Advocacy Training Weekend
The
Office of Public Witness Gives Thanks
We are grateful for
your participation in the Advocacy Training Weekend Events held in the Metro DC
area on April 5-8. Nearly four hundred Presbyterians registered for the two
events. We had the largest delegation of participants among the fifty-four ecumenical
groups participating in Ecumenical Advocacy Days (EAD) for the third
consecutive year. Your participation in the two training events is appreciated
by Compassion Peace and Justice Ministries (CPJ) and the Office of Public
Witness.
We are learning from your evaluations
of CPJ Training Day and EAD as well as from notes taken during our
denominational gathering at EAD. We plan to make each year a stepping stone to
educating more Presbyterians on the work of justice advocacy in the world.
The Work Ahead
Our work over the
next year will involve locating persons in Presbyteries and Synods to serve as
liaisons to the work of our office. It is imperative that the good news of CPJ
Training Day and EAD continues beyond the events of our April weekend together.
Our community organizing strategy over the past three years is embracing
opportunities to inspire, equip, and connect Presbyterians to ways that a
prophetic witness can transform the world while growing the church deep and
wide. Therefore, we will be calling on you to assist us in shaping a witness in
your local congregation and governing bodies throughout the PC (U.S.A.). We
believe that the hope for a transformed world begins in local communities. Our
willingness to speak truth in love to
power through organizing whole communities for effective justice advocacy
is the challenge facing us all during this period in history. How you share the
information learned during CPJ Training Day and EAD is vitally important.
Next Steps
1.
Organize a small group in to meet in your home, church or community venue
to discuss what you learned about how to become an effective advocate.
Reproduce the publication from our office entitled Holy Discontentment: Lifting Your Voice for Effective Advocacy. http://www.presbyterianmission.org/media/uploads/compassion-peace-justice/pdf/holy_discontentment_advocacy_resource_final.pdf
2. Form a justice advocacy group or
committee within your congregation. Choose one issue that your group is willing
to begin working on in your local community.
3. Build alliances with other ecumenical
and interfaith groups on specific community state or national issues.
4. Sponsor a Justice Advocacy Sunday in
your local Congregation. See the Presbyterian Planning Calendar for more
details about celebrating around Election Day or in January 2014.
5. Sponsor a get out to vote campaign or
provide rides to the polls for people who do not own cars; cannot afford public
transportation or do not drive. Also, make sure those who are able can or will
vote by absentee ballots.
6. Provide forums on pertinent political
issues. Look for information in November about the Respectful Dialogue
Initiative (RDI) being launched by the OPW.
7. Volunteer to be a liaison with your
Presbytery, Synod, or Congregation with the OPW. We will be offering quarterly
calls to share information and news from our office and Capitol Hill.
8.
BEGIN NOW – Plan to come to Advocacy Training Weekend next year and/or
recruiting persons from your congregation to participate. The dates are March
21-24, 2014
