Indiana Disciples Mexico Initiative
About the Mexico Initiative
Please keep an eye on the Indiana Christian and indianadisciples.org for information about pilgrimage dates, applications, and other ways you can participate in this exciting initiative!If you have questions about the Mexico Initiative in general, please contact Rick Spleth at rick@indianadisciples.org
Los Fresno, Texas – April 22-27, 2020
CANCELLED
A delegation of Indiana Disciples will head to the US-Mexico border in April 2020 as we continue our effort to better understand the challenge of refugees and immigrants on our southern border. This trip will be to Southwest Good Samaritan Ministries, a Disciples of Christ ministry, located in Los Fresnos, Texas (www.swgsm.org). Founded in 1985, this ministry has assisted over 20,000 refugees and asylum seekers primarily from Central America. They work closely with the Department of Homeland Security and Church World Service to provide housing, food, clothing, legal aid, transportation, family reunification and counseling to immigration detainees at the Port Isabell Processing Center.
The founder and Director of Southwest Good Samaritan Ministries is Rev. Feliberto Pereira, who was himself an immigrant from Cuba. The story of his own journey to freedom is told in the book I Was A Stranger: Hope for A Hidden World, available from Amazon.
Participants in this trip, scheduled for April 22-27, 2020, will have the opportunity to participate in the services being provided to asylum seekers and have a deep engagement with, and opportunity to better understand, the root causes of those who are seeking to come to the United States, and the complex legal, social, and humanitarian call to accompaniment and solidarity for our nation and our church.
San Luis Potosí, México – September 28-October 5, 2019
(Read Blog Here)
The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Indiana and Global Ministries partnered in a pilgrimage to San Luis Potosí, México, September 28 through October 5, 2019. A mission pilgrimage is a transforming experience through which participants share themselves and receive God’s love in a new way, while listening and learning from international partners. The participants who traveled to the city of San Luis Potosí, immersed themselves in the culture of the area and learned about the work of Mesa Conjunta, Round Table for Mission Development in Mexico, a space of dialogue and mission from various expressions of Disciples of Christ and United Church of Christ congregations in Mexico. Pilgrims on this trip were Anita and Andre Adams, Ellen Annala, Bere Gil Soto, Kay Nannet, Carolyn Reed, Sarah Renfro, Cheryl Russell, Rena Russell, Becky Sundquist, Maribeth Westerfield, and Global Ministries’ Lorna Hernandez Ramos.
Chiapas, México – June 10-17, 2019
(Read Blog here)
The travelers were Maggie Harris, First Christian Church, Jeffersonville; Tawn Parent Spicklemire, Downey Avenue Christian Church, Indianapolis; Kristin Miller, Carmel Christian Church, Carmel; Bob Shaw, Susan McNeely, Tapestry Church, Greenwood; Rachael Jacobs, Kathie Meyer, Diane Spleth, Rick Spleth, Allisonville Christian Church, Indianapolis; Angel Riveria-Agosto, Central Christian Church, Indianapolis.