A Letter From Bishop Tom Berlin

The following is an email from Bishop Tom Berlin to us and for the media concerning the alarming events surrounding the detention center here in Florida. I share the sentiments and intense concern as it weighs on my heart, that our sisters and brothers in Christ are suffering due to discrimination and racism in our country. This is not good for our community, country, government, and our church.

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I was a stranger, and you welcomed me.  Matthew 25:35 CEB 
 
Proposed in June, this week, the first undocumented persons arrived at the makeshift Florida detention center, pejoratively referred to as ‘Alligator Alcatraz.’ Built in just over a week with no public or environmental approval process, the facility is located on a 30-square-mile area and will have an initial capacity of approximately 3,000 people that is expected to increase. It was built despite pushback from many Florida residents. The facility, equipped with cameras, barbed wire, and staff, is situated at the former Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, located within Big Cypress National Preserve in Ochopee, Florida. State officials seized the county-owned land, which is prone to flooding and a significant risk of mosquito-borne disease. The hastily assembled facility reflects a partnership between the state of Florida and the federal Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Florida state funds were used to erect and operate the facility along with funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Shelter and Services Program. 
 
Supporters of this facility have shared that it was created to relieve pressure on federal detention facilities. They describe the creation of this facility as a Florida ‘state of emergency’ measure. Its purpose is to provide a location from which to interrogate and detain undocumented persons for potential deportation. The high cost, as well as the speed with which this site was developed, is both alarming and a significant concern. It raises the question of values, priorities, and what constitutes a state of emergency. Many Floridians will soon face their own emergencies because of federal budget cuts to healthcare benefits through Medicaid. They will also face an emergency need for food and nutritional support with reductions to the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP).  While these programs that assist families, people with disabilities and the elderly are being dramatically reduced, this new detention center, which reportedly will cost Florida taxpayers $450 million per year,was made a priority.  
 
Environmental groups, human rights advocates, and Native American tribes are also opposed to the facility, expressing concerns about the Florida Everglades ecosystem, citing the harsh environment for humans, and its location on sacred tribal lands.      

Leaders and members of The Florida Conference of The United Methodist Church do not support this facility in purpose, design, funding, or location. We do support a clear path to the process for legal immigration and a reduction in criminal activity. When immigration policy is driven by monthly quotas and rapid deportation, officials do not have time to locate criminals. To meet their goals, they must deport persons who have lived in the United States for many years, people who own stores, work in Florida agriculture, clean hotel rooms or work in restaurants in our hospitality industry and live as peaceful neighbors.  
 
We stand in solidarity with those who advocate for humane treatment and compassionate care for all people, including Friends of the Everglades (founded by Marjorie Stoneman Douglas), the Center for Biodiversity, and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians. Environments that are detrimental to health and pose life-threatening danger are non-compliant with our Scripture, “Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.” (Hebrews 13:3 NRSVUE).

In this season, we call on United Methodists to be guided by Scripture as they contact state and federal officials with their concerns, with an eye towards the example and action of the prophet in Nehemiah 5:1-13, as we support peaceful, non-violent protests related to the facility. We encourage people to contact their lawmakers to request the inclusion of provisions that allow for facility inspections and proper environmental reviews, while insisting on the protection of all persons, documented or undocumented, and transparency in the development and use of state land, facilities, and funds. 
 

In Christ,

Bishop Tom Berlin
Resident Bishop
 
Rev. Dr. Sharon G. Austin
East Central District Superintendent
FLUMC Director of Justice Ministries
 
Rev. Sherlain Stevens, Senior Pastor,
Ebenezer United Methodist Church, Miami
FLUMC Prison and Jail Ministry
 
Rev. Beth Bostrom, Senior Pastor,
First United Methodist Church, Palmetto
FLUMC Peace With Justice Coordinator

Content Resources 
Anderson, Curt; Payne, Kate Payne (contributor) July 3, 2025.  “First immigration detainees arrive at ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ in Florida Everglades” https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/first-immigration-detainees-arrive-at-alligator-alcatraz-in-florida-everglades. PBS. Retrieved July 5, 2025.
Alligator Alcatraz – Wikipedia. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alligator_Alcatraz&oldid=1298731961, July 5, 2025.
 
Aleaziz, Hamed. June 23, 2025. Updated July 1, 2025. Retrieved July 5, 2025.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/23/us/politics/florida-alligator-alcatraz-migrant-detention-center.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Uk8.dsqn.fy7C8AuB8x-j&smid=em-share

Flagg, Anna. March 30, 2018. Retrieved July 5, 2025.
https://nyti.ms/2w2nRss. uhttps://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/03/30/upshot/crime-immigration-myth.html
 
Flagg, Anna. https://www.themarshallproject.org/2019/05/13/is-there-a-connection-between-undocumented-immigrants-and-crime?utm_campaign=share-tools&utm_content=post-top&utm_medium=email&utm_source=email. Retrieved July 5, 2025.

Garsd, Jasmine. https://www.npr.org/2024/03/08/1237103158/immigrants-are-less-likely-to-commit-crimes-than-us-born-americans-studies-find/ . Retrieved July 5, 2025.

FPI Staff. https://www.floridapolicy.org/posts/more-than-1-6-billion-in-snap-cuts-to-florida-would-put-residents-and-state-budget-at-risk-in-2028 Retrieved July 5, 2025.

Ku, Leighton, Kwon Kristine Namhee, Krips, Maddie, Gorak, Taylor, Cordes, Joseph J. https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2025/jun/how-medicaid-snap-cutbacks-one-big-beautiful-bill-trigger-job-losses-states Retrieved July 5, 2025.

GCSRW Stands With Women in Church

The original letter is available here.

A Letter from the General Secretary….

Dear Friend,

I sat on my couch in disbelief as I watched the CNN reporter interviewing Doug Wilson, cofounder of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC), explain his views on women and the world. In the interview, views were expressed that said women shouldn’t be legally allowed to vote, women should not be in leadership within the church, and women do not have unequivocal equal value to men in all ways. Shocked, I sent the video to my husband and asked, “Is this real?”

Days later it would be clear how real it was when United States Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, reposted the video. It has been reported, Hegseth is “a proud member of a church” that is affiliated with CREC and he “very much appreciates many of Mr. Wilson’s writings and teachings.” 

In that moment, all I could think of was, “This. This is why The General Commission on the Status and Role of Women (GCSRW) of the United Methodist Church exists.”  

We exist because, whether in the Church or in society at large, women still face discrimination, harassment, and abuse. There are still people who absolutely believe women are less than men, and claim their faith and Scripture support those views. These views are not only demeaning, they are dangerous, not just to women, but to ALL people.

In simple terms GCSRW is here to make sure The United Methodist Church models to all the world that women are valued and belong in every place of leadership.  It is always fascinating to me how quickly some want to supplant, undermine, and deny women’s actual role in our sacred text.

• For it was through five faithful daughters of Zelophehad that the Hebrew Law was rewritten to allow women to inherit property, keeping them from being destitute.
• It was through a woman’s clever and courageous leadership that the Hebrew people were not slaughtered in the Book of Esther.
• It was through love that Ruth, an immigrant and foreigner, who participated in an “unbiblical marriage” became the grandmother to David and a part of the lineage of Jesus.
• It was through an unmarried, teenage, pregnant woman that the Savior, Jesus, was born. It was that same young mother who sang to her son about injustices being made right and the poor being lifted up, helping shape his ethos and ethic for justice for those cast aside.
• It was through the persistent Syrophoenician mother that Jesus was taught a deeper way of seeing people when she convinced him to heal her daughter.
• It was through a woman’s tears and expensive oil that Jesus was anointed for his death.
• It was through Mary, who had the faith to draw near the tomb, that the Good News was first carried back to others, becoming the first apostle of our faith.
• And it was through women like Junia, Lydia, Phoebe, Lois, and Eunice that the early church had means and leadership to operate.

Women appear throughout Scripture as leaders, proclaimers, preachers, financers, prophets, and apostles. Just as we cannot diminish the reality of women doing God’s work across history, there is no justification for treating women as less than anyone else, restricting their roles in the church or society, or taking away their legal right to vote. Yet throughout our patriarchal history, it has been all too common for those seeking power to suppress others—often claiming that faith demands it because that is how God preordained it.

It is a gross misrepresentation of our sacred text, void of context and Biblical scholarship and understanding. This kind of ideology and theology leads to discrimination, harassment, subjugation, and abuse not only for women, but for all minority groups. As long as persons are espousing this sort of rhetoric and leadership there will be a need for agencies like GCSRW so that we can continue to challenge the Church and society, supporting women towards full and equitable participation within the Church and world.   

One of the tangible ways you can help push back against the popularizing of these extreme Christian Nationalistic views of women is to support GCSRW with your prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness. Specifically: 

• Make a donation to support our worldwide work, and the development of resources translated into multiple languages.
• Follow us on social media and share our resources at www.gcsrw.org with your faith community.  
• Join our monthly Coffee Chats online to engage in the conversation.
• Speak up when you see discrimination, harassment or abuse. If you need support from discrimination, harassment or abuse within the United Methodist Church please call our confidential number at 1-800-523-8390.

Friends, we are not alone in this struggle. GCSRW is committed to being present along the path towards healing and wholeness for each of us. We will continue to stand up and speak out anytime there are those who seek to make women look and feel small claiming it is the will of God.

It is not. Thanks be to God. Amen! 

Stephanie York Arnold

General Secretary

2024 General Conference Allows United Methodists to Move Toward Justice

Removal of Harmful Language

Historic decisions ended a 50+ year long stance against LGBTQ people by an overwhelming majority vote of 523 to 161. This effectively ended the United Methodist Church’s exclusion of our queer siblings — a step in the direction of creating more open and diverse community that strives to include everyone.

More here: https://www.umnews.org/en/news/church-ends-52-year-old-anti-gay-stance

Accessibilty

More here: https://www.umnews.org/en/news/conference-attendees-power-through-mobility-challenges

View all conference images on Flickr here –>

Ordination / Clergy

Without a debate, on May 1st, the denomination removed the ban on self-avowed practicing homosexuals within the clergy. Delegates voted 692 to 51, to remove the 40+ year ban on LGBTQ folx called to ministry. At long last, we can celebrate that LGBTQ persons can share the fullness of their gifts and graces in leadership unobstructed.
More here: https://www.umnews.org/en/news/40-year-ban-on-gay-clergy-struck-down

Solar Powered Coffee

As part of an environmental justice initiative, coffee makers utilized solar power. An alternate source of energy for disaster relief was on display – an array of panels and a trailer that can “power a 3,000-square-foot house, run refrigerators and medical devices, cool dialysis equipment and help medical centers.” The self sustaining energy source is from the North Georgia Conference.

More here: https://www.umnews.org/en/news/solar-trailer-brings-power-in-disasters-and-coffee-at-conference

End Disaffiliation and Colonialism

The conference formally ended the period of disaffiliation, a pathway for congregations and clergy who wanted to exit the UMC on the basis of LGBTQ legislation. This officially closed the chapter in which about one quarter of the churches in the United States separated from the UMC, who desired to continue practicing rigid bans against LGBTQ folx in their congregations. In the future, re-affiliation will be available to those churches that would like to return to the UMC.

Regionalization also passed by easy margins. This is a plan to geographically reorganize the church, reducing the colonialist impacts of the U.S., by giving more opportunities for contextualized ministry, and more equitable voice and vote to United Methodists throughout the world.

More here: https://www.umnews.org/en/news/disaffiliation-ends-regionalization-moves-forward

These stories and images by UMNews