AMMPARO Informational Zoom Meeting

Immanuel Lutheran Church in Jackson and Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos (both AMMPARO congregations) would like to invite you to an informational Zoom meeting where you can learn about the work of ELCA AMMPARO.  On Tuesday evening, April 27, at 7:00 PM, Mary Campbell, ELCA Director of AMMPARO, will share information about the work of the organization. AMMPARO is a holistic, whole church commitment by the ELCA, as a church in the world, to accompany children today and in the future. To register for this event, contact Pastor Ellen Schoepf at prellen@faithlutheranokemos.org.

Congregational Asylum-seeker Sponsorship Opportunities

With the great need we are seeing from ministries at the border with asylum-seekers entering the US and needing accompaniment, AMMPARO has decided to do another two-part training for congregations interested in exploring congregational asylum-seeker sponsorship. The dates will be Thursdays, April 15 and 22 at 3 Eastern, 2 Central and 1 Mountain time. Each session will be 90 minutes long. To register contact Pastor Ellen Schoepf at: prellen@faithlutheranokemos.org.

We encourage congregations to gather the names of their own participants and send Pastor Ellen the names and email addresses by April 9. She will then forward all contact information to Mary Campbell, the ELCA Director of AMMPARO, and you will be included in this training.

Here are criteria to look at to help determine if this could be feasible for your congregation: 

  1. Approval of leadership of congregation to explore asylum-seeker sponsorship
  2. Team of people committed to work together for a year or more to walk with the asylees sponsored- team size should be no less than 5-6 people and needs to include several people who can communicate in the asylee’s language
  3. Capacity to raise funds to cover costs for food, clothing, shelter, housing, medical care, legal fees, immigration case expenses, transportation and incidentals
  4. Cross-cultural training and racial justice work has happened or is happening not only for the team but the congregation.
  5. Capacity to connect the asylee’s with legal services, either pro bono or paid.

If you have any questions, please contact our synod AMMPARO representative, Pastor Ellen Schoepf at 517-974-5570 or prellen@faithlutheranokemos.org.