Portrait: Bridge of Peace Lutheran Church
Andrea was an average 13-year-old. She liked talking on the phone and hanging out with her friends. Though her family did not have much and lived in a small community near one of America’s poorest cities, they were close-knit. Like many undocumented immigrants they worked hard and hoped someday to find a path to citizenship.

In spite of their struggles, Andrea’s parents made life as normal as possible…until the day that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raided her house and arrested her father. When her mother told her to run, Andrea fled to the basement and hid in a large steamer trunk. Their local pastor, the Rev. Giselle Coutinho, alerted by a neighbor about the raid, later arrived to help look for the terrified girl. When she finally emerged from the trunk Andrea tearfully asked, “Why, in America, do I have to be Anne Frank?”

As the pastor of Bridge of Peace Community Lutheran Church, a multicultural, multiethnic congregation in Camden, N.J., Coutinho has ministered to an increasing number of families affected by immigration issues. When some of her congregants became too fearful to attend Sunday services, she began meeting with them in the woods to worship. When asked if she feels equipped to respond their needs she answered, “Oftentimes, I get overwhelmed. It’s not just one story. It’s so many.”

Coutinho is not alone. Across the country church leaders are finding their faith communities suffering along with families torn apart by raids and other enforcement actions. Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service has heard many stories of immigrants feeling too fearful to attend worship services, suburban congregations feeling fearful of immigrants, and pastors feeling unsure of how to respond.

In response to these growing needs, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service created the Be Not Afraid Project. Be Not Afraid offers a series of resources that equip congregations to respond faithfully to immigration issues and assist immigrants in their communities who face challenging circumstances.

More Portraits of Immigrants
and Their Families