Norma Serrano still remembers how her caseworker first described the Methodist Justice Ministry to her over a decade ago.
“It’s a very small law firm. It’s downtown and they have one attorney. It may be a part of a church … try them,” Serrano said.
The Fort Worth aunt was trying to obtain legal custody of her five nieces and nephews who lived in an abusive household. She wanted to do what she could to prevent them from going to foster care, but she was unsure how to navigate Child Protective Services and the legal system.
Serrano — along with her mother and sisters — took her caseworker’s suggestion and scheduled a consultation.
Methodist Justice Ministry is a pro bono family law firm and ministry in Fort Worth that assists women and children in poverty to escape domestic violence, neglect and abuse. Serrano reflected on her journey as the nonprofit celebrates its 20th anniversary helping families such as hers.
In a downtown corner office nestled around First United Methodist Church of Fort Worth, the Serranos met the faces of the Methodist Justice Ministry: Brooks Harrington, a seasoned attorney and minister who founded the nonprofit in 2006, and legal assistant Juliana Ipock.
Brooks Harrington, founder of Methodist Justice Ministry, is a pro bono law firm to help women and children in domestic abuse family law cases. (Christine Vo | Fort Worth Report)
But instead of another 15-minute consultation ending with a forecast of costly legal fees as the family experienced at other firms, Serrano’s interview with Harrington was somewhat unorthodox, she said.
Harrington took time to understand her family’s story, the legal case and her options, Serrano said. She also recalled how the lawyer walked her through the intricacies of a family legal case and what it meant to obtain custody in Tarrant County.
Harrington and Ipock took on Serrano’s case and helped her obtain custody of her nieces and nephews in 2011. Three years later, Serrano left her job as an office manager for an HVAC company to work for the ministry.
Throughout the years, Serrano has worked as the organization’s intake director, legal assistant and helped with programs like the organization’s holiday and back-to-school drives.
“That’s always been at the heart of things — to help people,” Serrano said. “So we didn’t really care how many roles we had and how many hats because our focus was helping clients and getting the job done.”
Students leave with backpacks from a back-to-school drive hosted by the Methodist Justice Ministry in 2025. (Courtesy | Yajaera Chatterson)
‘Everyone deserves justice’
Harrington didn’t initially want to become a lawyer. He wanted to be a Marine. Harrington grew up in a military family in the Arlington Heights neighborhood and felt a sense of obligation to serve the nation during the Vietnam War.
Ironically, his first order as a Marine was to take the law school entrance exam at University of Oklahoma. Although Harrington scored well on the test, he still didn’t want to be a lawyer. Instead he went on to become an infantry officer for the U.S. Marine Corps.
It wasn’t until after he was working as a legislative aid for Fort Worth Congressman Jim Wright and watched a jury trial for the first time in Washington, D.C., he decided to continue the path to become a lawyer.
“I was fascinated by the whole process, and it turned me around,” Harrington previously said. “In politics, anybody can say anything, and they try to fool people about what the facts are. In court, you have to prove it.”
That moment influenced him to go to law school and begin working as a federal prosecutor in the nation’s capitol during the late 1970s and early 1980s. His cases involved murders, rapes and crimes against children and others.
Harrington, who grew up going to First United Methodist Church in downtown Fort Worth, later became an ordained minister and served as a senior pastor for Diamond Hill United Methodist Church in the early 1990s and served as an associate pastor for his childhood church in 2006.
That same year he felt called to start a nonprofit called the Methodist Justice Ministry.
First United Methodist Church of Fort Worth, played a vital role in the ministry’s establishment by providing financial support, office space and a network of volunteers, according to its website. The nonprofit helps clients regardless of religious affiliation.
Former senior pastor of First United Methodist Church of Fort Worth, Tim Bruster, poses for a photo in front of the church on April 6, 2026. Bruster helped to establish Methodist Justice Ministry, a pro bono family law firm that helps women and children through domestic abuse cases. (Maria Crane | Fort Worth Report/CatchLight Local/Report for America)
Harrington approached Tim Bruster, then-senior pastor of First United Methodist Church of Fort Worth, about the idea. Church leaders launched the ministry as a nonprofit, Bruster said.
Methodist Justice Ministry was “able to fill a need that really was not being met, at least not being met in this particular way,” Bruster said.
The nonprofit offers a “constellation of services,” Bruster said. On top of the legal aid, it was a place where clients connect with professional counseling, rental assistance and ensure those children have a great Christmas experience, he added.
Toys sit in a pile in a play therapy room at Methodist Justice Ministry on April 9, 2026, in Fort Worth. (Maria Crane | Fort Worth Report/CatchLight Local/Report for America)
Toys sit in a pile in a play therapy room at Methodist Justice Ministry on April 9, 2026, in Fort Worth. (Maria Crane | Fort Worth Report/CatchLight Local/Report for America)
“Jesus is pretty clear about our responsibility for one another, and so the Methodist Justice Ministry is a way for us to live that out,” Bruster said.
For the longest time, running the ministry was a “mom-and-pop” operation — minus the “mom” part, Harrington said.
In the early days of his practice, Harrington did it all. He created documents, he fielded phone calls from clients and prospective clients, he screened them, he went to court. He served as the nonprofit’s secretary, receptionist, copyist and the lawyer.
“Outside of combat in the Marine Corps, this is the hardest and the most satisfying thing I’ve done,” Harrington said.
A year into the ministry’s launch, Harrington hired the nonprofit’s first employee, Juliana Ipock, then a paralegal student at the University of Texas at Arlington.
Ipock served the ministry as a legal assistant, interpreter and office manager. The work of helping families through domestic abuse cases was heart-wrenching in nature, but Ipock loved being in a role where she could help, she said.
A “how are you feeling” learning board is mounted on a wall inside the in-take area of Methodist Justice Ministry on April 9, 2026, in Fort Worth. (Maria Crane | Fort Worth Report/CatchLight Local/Report for America)
Ipock connected clients with First Street Mission, another one of the church’s nonprofits offering emergency food, clothing, infant formula, some financial assistance and case management services to people in need. If a prospective client didn’t have transportation, Ipock would go to a client’s home or meet them at a McDonald’s to interview them, she said.
“Not everyone can afford an attorney, but everyone deserves justice,” Ipock said.
Currently, 1 in 3 women in Tarrant County will be affected by intimate partner violence at some point in her lifetime, according to the district attorney’s office.
Methodist Justice Ministry has filed over 1,200 family lawsuits and represented more than 3,000 vulnerable community members impacted by family violence. Today, many of the Methodist Justice Ministry’s staff are former clients.
The nonprofit is unique because it’s a small law firm that does “God’s work every day,” said Mike Moncrief, a retired Tarrant County judge and former Texas senator who served as Fort Worth’s mayor when the nonprofit was born.
Today, he sits on the organization’s board of directors.
Moncrief said in some ways he wishes the organization could “work our way out of business,” meaning that there would no longer be cases to serve. But that’s not realistic, he added.
“We’re always going to have people that need our services,” Moncrief said. “So we’ll continue to grow … we’ll need more staff, more caseworkers, that will help us to do what Brooks originally intended with this organization, and that’s to help people find their way through the system and know that they can trust the law to help them in that process.”
‘Every client has a name, a faith, a story’
Methodist Justice Ministry staff, leaders and others who hold the nonprofit close to their heart gathered at Cullen Yards in late February for a night of honoring the nonprofit’s 20 years in Fort Worth.
The venue — adorned in royal purple tablecloths, balloons and other decor — offered a night for the nonprofit’s staff and leaders to reflect on Methodist Justice Ministry’s legacy — and to think about its future.
Aaryn Landers Lamb, Methodist Justice Ministry executive director, poses for a photo in her office on April 9, 2026, in Fort Worth. (Maria Crane | Fort Worth Report/CatchLight Local/Report for America)
Methodist Justice Ministry has never accepted government funding in its existence, said Aaryn Landers Lamb, executive director of the nonprofit.
Looking ahead, she hopes the ministry can continue to be primarily supported by individual donors and foundations to help keep their work going.
“We do have this 20-year track record of representing the people who need legal representation the most and can’t afford it,” Landers Lamb said. “It’s deeply important to me that we continue that work and we don’t stray from that vision and that mission.”
Throughout the night, Landers Lamb and other Methodist Justice Ministry staff bestowed awards in recognition of the people who make the work possible. Nelson Holm, chair of the nonprofit’s board, received the organization’s Protection Award.
“Methodist Justice Ministry and their clients have put their trust in the Lord, and we have been walking that path in the last 20 years,” Holm said to attendees, referencing Proverbs in the Bible. “Every client has a name, a faith, a story — they deserve our love.”
Waxahachie resident Dee Vu, 40, shares her story during Methodist Justice Ministry’s 20th anniversary dinner Feb. 28, 2026, in Fort Worth. As a survivor of domestic violence, Vu said it is heartwarming to know organizations like these exist to help those who feel alone. (Christine Vo | Fort Worth Report)
The board is working on setting up an endowment for the nonprofit to “help make sure that we are financially secure to be able to continue to offer these services to our clients for many more years,” Holm told the Report.
In the audience was Serrano. For over a decade, she has carried burdens alongside mothers, grandparents and children finding their way to stability, listened to thousands of calls from people desperate for help in crisis and guided clients through legal proceedings.
Through faith and lived experience, Serrano has helped thousands of clients who are in positions she was once in. The nonprofit recognized Serrano with the Support Award.
The work Serrano does is part of being human, she told the Report.
“A lot of people don’t realize that we are stakeholders within our community,” Serrano said. “And as a stakeholder, we have that moral responsibility to care about our community, to care about others.”
Marissa Greene is a Report for America corps member, covering faith for the Fort Worth Report. You can contact her at marissa.greene@fortworthreport.org.
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