(RNS) — For nearly 2 1/2 years, Amity Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, has considered itself one congregation that mostly operates as two separate worship services: One, conducted in English, draws largely white worshippers, while the other, attended mostly by refugees from Africa, is conducted in Swahili.
But when the churchgoers found out over the weekend that U.S. Department of Homeland Security agents, launching a citywide immigration enforcement action known as “Operation Charlotte’s Web,” had visited the grounds of a Spanish-speaking church just two blocks away, Amity Presbyterian made a quick decision: On Sunday (Nov. 16), it would worship as one community.
“We decided, ‘We need to be together,’” the Rev. Megan Argabrite, lead pastor at the church, said.
In a second impromptu decision, the church announced it would host a training on how to respond to the influx of federal immigration agents into the neighborhood. Later that evening, nearly 300 people filled Amity Presbyterian’s sanctuary to listen to representatives from Siembra NC, a secular immigrant rights group.
Argabrite said hymns found their way into the training anyway. “They sang ‘This Little Light of Mine,’ and it was led by a child,” she said, including an improvised lyric: “All around Border Patrol, I’m gonna let it shine.’”
People a …