Follow these easy steps to begin your peacemaking journey

 
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APPLY FOR A RESIDENCY

Move from awareness to action.

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SERVE CROSS-CULTURALLY

Discover prayer, peacemaking and justice as a lifestyle.

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MAKE YOUR LIFE COUNT

Consider your whole life as ministry.

 
 
 
 

explore God’s love for people & HEART for justice

Our 11 week - 11 month, peacemaking residency program is intentionally designed to help develop ministry readiness, leadership skills, discipleship values, cross-cultural agility, and spiritual depth. During your border residency, you’ll learn directly from immigrant leaders and partner together with ministries currently serving border communities. Our residencies are designed to provide you with opportunities for hands‑on ministry experience in a cross-cultural setting, all while preparing you for long-term ministry.

 
 
 
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Our residency program prepares young adults for a lifetime of cross-cultural ministry.

 
 

Our Peacemaking residency is two-fold

Throughout the residency you’ll have the opportunity to serve alongside our partner ministries while growing and gaining personal ministry experience.

 
 

WHO CAN APPLY?

Our residency program is particularly designed for young adults with a desire to serve in long-term ministry, whether you see yourself serving overseas or living missionally where you live. This experience is an opportunity to dive into a lifestyle of ministry, learning from and being coached by our local leadership team.

Fill out an Inquiry Form

There are many ways to use your ministry PaSSION & calling!

Our residency program helps you gain ministry experience, all while living and serving cross-culturally.

 
 

GRAPHIC DESIGN

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SOCIAL

JUSTICE

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EVANGELISM

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KIDS

MINISTRY

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VIDEOGRAPHY

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MISSIONS

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PHOTOGRAPHY

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PROJECT MANAGEMENT

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DIGITAL COMMUNICATION

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CHURCH MINISTRY

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YOUTH

MINISTRY

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LEADERSHIP

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Our Residency program takes place year-round.

Using a mixture of ministry tools, resources and one-on-one coaching, residents will be led through topics like cultural awareness, self-leadership, spiritual disciplines, identity, self-awareness and values in mission. All in effort to better equip you to serve in full time ministry at home or abroad.

*There is a required pre-field & in-field training.

 
 

Now accepting applications!

Fill out an inquiry form to find the opportunity that best fits you or begin your border residency by submitting an application today!

HAVE QUESTIONS?

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BORDER VISUALS

We are so thankful for your support towards our ministry initiatives! This last week alone our team put in 360+ volunteer hours meeting some of the most basic needs of families’ at the humanitarian center in McAllen, Texas. In partnership with @theimmigrationcoalition, we were also able to deliver close to 400 Welcome Kits. We also donated clothes, socks, shoes, blankets, coloring books, and children’s booklets filled with fun activities interwoven with the story and the hope of Jesus. Since April of this year, we’ve been able to share about 3,000 Welcome Kits with families in need. We are so thankful for all of your support in our ongoing initiatives to support immigrant families at the South Texas border. We couldn’t do this work without you. We appreciate you so much! ♥️
We had the opportunity to hear directly from Sister Norma, Executive Director of Catholic Charities and founder of the respite center in McAllen, Texas. She talked with us about the importance of reassuring immigrant’s human dignity and that the humanitarian center is a place for practicality, not politics. Putting our faith into action is what this trip was all about! 🙌🏼
Our team has been volunteering at the Catholic Charities Respite Center in McAllen, Texas this week. Yesterday there was about 800 asylum seekers at the center. It’s another typical day since the center sees about 800-1,200 people a day. At the center, asylum seekers get clean clothes, food and are able to connect with their family or loved one to continue their trip across the USA. Our team has been walking people to the nearby bus station, driving families to the airport, helping in the kitchen, sorting donations and giving out hygiene items that meet family’s basic needs.
We did a lot of driving along the South Texas and Mexico border yesterday. It was a time to try and understand the complexity and the need across the border region.
Our first stop is in Roma, Texas. Miguel Alemán is the Mexican town across the Rio Grande. On our drive we’ve been learning about the Tethered Aerostat Radar System (TARS) surveillance that is used along the border for security purposes.
A group of students from Minneapolis,MN are joining us this week for a service learning trip along the US & Mexico border. Stay tuned for updates on our trip!
Over the last several months, a surge of Central American migrants has overwhelmed Border Patrol detention centers in South Texas. This influx of migrants and asylum seekers pushed detention centers along the border beyond capacity, forcing officials to release individuals at a much higher rate than usual. With the overwhelming amount of immigrants currently in transition, the need on the border is bigger than any one church and/or organization can sustain. This wave of arrivals and the resulting lack of shelter has created what U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan called a “breaking point” on the border. With the overwhelming amount of immigrants currently in transition, the need on the border is bigger than any organization can sustain. Many families haven’t had access to showers or basic hygiene items. Others have gone days without food and water. The needs migrants face today are twofold. Families need prayer, and they also need access to hygiene kits, food, and clean water. We are partnering with @theimmigrationcoalition to continue our Welcome Kits Campaign. Our Welcome Kits help meet the some of the greatest needs currently at refuge centers. Each $15 kit provides basic hygiene items—wet wipes, first aid items, shampoo—and a Bible for immigrant families. We invite you to stand with us by offering holistic hope to vulnerable families on our border.
We just finished a 3 day border trip with the @liberatusdc team. They will be sharing about our #borderjourney experience and many other stories on how the Peace of Christ can remake politics in their upcoming print journal! One thing that stood out during this trip was our vision and passion to move the conversation forward and continue to advocate for a more balanced perspective on the issues affecting border communities, immigrants who are already here and the many more who are currently in transition seeking legal asylum. Thanks for a great trip @southnixon, @an_emmajune & @ana_stasiaaa! #beapeacemaker
In her new book, The God Who Sees, Author @_karenjgonzalez strikes parallels between the stories of immigrants in the Bible and the story of immigrants today. She brings to life these ancient stories in new ways and she also adds a weightiness to the lives of modern-day immigrants when we imagine heroes of the faith being among them. We highly recomend Karen's new book! 🎉 Check out our blog, it's a must read! 📖
BORDER JOURNEY REFLECTION — I had the privilege to learn and serve on the US/Mexico border with @borderperspective and @experiencemission and it has rocked my world. Regardless of your political stance on Immigration and border security, you cannot turn a blind eye to human need at this magnitude. Hundreds of asylum-seekers are welcomed in each day (with valid cases of extreme danger at home), often empty-handed carrying nothing but their children and are met by a handful (sometimes less than 10) of volunteers working to clothe, feed, shelter, and provide transportation for these human beings to continue on their journey to destinations across the US. It’s so, so hard to process all that I’ve seen in such a short time, but I’m overcome by the gaps that I’ve seen and experienced in resources and volunteers stepping up to welcome these neighbors. The situation is far more urgent than I imagined and as a Church, we need to get to work. @abbiethiebaut was recently a part of our #borderjourney along the south Texas & northern Mexico border.
BORDER REFLECTIONS - WHITE FLAKES A new group of immigrants enters The Refuge, a first responder charity for those released from the nearby detention facility. Lining up in the hallway they await their turn for a shower, a meal, clean clothes. Rachel (staff) and I sweep the hallway in their wake, “Take note of the mess on the floor after the lines are gone.” I assume she means the dust and dirt tracked in on foreign feet. But as our pile of sweepings grows I start to notice white flakes, like snow. It puzzles me. Rachel lifts the broom to the top side of the railing and pushes out even more of these white flakes, so much more! What is this? I push them into the dustpan, curiosity bubbling up only to be crushed by the sheer amount of other work to be done, clothes to be sorted, toiletry bags to be made. Eventually the story of the flakes begins to take shape. In the stress and tension, immigrant children and adults start picking at the paint on the wall as they wait in yet another line, minds worried, bodies exhausted, hearts hoping. The paint is chipped away bit by bit, fingernail by fingernail, as the days go by and new guests funnel through. Can’t we all relate to this unconscious form of stress relief? Some of us are nail biters or nail-polish scrapers. I am a lip chewer, pinching my bottom lip between my teeth, working off little bits of skin down to a place of painful tenderness. This simple understanding of shared humanity cuts me to the core. I see the word “PAPA” etched into the dirty wall about 3 feet high (see on the posted photo for yourself). Likely a child. Missing a father who stayed behind? Hoping to reunite with one who came ahead? I bite my lip in a vain attempt to hold back tears and continue to sweep. Thank you for this hard but beautiful reflection, @mar_shawn_uh. Your processing and words are helping us understand the immigrant journey many of us are unfamiliar with. #borderjourney
“Labels have the power to unite or to divide us.” Immigrant. Alien. Illegal. Asylum seeker. Foreigner. Different. Mother. Wife. Father. Husband. Daughter. Son. Human. Child of God. Worthy of hope and love. I have been struggling to put into words what I’ve been able to be a part of the last few days and I will continue to process this for days, months, and maybe even years to come. I am in south Texas along the US/Mexico border with @borderperspective and @experiencemission to listen, learn, and broaden my perspective beyond what the media tells me. To remove the negative context the above labels carry and seek to see others they way that God sees them. Valuable. Beautiful. Loved. There is such a need here and there is still so much to learn. I have only seen a small part as I walked along the border wall, volunteered at a respite center, listened to stories of immigrants and local leaders. Church, we are missing it. There are hundreds of people crossing the border every day - legally and illegally. They are in need of basic necessities and many of them are without hope - we know the One who brings hope. So where are we? Why are we not sharing this hope? Why are we (generally speaking of followers of Christ) so quick to place dividing labels on our neighbors when we have not heard their stories or walked in their shoes? We do not know the reasons they are leaving all they know behind and seeking a new home here. This is not a post about politics. I’m learning there is no one answer for the situation along our southern border. This is about bringing humanity back the reality of what is going on. I do not have any answers, just more questions, and I am still processing, but I would love to invite you into this ongoing conversation. Thanks for sharing your heart, @sara.e_hale! It was great to have you be a part of our #borderjourney!
May we always keep perspective: we are not the savior, but we know a Savior who is a friend of sinners, a man of sorrows, and well-acquainted with grief. He is our companion as we walk with our immigrant friends through highs and lows, through grief and joy. “A cord of three strands is not quickly broken” (Ecclesiastes 4:12). Read the full blog entry on our website! borderperspective.org/blog
A glimpse of hope in the midst of chaos... 📸: @mar_shawn_uh #borderjourney
Thank you so much for your overwhelming support as we continue to serve immigrant families. The kickoff to our Welcome Kits campaign is off to a great start. Thanks to all of you who have donated and continue to share about this campaign. Today our team of volunteers served at a refuge shelter where there were so many families in dire need and need our support more than ever. Please continue to share so that others can learn about the reality we are facing on the border.

JOURNAL ENTRIES