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[Episcopal News Service] East Tennessee Bishop Brian Cole and eight other Episcopal clergy in the Knoxville-based diocese signed a letter along with more than 100 interfaith leaders representing Christian, Jewish and Muslim communities in Knox County calling on officials to discontinue the county’s detention agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, commonly known as ICE, and to deny further expansion of ICE operations in the region. “We write together because our traditions, however distinct in practice and belief, rest on a shared moral foundation that to love God and to love our neighbor are not two commandments but one, and that a community which neglects the second has not, in truth, kept the first,” the letter says. About 30 of the letter’s signers gathered for a press conference on Sept. 16 in front of Roger D. Wilson Detention Facility in Knoxville to share personal testimonies about the impact the aggressive tactics used by local and federal enforcement agencies have had on immigrants in the community and their families. As mentioned in the letter, the clergy called for an end to immigrant deportations, especially of those who are legally in the United States. The Rev. RJ Powell, priest-in-charge at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Maryville, prioritizes advocating for immigrants’ rights and volunteered to write the letter on the interfaith leaders’ behalf. “From a theological perspective … this is a part of the fabric of who we are as Episcopalians,” Powell told Episcopal News Service after the press conference. “Looking at our baptismal vows, if we’re to ‘respect the dignity of every human being and seek justice and peace,’ there’s no exception to who is included in ‘every human being.’ It includes all people.” View this post on Instagram Knox County’s Sheriff’s Office began questioning inmates about immigration status in 2017.  A detention bed contract with ICE has been in effect since 2018. Since 2025, more than 5,000 people have been detained there on immigration matters, according to data compiled by Meghan Conley, a sociologist at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Knox County Sheriff Brent Gibson, who was sworn into office on Sept. 1, campaigned on working more closely with ICE. On Sept. 15, his office signed an agreement to expand its involvement with federal immigration enforcement under a task force model that would deputize police officers to question and arrest people on suspected immigration violations. At the state level, the Tennessee General Assembly this year passed several immigration laws “even though immigration law is strictly federal jurisdiction.” The interfaith letter says the laws “answer no genuine crisis of public safety,” but instead “deliberately construct a climate of fear whose logic is not the protection of this community but the racial targeting of a particular population of people within it, discrimination now given the force of law.” “The harm does not fall only on those without documentation. It falls on U.S. citizen children in mixed-status families, on patients who will now avoid seeking medical care, on victims of crime who will not call for help, on families who go without food because they are too afraid to go grocery shopping, all because institutions our own taxes pay for have been turned into instruments of federal surveillance,” the letter says. “When fear becomes the organizing principle of public life, every last one of us bears its cost.” Another concern that clergy have, according to Powell, is that they’ve “repeatedly” been denied access to make pastoral visits to people detained by ICE, though they’re able to visit inmates who are incarcerated for non-immigration-related reasons. “It’s happened to all of us – Episcopal, Catholic, Baptist, everyone,” Powell said. “This is why we need to be partners together to advocate for our immigrants and keep engaging in multifaith and ecumenical work on this issue.” The letter also calls on lawmakers to urge state officials to stop spreading “malicious falsehoods” about immigrants and for landlords, developers, business owners and institutions to refuse to house ICE offices and facilities. As an appeal to local law enforcement, the letter asks officers to “exercise every discretion the law still leaves you” and not arrest law-abiding immigrants. “Where the choice remains yours, choose mercy.” Nationwide, some 65,765 migrants and asylum-seekers are in ICE custody, according to the latest ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection data compiled by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse Reports, an independent data-gathering and analysis center founded at Syracuse University in New York. The Episcopal Church offers several resources for Episcopalians engaged in immigration advocacy work, including its Protesting Faithfully toolkit. The resource offers “spiritual grounding and practical resources for faithful presence at protests and public demonstrations.” The church’s Immigration Action Toolkit shares resources from organizations that address migrants’ legal rights. –Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service. She can be reached at [email protected].

The new role will lead a national legacy giving ministry on behalf General Synod, the Anglican Foundation and Alongside Hope.

The post Director of Legacy Giving sought appeared first on Anglican Church of Canada.

The GINGKO Interfaith Fellowship Retreat 2026 brought together scholars, religious leaders, and practitioners from Jewish, Christian, and Muslim backgrounds to explore the theme “Hospitality as a Means to Deepen the Encounter.”

Serving as an elder in the Christian Reformed Church in North America comes with significant responsibility. Whether stepping into the role for the first time or bringing years of experience to the consistory table, every leader can benefit from space to reflect, learn, and grow. To support leaders in this calling, Thrive has produced the Elder Essentials workbook. Designed as a comprehensive leadership development course, Elder Essentials provides foundational orientation tailored specifically for CRC elders. Across six instructive lessons, the workbook explores vital topics from preaching, sacraments, and pastoral care to faith formation, hospitality, and gospel witness. It aims to equip consistories to connect their weekly work directly to God’s redemptive mission in the world. Early feedback from congregations that...

Thrive, the congregational support agency of the CRCNA, has appointed Tim (Sang Joon) Won as its new chaplaincy endorser and ministry consultant. Won, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel and chaplain with more than 24 years of leadership experience, succeeds Tim Rietkerk, who recently retired from the role with Thrive. Won began serving as an ordained CRCNA minister of the Word before entering active duty. During his military career, he served in diverse contexts, including combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. Other roles include service as a community chaplain in Germany, as a garrison chaplain in South Korea, and as chief of the Department of Ministry and Pastoral Care at Womack Army Medical Center in Fayetteville, N.C., during the pandemic...

Many ministers I’ve spoken with over the years have said that pastoral ministry is a beautiful calling—and yet a challenging one. Ministers are often with people in some of the most joyous moments of their lives—baptisms, professions of faith, weddings—but they also share in some of the most difficult times—death and grieving, marriage breakdown, loved ones walking away from the faith or the church. Pastoral ministry can take an emotional toll, and it’s important for ministers and other ministry leaders to find ways to be refreshed and renewed. Many pastors and ministry leaders find that their local ministerial association can be a helpful source of refreshment and inspiration. A ministerial association, often called simply a “ministerial,” is made up of...

Phil Knox explores five signs of the spiritual springtime emerging across the UK

An English edition of a Korean United Methodist small-group curriculum on Jesus’ parables is expanding its reach to English-speaking churches, bilingual families and congregations beyond the Korean community.

Ethan Loewi

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Rev. Karen G. Johnston reflects on her arrest and what comes next for the movement.