Advocacy

I’m a greenhorn when it comes to political action. So when I received a request to promote National Disability Voter Registration Week, I turned to my colleagues at the Office of Social Justice (OSJ) who suggested contacting our local city government to ask them to make a proclamation about Disability Voter Registration Week. Great idea, but I know next to nothing about contacting local government.

Christy and Brad Knetsch, pastors of Madison Square CRC, delivered a sermon this past Sunday called “Testify: Immigrants Are a Blessing, Not a Burden”. We asked Christy a few questions about why they chose to preach on immigration—and to do an immigration action alert during the service!

In March, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced its plan to ship 500 metric tons of surplus U.S. peanuts to Haiti. The surplus stems from a 2014 Farm Bill that incentivizes an increase in peanut and other crop production. The Department planned to ship the peanuts to malnourished school children in Haiti.

Sounds like a good plan right? In reality, it’s not.

When I began working as the Policy Analyst and Advocacy fellow in August, advocacy was a new practice for me. It seemed daunting. But I've learned that advocacy is something that almost everyone can participate in -- it’s accessible and simple.

Unless you’ve been on a media fast for the last 6 months, chances are you have heard something about the Paris climate talks.You may have thought that the adoption of the Paris Agreement last year by all attending 196 nations of the world was the finish line; that the work of reaching a global consensus on climate change and a shared path forward had been accomplished. Well, yes and no...

“Some of our elders died of broken hearts, far from their homes,” said Dionysio Brown, Miskito leader and cultural expert. He was speaking of the forced relocation of his people from their homes along the Rio Coco to inland communities by the Nicaraguan government in the 70s, during Nicaragua’s conflict between the ruling sandinistas and the US-backed contras . We were standing in his dimly lit, one-room museum on his Indigenous Miskito culture, among the dictionaries, Bible translation, postcards, and Miskito clothing that represent his life’s work.

You’ve likely heard a lot lately about the Paris climate talks that wrapped up a few weeks ago, and you’ve likely been left wondering what it’s all about. The follow up from Paris has seen lots of high talk from government officials and lots of complicated jargon, but little plain-English explanations of what the agreement actually says and what it means.

So in case you’ve been wondering what this whole Paris Agreement is all about, here are five things you need to know:

Supporters of the new Immigrants Are a Blessing Not a Burden campaign launching today represent a community of Christians from many backgrounds committed to changing the conversation.

Could the long, slow work of voting and political action be thought of as a spiritual discipline?

Today is the 7th anniversary of the Government of Canada’s Residential Schools Apology. If we truly believe that the Gospel is good news for this time and this place, we must respond.