Our world is facing the largest migration crisis since World War II and the migration route across the Mediterranean Sea from Africa and the Middle East to Europe is the most deadly route, claiming the lives of over 3,000 people in 2015 and more than 30,000 lives in the past 30 years. According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees over 720,000 people have successfully made the journey to Europe in 2015, but they have done so mainly through dangerous and exploitative means. Most have fled their countries due to war, violence, persecution, political instability, famine, deadly diseases and scarcity of resources. Though many know the trek may be fatal, the hope of life free from these atrocities motivates them to take risks that—to observers—seem incomprehensible.
“If you tell the story of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), you tell the story of a number of significant migrations,” said the Rev. Dr. Charles Wiley III, coordinator of the office of Theology and Worship. “It is important for us to recognize that immigration is not a new phenomenon but integral to our very history from the very beginning.”