God's Heart Has No Borders

In 2008, the Pew Hispanic Center estimated that 11.9 million undocumented immigrants were living in the United States. Seven million of these immigrants are from Mexico and four out of every five undocumented immigrants is from a Latin American country just south of our border. Traditionally, Mexican migrants came to the United States to work seasonal agricultural jobs, staying for around six to nine months out of the year and returning to Mexico for the rest of the time. They would migrate to the same major agricultural locations in the United States going either up the west coast of California, through the center of the country or along the southern border from Texas to Florida as crops changed throughout the year.

A New Phase: The Church of the Word(s)

Church is Alive Readers,

We've got something new in the works, folks: we've started writing!

That's right, the Church is ALIVE team will now begin posting blog updates one-to-two times a week. Just like your videos, our aim is to report on different parts of the church that we think are alive today. In so doing, however, our hope to promote dialogue and discussion about the important issues that effect the modern church. We invite and encourage all readers to respond to articles by using the comments section below each article, although we would also encourage all responders to be respectful.

But it's not just us: YOU can be a writer too! Starting sometime in the next few weeks, we will begin accepting applications to be a Church is Alive blogger. Just like we accepted - and continue to accept - videos from all over the world showcasing how the church is alive, so too will we except your prose! So get your pens and typing fingers ready, folks - we want to hear from you!

This will be a phased process, so bear with us during the transition. The website will be updated and given a fresh facelift over the next few weeks, and there will be some restructuring as well. In other words, "pardon our dust."

Anyway, don't misunderstand: we still want your videos, so if you've got any - OR if you want to make a video in response to one of our articles - send it along!

We look forward to these new additions to the Church is ALIVE website, and we hope you will too!

much love,
Jack and the Church is ALIVE Team

The Church is ALIVE at New Hope Presbytery

The church is certainly alive through youth leadership at the New Hope Presbytery of eastern North Carolina. Check out the video above to see why.

Totally biased shout-out: not only is this Presbytery pretty amazing, it is also very close to the hearts of some of the Church is ALIVE crew. Representatives of CiA were recently blessed to participate in one of the retreats shown above. They truly are a wild and passionate group, and a testament to what can be done through youth-led ministry.

Get hyped. Get hyped. New Hope's got what you like.

Check 'em out here: http://www.nhpresbytery.org/

The Church is ALIVE at United Campus Ministry!

If you have any doubt about the merits of campus ministry...watch this video!

Carol Howard-Merritt and the crew from United Campus Ministry in our nation's capital share some testimony about the impact of campus ministry on their lives. We are reminded that campus ministry provides a place of worship, spiritual development, and Christian fellowship for students who might not have the opportunity for these things otherwise! As John Welton says towards the end, it is the comfort and the challenge of the gospel that calls people into this fellowship and out into the world.

If you aren't a part of a campus ministry...get involved! If your campus doesn't have one set up...take charge and work to set one up! The spirit of the Lord is alive and moving in campus ministry!

The Church is alive!

Thanks be to God!

Check 'em out here: http://www.ucmcollegepark.org/

The Church is STILL Alive in East Tennessee!

Today's video comes to us from - once again - the Presbytery of East Tennessee Youth Council! Nancy Meyer has this to say:

"The faith of these youth is alive and well!"

Keep 'em coming, folks!

The Church is ALIVE in Church Activism

Today's video comes from Tennessee. She has the following to say about how the church is ALIVE to her...

On February 4, 2009, prisoner Steve Henley was executed in Nasvhille, Tennessee. A brief statement from the website www.stevehenley.org sums up the unjust nature of the case:

"Two men were implicated in the murder of Fred and Edna Stafford. One served five years in prison.

The other received the death penalty."

The 171st General Assembly of the PC(USA) states: "capital punishment cannot be condoned by an interpretation of the Bible based upon the revelation of God's love in Jesus Christ," and calls on Christians to "seek the redemption of evil doers and not their death." The statement goes on to say "the use of the death penalty tends to brutalize the society that condones it." (This statement can be found here, as well as other resources regarding general facts about the PC(USA))
On February 3, some Presbyterian friends and I attended a candlelight vigil outside the prison until 1:00 in the morning when Steve Henley was executed by lethal injection. We prayed for clemency until the very last moment.

This was a very powerful experience for me in my faith. TCASK, or Tennessee Coalition Against State Killing, organized the candlelight vigil. Stacey Rector, the executive director for TCASK, was the associate pastor for my church (Second Presbyterian in Nashville, Tennessee) until she felt that her call was to lead this organization (here is a brief article on her decision to join TCASK).


I say it was a powerful experience in my faith because this was not just gathering of Presbyterians. There were people from all walks of life attending this vigil for Steve Henley and we all were able to put differences aside to join together and be present for Steve Henley's final moments.
I think the Presbyterian Church is alive in moments such as these, when we are able to gather with our brothers and sisters of other faiths and beliefs and yet who share this world with us to stand up for what we believe in. When we show the world that, despite our differences, we love each other, and simply do the right thing in this crazy world in which we live, we fill our church with life.

Thanks for your submission! We here at thechurchisalive.com are dedicated to representing any and all who feel the church is alive in their area. Send us your video today!

The Church is Alive at the Church of All Nations!

Today's submission comes from the Church of All Nations in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Jin S. Kim, the submitter, writes:

"The Church is alive when it risks its own institutional life for the sake of doing the ministry of reconciliation. The Church of All Nations in Minneapolis was founded in 2004 to be a high-risk, low-anxiety church that always pushes the boundaries of what it means to be church so that we might be a living parable of good news to a broken and divided world."

Thanks Jin!