UCC leaders lean into ‘Love Knows No Borders’ with strategies to move from desolation to action in recorded webinar

In a time when systemic targeting and fear has been directed toward immigrant, refugee, and LGBTQ+ neighbors, the United Church of Christ shared stories and calls to action with the commitment that “Love knows no borders” in a webinar on May 7.

“Love knows no borders” is a way a way of stating UCC values “and the simple belief that God’s love is expansive. God’s love is extravagant. God’s love is welcoming,” said the Rev. Michael Neuroth, director of the UCC Office of Public Policy and Advocacy in Washington, D.C.

“This phrase reminds us that God’s love and ours must extend to immigrants, refugees, LGBTQIA siblings, and all human beings. It’s not just a slogan – it’s a call to action on behalf of our siblings to counter the wage of dehumanizing and hateful polities that are being handed down by this administration and by Congress – right across the street from where I’m standing today – in the form of executive orders, legislation, and Supreme Court decisions,” Neuroth said. “My friends, together we affirm that God’s love demands justice. God’s love calls us to move from desolation to action together.”

Neuroth was among several leaders who shared about the impact caused by harmful national policies and rhetoric, and how faith impels people toward acts of love, community, and advocacy in the “Love Knows No Borders: Moving From Desolation to Action” webinar.

‘Gathering communities of care and protection’

The Rev. Yinessa Romero, vice-moderator of Colectivo do Latinx Ministries and pastor of Embrace United Church of Christ in Hurst, Texas, shared about her ministry and experience within Hispanic communities in Texas, which is one of the nation’s leading states for immigration detention.

“We in many of our families are living in this reality of fear, of deportation, of difficulties finding jobs because of the situation that we are facing. And it is important to go back to our faith, and to have that sense of caring and nourishing and connection,” she said.

Romero shared how this fear includes real risks of individuals and family members getting detained or deported, current restrictions around renewing job-related licenses that have impacted people’s ability to earn an income, and hesitancy to go to routine immigration appointments because of the risk of detainment there.

“As many immigrant families who live with this uncertainty and fear, I invite us today to go back to the words of Jesus with a renewed meaning. And I invite us to remember the care of Jesus for us and to know in our hearts that the reason Christ stands among us, creating new bonds of love, belonging, and resurrection, is not only the promise of life after death. It is the healing of how fear, violence, and separation try to destroy us from the same Jesus who, from the cross, looked at Mary, his mother, and the Beloved Disciple and said, ‘Here is your mother; here is your son.’ We should continue gathering people into community of care and protection. Christ reminds us that we are not alone,” she said.

‘Jesus came as the stranger’

A commitment to immigration and refugee policy and justice is deep within the history of the UCC, shared Megan Bergert, minister for Refugee and Migration Services of Global HOPE.

Bergert has compiled 24 resolutions from General Synod, stemming back to 1979, that express a wide faith-based commitment to love beyond borders.

Bergert highlighted a quote form the Report of the Committee on the Pronouncement on Justice and Immigration from the 1981 General Synod, which has served as grounding theology for her.

“The stranger is not only an obligation or duty,” it reads. “The stranger is God’s dialogue with human history; is the sign of renewal and life. God utilizes the stranger and the wanderer to challenge and replenish the human situation, and to proclaim grace and mercy, as well as righteousness in life. For it is not only that Jesus was sent as a stranger, but that Jesus came as the stranger who brings us life and more abundant life.”

How to get involved

UCC advocates offer several ways to show how “love in action is our calling,” as Neuroth described.

💙Engage with current UCC Justice and Peace Action Network alerts: Urge Congress to Prevent Increased Funding for ICE; No ICE in our Churches: Protect Sensitive Locations; and Love Knows No Borders: Protect the Refugee Admissions Program.

💙Congregations are invited to join the network of more than 500 Immigrant Welcoming and Sanctuary Congregations and lend a prophetic and bold faith voice to the larger movement for immigrants and refugee rights.

💙Churches, conferences, and people are invited to use and share Love Knows No Borders resources, which include worship liturgies, practical guidance on preparing churches for immigration enforcement activity, bulletin inserts, Love Knows No Borders social media graphics and signs, and more.

💙Apply for Global Hope grants through its Refugee and Migration Services ministry to engage in ministry with migrants, immigrants, refugees, and asylees – or donate to support these grants.

Rushad Thomas, domestic policy advocate for the UCC Office of Public Policy and Advocacy, said he finds hope in the impact that public pressure and advocacy has already had.

“As of today, the ICE and CPB have not gotten a fiscal year 2027 appropriation. That is because of the activism and advocacy of folks like you, all those people in the streets of Minnesota and here in Washington back in January and February – that is a direct result of the pressure that you applied by saying no this is not going to stand, and we are going to continue to bring that energy to the fight here in Washington, D.C.,” he said. “Activism and advocacy are still needed.”

Watch the full “Love Knows No Borders: Moving From Desolation to Action Borders” webinar here

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