Ideas for Action

My name is Cindy Stover, I’m one of the CRC’s justice mobilizers, and I have a confession to make. Until about a month ago, I had no idea what I could do to combat climate change. More specifically, I had no idea what I, as one person, could reasonably do to substantially impact our overwhelming global climate crisis. Now, I do lots of simple environmentalist sort of things; I recycle, I shop second hand, I try to buy local produce at the grocery store, and I even remember (most of the time) to bring my reusable grocery bags with me! But is all that really enough?

This is a reflection on human trafficking. 

This is a reflection on more than just human trafficking. 

Because, like many of our world’s justice issues, human trafficking is rooted in other systemic problems and challenges. 

It’s that time of year—both in North America and so many other parts of the world—where children prepare to go back to school. Many enjoyed a lengthy summer holiday with family and friends as they set out on national and international trips, attended camps and vacation Bible schools, spent time in the sun, and took some time to unwind from the previous school year before beginning anew. The carefree days of summer are being replaced with a season of purpose and promise for a better future brought to us by the gift of education. 

The conculsion to "Sharing Stories: Mary Robinson, Climate Change, and Us" series.

Recently, a gal named Carly Pritchard sent OSJ the best kind of email. It was a creative kind of email, asking if she and the coffee company she worked for might be able to help raise some financial support for the work that the OSJ does.

Um, yes!

But who is Carly Pritchard? And why does she, or her coffee company, care about the Christian Reformed Church and its engagement with justice? We were curious, and thought maybe you’d be curious too.

Introduction to Sharing Stories: Mary Robinson, Climate Change and Us.  Find Chapter 1 in Robinson's book and read with us.  

In Climate Justice, Mary Robinson offers stories to share and promote the injustice that climate change creates.   Her first chapter: “Understanding Climate Justice” introduces her approach of first-hand accounts of witnessing climate change. 

Happy National Indigenous People’s Day!  With summer upon us we wanted to contribute to your summer book clubs and reading lists with Justice and Reconciliation Mobilizer - Shannon Perez’s Top 5 thought provoking reads.  Covering the spectrum from U.S. to Canada and fiction to non-fiction, this reading list is guaranteed to get you thinking.

The divisions in North American politics are sharp and create upheaval over what exactly it means to be Christian.

There is racial unrest so deep, it threatens to undo the ministry of reconciliation to which the church is called.

Reformed theology is used to justify white supremacy and isolationism.

My great-great grandparents, Gjalt and Klaaska Heslinga, came from the Netherlands to the U.S. in 1893 under the false promise of good farmland in the San Luis Valley of Colorado.

Barely into their twenties, the two left their families and their jobs as a laborer and household servant and entrusted their future to the Holland-American Land and Immigration Company.

As the World Renew team leader for West Africa, I have spent many years getting to know local people in their communities. They have worked hard to improve the health and living situations of their families, and World Renew has helped them to help themselves. In collaboration with Resonate Global Mission, we have seen people study Scripture in their language for the first time and commit themselves to follow Jesus.