JOIN THE AMMPARO MOVEMENT
Last year, the Churchwide Assembly overwhelmingly adopted the AMMPARO strategy, Accompanying Migrant Minors with Protection, Advocacy, Representation and Opportunity. This holistic, whole church response to accompany migrant children and families from Central America has birthed a movement in the ELCA and you are invited to join us! How?
ACCOMPANIMENT: One hundred eighty-five thousand families, 185,957 to be exact, have entered the United States on our southern border in the last 3 years alone. There are another 168,203 unaccompanied children that entered during this same period. Your congregation can accompany thee families and children as a Welcoming Congregation which makes a public commitment to provide pastoral and physical accompaniment of children and families through the difficult transition into life in the US. Since the assembly, the first Welcoming Congregations have been established in six synods for a total of 35 Welcoming Congregations from California to Texas to Wisconsin and Illinois.
ADVOCATE: Now more than ever, our voices as people of faith are urgently needed to protect the human rights of children and families as they reach our border. Go to ELCA Advocacy for the most recent action alerts.
LEARN about the all important work that our companions are doing in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala to address the root causes of migration by providing vocational training and psychological assistance to youth deported Mexico and the US. A short video of Suyapa Ucles, Program Director, CASM, Honduras is on the AMMPARO webpage under videos.
PRAY for migrant children and families and for guidance for the ELCA in all its expressions to be faithful to God’s call.
GIVE to AMMPARO to support work by companions in Central America and partners in the US through the ELCA.
For more information about AMMPARO, visit our website or contact Mary Campbell, Program Director at mary.campbell@elca.org
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