Mission Yearbook: Louisville congregation helps recent immigrants get a new start

On last January’s coldest Sunday — with single-digit windchills and temperatures in the low teens — “M.” and her family sat huddled together near a back pew of Beechmont Presbyterian Church in Louisville.

They had walked.

But their 1½-mile walk to worship that morning was nothing compared with the dangerous passage they had just endured.

Because “M.” and her children had been threatened with violence in their native country by drug cartels demanding money, she decided to risk everything to seek asylum and start a new life in the United States with her husband and family.

Traveling by foot through six countries, “M.” and her four children had to cross the treacherous Darién Gap — a swampy jungle that connects Panama and Colombia — before eventually reaching Louisville.

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Beechmont Presbyterian Church in Louisville, Kentucky, is home to La Escuelita Learning Hub, which is supported by generous gifts to the Pentecost Offering (contributed photo).

“They came to church with all their kids and were warmly welcomed,” said the Rev. Debbie Braaksma, parish associate at Beechmont. “They stayed for our potluck and told us their story.”

“M.” spoke of crossing the jungle without any food or supplies for her frightened family, urging them to keep going — even across a raging river where many had already died — while she carried her disabled, teenaged son on her back.

Beechmont member Sylvette Rivera Pabon came to know “M.” and her two youngest children, “J.” and “D.,” now 13 and 10 years old, when they later enrolled in La Escuelita Learning Hub, the congregation’s after-school program, which Rivera directs.

Originally launched by the church and the Presbyterian Hispanic Latino Ministry of Preston Highway, a worshiping community of Mid-Kentucky Presbytery, in January 2021, at the height of the Covid pandemic, today La Escuelita serves some 30 children and youth from refugee and new immigrant families — like “M.’s” — offering them trauma-informed care, including homework help, enrichment activities, ESL assistance and family case management support.

Addressing the needs of just such vulnerable children is what the Pentecost Offering — one of the PC(USA)’s four Special Offerings — is all about. Not only do gifts to the Pentecost Offering benefit children at risk through the “Educate a Child, Transform the World” national initiative, but the Offering also encourages, develops and supports the church’s young people through the Young Adult Volunteer program and the Presbyterian Youth Triennium.

Forty percent of the Pentecost Offering is retained by individual congregations like Beechmont for local ministries such as La Escuelita Learning Hub, while the remaining 60% is used to support children at risk, youth and young adults through ministries of the Interim Unified Agency.

Although the Pentecost Offering may be taken anytime, most congregations receive it on Pentecost Sunday, which this year fell on June 8.

Rivera, a native of Puerto Rico, moved with her husband to Louisville five years ago when he was called to serve at the national offices of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). A certified teacher with more than 20 years of experience, she was attending Beechmont and working as a preschool teacher when she heard that La Escuelita was seeking a full-time director.

“I read everything about La Escuelita, and I felt a different rhythm in my heart,” explained Rivera, who had to overcome her initial reservations due to what she perceived as her limited English proficiency. “But then I thought, ‘I should do this. Let me submit my application!’ And I was right to do so!”

Because Rivera also has experience as a youth counselor, an adult adviser at the Presbyterian Youth Triennium — a PC(USA) gathering for youth held every three years — and as a deacon at her former home congregation in Puerto Rico, she understands her role as director of La Escuelita more holistically.

“I get involved in case management,” said Rivera, who is often called upon to provide transportation, counseling and a variety of other services for the parents of the children in her care. “All the moms feel that if they need something, they can call me or text me. Sometimes when they need to ask me for something, they are afraid. But they still ask because they know I can help.”

Emily Enders Odom, Associate Director of Mission Communications, Interim Unified Agency (Click here to read original PNS Story)

Let us join in prayer for:

Evelyn Torres, Housekeeper, Stony Point Conference Center, Interim Unified Agency
Joel Townsend, IT Help Desk Specialist, Administrative Services Group (A Corp) 

Let us pray:

Faithful God, thank you for the opportunity to listen, ask questions and help one another generate plans for growth in Christ. May the ministry of coaching create a culture of care and transformation among us. Amen.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - Louisville’s Beechmont Presbyterian Church hosts Vacation Bible School for an international body of students

A congregation of 58 members holds a welcoming VBS for 63 students

September 12, 2024

More than five dozen students hailing from around the world 

attended Vacation Bible School at Beechmont Presbyterian 

Church last month. (Contributed photo)

Beechmont Presbyterian Church in Louisville hosted a very successful Vacation Bible School this year! Ninety-three children, youth and adults were involved in Camp Firelight. At times, it was quite the circus — but generally a happy circus.

The program included music, craft/science and game stations, and was focused on Bible stories about people who experienced the gift of a trusting relationship with God. In addition, it taught us to trust that God will go with us, lead the way, share wisdom, give us peace, and spark joy as we celebrate the good news of Jesus in our own lives and in the lives of others. We also learned ways we can connect with and put our trust in God whenever we are afraid, challenged or called to do God’s work in the world and share the good news of God’s love through Jesus Christ.

Our remarkably diverse volunteer team included immigrants who came to Louisville from 10 countries, including Honduras, Mexico, Venezuela, Sudan, South Sudan, Guatemala (parent immigrated), Uganda, Ecuador and Haiti, as well as Puerto Rico. In addition to Beechmont Presbyterian Church volunteers, we also had volunteers from the following groups: Hispanic Latino Ministries of Preston Highway, the Sudanese Fellowship, Iglesia Ciudad Apostolica (Venezuelan group) and the La Escuelita Learning Hub program. It was wonderful having Jennie Proctor as assistant director and a great staff of 30 adult volunteers (some of whom worked a day or two) in addition to those who drove, brought delicious snacks and helped decorate.

Craft time provides for lasting memories at Vacation 

Bible School. (Contributed photo)

We did a fair amount of adapting the curriculum to suit our group, which included even more children who were more comfortable in Spanish than in the last couple of years, as they had been in the country for six months or less, as well as three Sudanese English-as-a-second-language students who had been in the country between six and 12 months.

We did personal communications and many home visits with the parents of children who attended to invite them and assist them with registration and transportation. This, along with recruiting, doing background checks and orienting a staff of 30 meant that the preparation work was intense and lengthy. A total of 68 children and youth registered, with 63 in attendance. Eight of the 63 were youth assistants. We organized transportation for 19 children whose parents either did not have cars or who were working and unable to drive. A team of eight volunteer drivers, most also helping with the program, transported these children and youth.

Our students were also a diverse group whose families came from 11 countries, including Uganda, Ecuador, Ghana, Sudan, Cuba, Guatemala Honduras, South Sudan, Venezuela and Mexico, as well as Puerto Rico.

No Vacation Bible School experience is complete without 

roasting some marshmallows. (Contributed photo)

Here’s a breakdown of the 63 children and youth:

• One was from the Sudanese Fellowship and La Escuelita.
• Three were from families that worship with both the Sudanese Fellowship and Beechmont Presbyterian Church.
• Nine were from Hispanic Latino Ministries of Preston Highway.
• Five were friends of Hispanic Latino Ministries of Preston Highway.
• Three were from Hispanic Latino Ministries of Preston Highway and La Escuelita.
• Thirteen were from Hispanic Latino Ministries of Preston Highway, BPC and La Escuelita.
• Six were from Beechmont Presbyterian Church.
• Ten were friends or family of BPC.
• Two were friends/family of BPC and Preston Highway.
• Five were with the Iglesia Cuidad Apostolica (Venezuelan church) and La Escuelita.
• Five were from BPC and La Escuelita.
• One was associated only with La Escuelita.

The leaders extend a huge thank you to all of the volunteers within the church and our partnering Sudanese, Latino and Venezuela worshiping communities who led the program, as well as those who drove, helped to decorate, provided snacks and prayed for the program. It was truly a labor of love. It takes a big commitment for a church of 58 members to put on a Vacation Bible School program for 63 children, and it could not have been done without such dedicated volunteers!

The Rev. Debbie Braaksma is parish associate at Beechmont Presbyterian Church.

Today’s Focus: Beechmont Presbyterian Church hosts Vacation Bible School for an international body of students

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Lauren Rogers, Ministry Engagement Advisor, Ministry Engagement & Support, A (Corp) 
Dalma Rodriguez, Kitchen Assistant, Stony Point Center, Presbyterian Mission Agency (term) 

Let us pray

Lord Jesus, thank you for what you are doing in the world today to call many people from many nations to be part of your body, the church. Open our eyes to see what you are doing and show us how you want each of us to be involved. In your name, we pray. Amen.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - Not even a pandemic can slow down this 60-member church

Even during the depths of the pandemic, Louisville’s Beechmont Presbyterian Church got to work meeting asylees’ educational needs

August 3, 2022

The Rev. Debbie Braaksma, bottom, was the guest of Dr. Bill McConnell and the Rev. Emily Enders Odom on Between Two Pulpits. (Screenshot)

When it came time to minister to the families of recent asylees from Central America, it turns out a global pandemic was no match for the 60 or so members and friends of Beechmont Presbyterian Church in Louisville.

From the outset of the Covid pandemic — even during the months before lifesaving vaccines were widely available — a core of at least 15 volunteers has been working with immigrant children to help boost the nontraditional instruction they were receiving from their teachers. The Rev. Debbie Braaksma, who retired after serving as the Africa area coordinator for Presbyterian World Mission, appeared recently on Between Two Pulpits, a weekly broadcast put on by Special Offerings and hosted that week by Dr. Bill McConnell and the Rev. Emily Enders Odom. Watch their conversation with Braaksma here.

A church that reflects its diverse community, Beechmont heeded the call from the Rev. Elmer Zavala to put together a program to aid people from Honduras seeking asylum, said Braaksma, a parish associate at Beechmont. Zavala helped to identify the families with the most need, and Beechmont opened The Learning Hub, which, during the worst months of the pandemic, ministered to children five days per week.

“We said, ‘This is an essential service. We aren’t vaccinated, but we are going to make sure these kids will receive academic, social and spiritual support — and just have fun together,’” Braaksma said, adding that the children had spent many weeks “cooped up in their homes.” That morphed into a summer program in 2021, then returned to its school year programming after parents asked organizers to continue working with their children.

The program now serves 20 children. “It is very much a work of faith,” Braaksma told McConnell and Odom. “We said we are making the road as we are walking. … Pastor Elmer says it’s these kids’ salvation. We have developed good relationships with them and their families, and we do intensive case management with the families. It’s exciting and it’s hard, but it’s our calling.”

The Learning Hub was also awarded a grant from the PC(USA)’s Educate a Child, Transform the World program, which is supported by gifts to the Pentecost Offering.

“It’s pretty much an all-voluntary staff, but we have transportation, snack and program expense needs,” Braaksma said. “I worked with that program internally for many years. It’s nice to do the work on both sides of the water.”

Braaksma said many families with whom volunteers work “have gone through a brutal asylum experience. They are really in survival mode. They have to be. Many were marginalized in their own society and cheated out of a good education.” Now that they’re in the United States, many “aren’t able to provide the extra things you would want for your kids. They might be working three part-time jobs and they don’t know the language. Some of our parents have early elementary education and have been traumatized, and we have kids who have experienced a lot of brutality.”

Beechmont volunteers do trauma healing work with children and “help parents to understand what trauma with their children looks like,” Braaksma said.

Once a month, children and families are taken somewhere fun, such as the Louisville Zoo. “I am getting really good at asking for volunteers and for organizations to give us free tickets,” Braaksma said.

Asked which lectionary passage she’d select if she were preaching this coming Sunday, Braaksma immediately went to John 20:19–31, which includes the confession of the disciple we know today as Doubting Thomas.

“I think about Doubting Thomas and the way that when we saw this need among us, it was kind of scary,” Braaksma said. “Dealing with the pandemic was hard, and we were bringing a bunch of kids into church during the pandemic.”

“There were times we doubted, but what motivated us so much is the fact that Elmer is so active in the church.” In worship during the prayers of the people, Zavala would “share stories of what families from Honduras were going through. I think his stories helped us overcome the doubt. We realized we had to do something and to look at what God could do and not just what we could do.”

Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Lucy Bryant, Manager, Online Services, Presbyterian Foundation
Monica Buonincontri, Director, Enterprise Marketing, Board of Pensions

Let us pray

O God, our hope is in you, the One who protects all who are vulnerable. Invite us into your sacred work and strengthen us in doing it. For we ask it in the name of Christ Jesus. Amen.