Faith Advocacy

Advocacy at Holy Spirit has grown from a seed to an active ministry. 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 placed 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. We welcome you to join in this ministry. Please email Fred Wicks. 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. We commit to the actions each of us as individuals can perform to raise awareness and support for those in the world who are in poverty.

For current information on community and state issues, visit the Faith Action Network.

Suggest Advocacy Readings: