The Body of Christ is made of many parts, and people experience their understanding of God in many different ways. On this blog, we'll consider the beliefs and activities of congregations, denominations and different religions.
Wednesday, January 14, 2026
RNS Weekly Digest: In Pittsburgh, pro-immigrant interfaith efforts emerge amid concerns about ICE
On an unseasonably warm, drizzly Friday morning in early January, nearly 200 people of faith stood outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Pittsburgh’s South Side neighborhood, singing religious songs and praying. Some wore yarmulkes, and others wore clerical collars and held posters depicting Mary, Jesus’ mother, being detained by ICE agents. One sign read: “Who Would Jesus Deport?”
“I’m here because Renee Good cannot be here, and her mother and daughter are weeping,” said the Rev. De Neice Welch, executive director of the Pennsylvania Interfaith Impact Network, referring to the woman killed a few days earlier by an ICE agent in Minneapolis. “I’m here because my faith drives me, my God compels me, and my Scriptures remind me that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”
In between verses of “This Little Light of Mine” and “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” the Rev. Dave Swanson, a pastor at Pittsburgh Mennonite Church, reminded attendees that Good was killed less than a mile from where George Floyd was killed by police in 2020.
Participants bathe in ice-cold water to purify their souls and pray for good health during a New Year's ritual at Teppozu Inari Shrine in Tokyo, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)
Growing up, Nicole Martin recalls hearing stories from her great-grandmother, Estelle Cartledge, about helping her husband build a church in Pittsburgh during a time of segregation when women leaders were viewed with suspicion.
Her great-grandmother’s response was simple.
Do the work in front of you. Let God take care of the rest.
“Do what God has called you to do,” Martin recalled her great-grandmother saying.
Martin hopes to follow that advice in her new role as president and CEO of Christianity Today, the venerable evangelical magazine founded by Billy Graham 70 years ago, where she has been tasked with helping define CT for the future.
It’s no small task. Once seen as the flagship publication for evangelicals, especially during the rise of that movement as a political force, CT has struggled in recent years to find its place in Trump’s America, where the old rules no longer apply.
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