News from the Field

We received this letter from Pastor Samuel Lopez in Ciudad Juarez and Pastor Angel Lopez in West Michigan about their ministry to asylum-seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border. Together, these brothers are working to connect brothers and sisters in Christ to address the border crisis as one body. In this letter updating faith partners about the ministry, you will see the need to provide humanitarian aid, but also the urgent importance of changing policies that harm asylum-seekers and those supporting them.

Part 2 of Sharing Stories: Mary Robinson, Climate Change and Us.  Find Chapter 2 in Robinson's book and read with us.  

Hope is the newest member of the Office of Social Justice team. She joins our team this week as the Justice Mobilizing and Advocacy Fellow, a one year position with our office. Hope comes to us with a background in Political Science after attending Gordon College in Massachusetts. Most recently Hope worked as an English teacher in Jordan.  

We are thrilled to welcome Hope to the team!

There are (at least) three crises at the Border right now. As advocates, we must know how to speak clearly and effectively about each one.

The state of Maine Legislature and its governor, Janet Mills, signed a new law on June 13, 2019 that protects its citizens from two groups of ubiquitous chemicals that threaten human health: phthalates and PFAS.

When people hear that I am a RCA Mission Partner Personnel (“missionary”) who is working to address human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation, I sometimes believe  that they think I am working in some far-off country, perhaps in the Global South. In fact, I work in partnership with a charity in southern Ontario that is striving to provide transitional housing for survivors.

Victoria is the newest member of our team. She joins our team this week as the Justice Communications Team Coordinator, working for the Centre for Public Dialogue, Office of Social Justice, and Canadian Indigenous Ministries Committee. She holds a masters of arts in history from Trent University and used to work for the Canadian Canoe Museum as their Programs Registrar.

As a missionary in Italy, most of my travel time was spent either walking or riding public transportation.

One day, while riding the bus, an Italian woman started a conversation with me that was quite common in my experience. “You’re not Italian—where are you from?” “Why are you in Italy?” These questions always granted me an opportunity to talk about my passion for my work as a missionary, providing for the care of migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers.

This series about power started with a team of people from Safe Church Ministry and the Office of Social Justice. We met together to discuss and plan for this series. We talked about different themes and people we knew who had insights about power from their own unique perspectives.

TERRITORY is a Chinese-language new media ministry founded by a married Christian couple who were formerly journalists in China. Founded in 2010, its WeChat public channel now ranks the top among all Chinese-language Christian WeChat ministries.