Jeania Ree Moore at jmoore@umcjustice.org.
4. Build relationships locally between immigrants and nonimmigrants. Have your church become an Immigrant Welcoming Community.
5. Connect with your local Sanctuary Movement. Email Jeania Ree Moore if your church is interested in participating in this historic Christian witness of providing sanctuary to those in need.
6. Support your local Justice for Our Neighbors, a United Methodist immigration legal aid organization. If there’s not one in your area, start one!

Sunday of Solidarity for Suffering Children

In light of the recent news about children in U.S. government holding facilities along the U.S.-Mexico border, The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) is calling for a Sunday of Solidarity for Suffering Children on Sunday, June 30. Local churches are invited to be a part of this important day. A special prayer for churches to use during worship, along with additional information and ways to be involved, can be found at this link. Click here to view a worship bulletin-sized flier. 

Other Resources Related to the Immigration Crisis

• UMC Board of Church and Society, Civil and Human Rights 
• UMC Board of Church and Society, Immigration to the US
• UMCOR National Justice for Our Neighbors (Advance # 901285) creates a welcoming community by providing immigration legal services, education and advocacy.
• Interfaith Welcome Coalition assists refugees, asylum seekers and at-risk immigrants. They have an overnight shelter at Travis Park Methodist Church and help migrants get transportation — buses or planes — as they travel to other places through San Antonio. 
• The Thanks-Giving Foundation is taking volunteers and donations to help with the Oak Lawn Methodist Church Respite Center. The center is where some of the overflow asylum seekers are being sent from El Paso while en route to their families and sponsors in the U.S.
• Missouri Faith Voices can provide accompaniment training and have some additional resources on the sanctuary movement in Missouri. Contact Alice Chamberlain, organizer, at Alice@missourifaithvoices.org.