Three years ago I began organizing with Valley Interfaith Project at First Evangelical Lutheran Church in West Mesa. We’re a parish that is really two congregations: an older Anglo population and a younger Latino population, trying to build something new together. This is not easy given the anti-immigrant rhetoric that surrounds us, and the economic troubles we all face.
Right before SB1070, people were afraid of the police and we lost members of the congregation, but people weren’t talking about it across the parish. So we began forming a Core Team of leaders who could listen to the stories of the people. Then there was a shooting of a man very near our parish school, at dismissal time.
We organized house meetings to hear the concerns of school parents and members of the congregation. A community safety meeting became a VIP Action with the Mesa Police Department: our leaders told their stories, and we asked for and received commitments from the police department.
For many of our leaders, this was the first time they had ever spoken publicly, or dealt with a public official. Their children saw them grow in stature and confidence, right before their eyes. And our neighbors who are not members of the congregation saw First Lutheran in a new light: we acted as guardians of the neighborhood. This recognition gave our congregation a new sense of purpose, and increased our resolve to integrate our two cultural communities.