In NC, a Church Network Turns Unused Church Buildings Into Homes for Refugees
A group of mostly Baptist churches in North Carolina is retrofitting vacant church-owned buildings for refugee housing.
Pope in Final Mass in Budapest Urges Hungary to Open Doors
Pope Francis urged Hungarians to open their doors to others on Sunday, as he wrapped up a weekend visit with a plea for Europe to welcome migrants and the poor and for an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Identity is Complex for Lebanon’s Christian Palestinian Camp
Tucked away in the hills north of Beirut below a Maronite monastery, Lebanon’s only remaining Christian-majority Palestinian camp gives few outward clues to its identity.
Lessons from Unsettling Advent
In this issue of A Public Witness, we want to share some of what we’ve learned from our Unsettling Advent series this year. We hope these insights will be meaningful in these last few days before we celebrate the birth of Jesus.
Unsettling Advent 2022, Day 14
Francisco Miguel Litardo had the opportunity to travel to Eastern Europe as part of a media team gathering stories from Ukrainian war refugees. All the narratives he discovered while on this assignment were compelling and moving, but there was one that lifted his spirit more
Unsettling Advent 2022, Day 13
Beau Underwood writes that if we will listen to the full story, Advent holds a reorienting power. It can call us away from ourselves and refocus our attention on God’s priorities. Too often, the story of Jesus’s birth is narrowly interpreted as a personal gift.
Unsettling Advent 2022, Day 12
Contributing writer Sarah Blackwell writes that some of the greatest blessings she has received are the love and care of refugees. Once she got over her own need to be the one always giving, she learned that receiving the blessings of others, in whatever form
Unsettling Advent 2022, Day 11
Rick Santos, president and CEO of Church World Service, writes that rather than ascending to a place of power through brute strength, wealth, or status, the life and mission of Jesus are enacted through humility, presence, and connection. As he is with all of us,
Unsettling Advent 2022, Day 10
As Brian Kaylor thinks about modern-day refugees fleeing a genocidal foreign dictator, he also wonders where Joseph, Mary, and Jesus spent the night on their journey from Bethlehem to Egypt. Where was their safe place to sleep and to enjoy a nice meal from strangers?
Unsettling Advent 2022, Day 9
Joy Martinez-Marshall, pastor of First Baptist Church in Lincoln, Nebraska, writes that the Christ child knows what it is like to be born in a place not his own to a world that did not value his humanity and dignity. Today, innocent lives are caught