A group of 24 Presbyterians and guests traveled to Central America in the past two weeks with the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program to learn more about the conditions in Latin American countries that make people choose to travel, usually on foot, to the United States border for the faint hope of a better life in the U.S. They also heard from migrants who had been returned to their home countries and the perils they faced after they returned.
Whatever your opinion of U.S. immigration policies, many people — such as those attempting to enter through our southern border — are living in precarious, life-threatening situations. In response, people of faith continued to provide life-saving services that uplift the human soul and reaffirm individuals’ dignity.
It’s a universal theme among mission co-workers that they often learn more from the people in the cultures they serve than they could ever hope to give. That’s exactly the lesson mission co-workers Richard and Debbie Welch, serving in Guatemala, learned from their longtime partner in ministry, Julian.
A delegation from New Castle Presbytery traveled to Guatemala late last month to strengthen relationships with our two in-country partners — the Association of Mam Christian Women for Development and CEDEPCA. Together, the organizations collaborate to support sustainable development initiatives for indigenous women and communities in the Western Highlands of Guatemala. New Castle Presbytery and its member churches have faithfully responded to the widespread, critical needs of Guatemalans since the late 1990s.
A travel study seminar to the Philippines and Hong Kong — May 1–15, 2020 — will focus on the root causes and current challenges of forced migration and labor trafficking. The trip includes two days of travel, seven days in the Philippines and five days in Hong Kong.
Last month, the International Task Force for the Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People journeyed to Guatemala and Panama to take a firsthand look at the work being done by community partners.
For the first time in recent years, the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program is hosting one of its Travel Study Seminars in the United States, focusing on a place that’s been in the headlines for a variety of reasons.
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has been committed to interconnectional ministry in God’s mission at the local, national and global levels since 1837. Since that time, more than 8,000 mission co-workers have shared the good news of Jesus Christ with millions of people worldwide.
Meet some of our mission co-workers around the world.
The causes of the refugee crisis along the United States’ southern border and its many communities — as well as actions Presbyterians and others can take to help stem the crisis — were among the topics of a Friday webinar put on by the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s Office of Public Witness.
Drawn to the ruggedness, remoteness and greenness of rural Guatemala, Richard and Debbie Welch have, for the past six years, worked with that country’s indigenous population to build literacy and educational attainment in a country increasingly in the news because of the Trump administration’s concerns over the number of immigrants entering the United States from Central America.
