Mission to Amplify Compassion by amplifying marginalized voices in our community, including those marginalized by their race, gender, nationality, sexual orientation, or any others searching for equity. We will help challenge our congregation to amplify justice, mercy, and humility to create a more compassionate church.

Join Dilworth’s A Tu Lado Team! Interested in making a difference in the life of an immigrant family in Charlotte? A Tu Lado is a partnership ministry in which Dilworth church members and friends work together in partnership with an immigrant family to make their transition to life in the city a success.  Please reach out to Pastor Cade to express interest in being part of this ministry (cade.barefoot@dilworthchurch.org).  

Reflection – Pastor Cade

Jesus said that “when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous” (Luke 14:13-14). Better yet, let the poor invite you over for dinner and pay them for the meal! That has been what Dilworth’s A Tu Lado team has done for the last couple of months with our immigrant partner Danya. An immigrant from Honduras, Danya supports herself and her two daughters by cooking traditional Honduran food, which she sells to folks in her apartment complex, many of whom work in the construction industry. Danya’s apartment becomes a makeshift cafeteria for two meals a day as she cooks for hungry men a meal that reminds them of home. Our team of church members and friends has shared a table with Danya and her daughters before the dinner rush hit and were blown away by delicious tamales and baleadas!  

A Tu Lado is Spanish for ‘by your side.’ Too often, well-intentioned charities, non-profits, and churches see the folks they serve only in terms of what they lack (money, housing, education, health care). Rather than defining someone by their poverty, the A Tu Lado ministry aims to walk alongside of our partner family in “La Lucha” or “the struggle” and help them to make the most of the skills and abilities they do have.  This is how Jesus ministers to us – not instantly fixing all of our problems, but by being with us in the midst of all things for and giving us the gift of grace to transform ourselves and the world.  Our meals with Danya are about more than just a way for her to make an easy $50 dollars but are a foretaste of the heavenly banquet described by Jesus – where everyone is welcome, and all have enough to eat.

If you want to be part of a ministry that will stretch your faith and help you make friends with the kind of folks that Jesus would hang out with, I encourage you to join our A Tu Lado team. I promise that social justice has never tasted so good!

Share Are you interested in sharing a reflection in the Amplify newsletter? If you feel called to share a story, testimony, or devotion related to diversity, inclusion, and reconciliation, please reach out to Pastor Cade (cade.barefoot@dilworthchurch.org). The Amplify Team is open to all members who feel passionate about shaping our conversation and working for justice in and through Dilworth UMC. Please contact Pastor Cade to become a part of this important ministry.

  
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