| abstract | This D. Min project proposed to build bridges between self-identified people of power and privilege (members of RCUCC) and
"people-made-poor" — specifically migrants and refugees forced by economic conditions to enter the U.S. without proper documentation to relocate and work
in the U.S. We set out to engage participants and readers in a conversation amongst ourselves, other communities of faith, and migrants and asylum-seekers about
the realities and needs of Central American migrants and refugees, especially children. We endeavored to discern what form our ministry would take as we experienced
the real-world concerns of this vulnerable population. We explored the theories and practices of solidarity, accompaniment, hospitality, and sanctuary
with the goal of determining language and ministry that takes into account differences in power and privilege and individual and collective agency on both sides of
the border, and articulates and embodies a just and compassionate response to the immigration issues that we experienced. We chose not to focus on critiquing
and reinterpreting mission, and instead focused on ministry, especially Jesus' ministry on earth, that embodied a discipleship of equals in which all involved
exercised their own agency to one degree or another and assumed transformation of the actors and their communities. Through a careful and prayerful process of
contextual learning, discovery, and discernment, we found that our work together enlivened the congregation and those with whom we serve. While our original plan
for was to explore "ministry and mission" of RCUCC with Central American migrants and refugees," we found our focus drawn to a broader understanding of ministry,
to a borderland ecclesiology that included every aspect of being church together with our neighbors to the South. We began to see that the "product" of this D.
Min "Being Church in the Borderlands" project extended to everything we did as church, from small group work, to worship, to our use of our land and
facilities, to service opportunities, to the stewardship of our resources — to our embodied practice of being the "hands and feet, body and breath of Christ"
here on earth.
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