Faith Advocacy

Advocacy at Holy Spirit has grown from a seed four years ago. Advocacy is not the work just of our advocacy team; in June 2007 our church voted to become an advocating congregation - the first in Washington state. What advocacy means to us is expressed in the resolution we adopted:

ADVOCATING CONGREGATION

"We are an advocating congregation. We advocate dignity and justice for all people, working for peace and reconciliation among nations, and standing up with the poor and powerless and committing ourselves to their need. We are committed to social outreach to alleviate the suffering of those in need, but even further we recognize the responsibility for correcting the injustices that have place them in their situation and will when necessary bring those to the attention of this congregation for deliberation. We recognize that there may be multiple solutions to problems and we respect the conclusions that all individuals make regarding how best to become involved."

The mission of the Advocacy Team is to educate, encourage and enable our congregation members to take part in justice advocacy. Included in supporting this mission:

• Provide information on local and national issues
• Encourage and facilitate letter writing to elected officials
• Hold discussion forums on faith issues
• Provide a venue for impartial candidate forums
• Visit our legislators in Olympia: Inter-faith Advocacy Day
• Meet our Congress people at Ecumenical Advocacy Days in Washington, D.C.
• Support new ways of our becoming a “public church”

Holy Spirit has, also by congregational vote, become a ONE Congregation. Endorsed by the ELCA among others, this is a nationwide campaign to rally Americans to the cause of ending poverty in our world and achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Each year we have the opportunity during our stewardship campaign to commit to the actions each of us as individuals can perform to raise awareness and support for ONE. See the Social Ministry board in the fellowship hall has a list of suggested actions.

For current information on community and state issues, visit the Lutheran Public Policy Office.

Suggest Advocacy Readings: