(By: Rev. Mindi Welton Mitchell)
I had the honor and privilege of accepting an invitation, along with four other Regional Executive Ministers and staff, to visit The Border Church and other related ministries along the US-Mexico Border. Our group was met by Rev. Seth Clark, pastor of First Baptist Church of National City, California and with The Border Church, and Rev. Deliris and Moise Carrión-Joseph, our Global Servants through International Ministries who serve in Tijuana, Mexico.
I’m still struggling to put into words everything we experienced. We began by visiting with deported US Veterans. These are (mostly) men who were in the US legally. The current director of the Deported Veterans organization in Tijuana came to the US before he was six months old and doesn’t speak Spanish. They came to the US with green card status and served in the US Military and received honorable discharges. But due to struggles after war with PTSD, some got into trouble with drugs or other such crimes and once they served their prison time, they were deported.
We visited three different migrant shelters, two of which are Baptist churches that have converted their space to also house migrants, and one shelter which houses LGBTQIA+ migrants that have come from around the world. We also visited Deborah’s House, a domestic violence shelter for women and children supported by International Ministries. We were told some horrific stories of abuse, but also the love and peace that has been shown by those who work in the shelter. They shared deeply personal stories of how they have experienced the transformative love of God in a place that loves them unconditionally and accepts everyone as they are. We also learned about a new migrant ministry that Moise is helping with Haitian refugees in Tijuana to receive education and technical training, and one of the church shelters is specifically helping the Haitian migrants who have come to Tijuana but have been denied entry into the U.S.
On Sunday, we participated in The Border Church, a church that began in 2011 at Friendship Park. Friendship Park was established in 1971 by First Lady Pat Nixon as a place where people of the two countries could come together in friendship, but in 2006, the US Federal Government seized the park by eminent domain from the State of California and constructed a fence through it. Friendship Park is a place where people with family and friends on the other side of the border can come together and meet, and over the years, the chain link fence has become a wall, then a larger wall, and today, two walls to keep people separated. However, there is a gate on the US side and in 2011, Border Patrol began opening the park again on the US side for a few hours on Saturdays and Sundays. A Methodist pastor began meeting there and offering communion through the slats of the wall. Other pastors and volunteers from many denominations (or none at all) came to help. Then metal meshing was added, so they began only sharing the “kiss of peace” by touching pinky fingers through the wall. Since Covid, the park has been closed, with no plans to reopen, so the migrants on the US side gather in another space and join by phone for a few minutes at the beginning of the service.
I had the deep pleasure of being invited to preach, with my friend Rev. Doug Avilesbernal of the Evergreen region of ABC translating. My friend Rev. Mary Hamel of Massachusetts led us in communion. We gave each other the sign of peace by connecting our pinkie fingers, but perhaps the most powerful moment was the prayer of confession, in which we set our hands on the wall and confessed where we have gone astray, individually and collectively. We also prayed at the end of the worship service for a migrant member of the LGBTQIA+ community who had died on Friday. You can view the service here (it is about 40 minutes long in total, and please note that Facebook will delete the video after 30 days).
This is the power of God’s love. This is a place of separation and violence (there are makeshift memorials to migrants who have gone missing and have died crossing the border) but on the Mexican side it is a fiesta. There are vibrant paintings and the garden continues to be built. We worship together and all are welcome. Casa de Luz, the LGBTQIA+ shelter, provides the meal for the church. Our friend from the US Deported Veterans organization attended (and it turns out, he lived in Fond du Lac, loves Wisconsin, and hopes to visit again someday if he is able to!).
What I am still processing is the awesome power of God’s love we witnessed. The sense of peace the people we met with have, and the sense of God’s purpose. We truly experienced a welcome and witnessed the welcoming power of love in the name of Jesus. No one is turned away. All are welcomed as they are, and it is God’s love that has transformed these people.
I’d love to come to your church and share more about these ministries. I also hope to have Deliris and Moise visit us in 2026 here in Wisconsin when they are on home assignment, but also to plan a future region trip to visit the beautiful people of Tijuana and to help share God’s love and the stories of God’s people. For God is doing something amazing in Tijuana, and I believe that it may inspire us to broaden our partnerships and care for the most vulnerable among us in Wisconsin.