Echo Park United Methodist Church

Echo Park United Methodist Church in Los Angeles, serving as a refuge and immigration support center.

Echo Park United Methodist Church is a multicultural and multilingual congregation of approximately 30 people located in Los Angeles, California. Historically known as 'Little Central America' due to its dense Hispanic population, the church has a legacy of caring for the stranger, having served as a sanctuary for families from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras since the 1980s. Following the implementation of the 'Remain in Mexico' policy in 2019, the church provided refuge for unaccompanied minors, though its immigration clinic shifted to an online format due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, the congregation relaunches its social work through EPIC (Echo Park Immigration Center), a ministry dedicated to supporting youth, young people, and their families. EPIC aims to help immigrants navigate the education and immigration systems, build friendships, share resources, and achieve self-sufficiency through mentoring, safe spaces, and hands-on experience. The program emphasizes that undocumented individuals are made in God's image and are key to cultivating a self-sustainable society. Beyond EPIC, the church's spiritual collective called Refuge offers monthly in-person gatherings including Community & Comida (food), a BIPOC Theologies Group, a podcast called The Refuge Pod, and a story-sharing collective called Radix focused on environmental justice. The church continues to dismantle the 'us vs. them' mentality by breaking bread with families and providing resources through grants and fundraising to support its mission of social justice.