Everyone who works their heart out for social and economic justice knows that injustices will never go away on their own. A movement - a hard-fought combination of community organizing, bold action from our political leaders, and external events (usually tragic) - must be painstakingly brought to life before real change occurs.
Abstractly, you wouldn’t necessarily think to look to people of faith to be on the front lines of these kinds of movements. After all “faith based” could mean that you trust in a higher power to distribute justice however and whenever that power sees fit.
Yet in every morally righteous struggle that takes place around the world – to end the practices of human trafficking, starvation wages, discrimination, and environmental destruction, just to name a few – people and groups of faith are present and accounted for, working right alongside secular groups to take matters into our own hands. (Perhaps such faith-based activists see themselves as agents of their higher power, or perhaps they believe they’ve been given free will to shape a just world.)
I wanted to use this post to highlight one of the ways that a faith-based organization, The Presbyterian Church (USA) is making a real difference right now, and I’ll end the post with a mini-directory of links to other amazing work happening in the faith community.
This is PC(USA)’s comprehensive and well-publicized strategy to help Presbyterians transform their role in the economy. Want to make a financial investment? You’re directed to an international microlending program called Oikocredit. Want to work with your church to save energy and reduce global warming? Just become an Energy Steward Congregation. Wondering where all that coffee comes from that you’re drinking during meetings or after services? Sign up for the Presbyterian Coffee Project, an effort to pool the resources of the Presbyterian community to provide significant support Fair Trade Coffee through Equal Exchange.
This statement from the Enough for Everyone website sums up the motivation:
“At the heart of Enough for Everyone is deep concern for global and economic justice and a commitment to live out our faith in Jesus Christ with integrity.”
Making change is never easy. Having built a path toward justice, PC(USA) now faces the challenge of making sure that member churches walk that path. We wish them the best of luck.
Here are some links to a few outward-looking spiritual or faith-based organizations and blogs who have joined the global, inter-faith movement for social, economic, and environmental justice.
Progressive Christians Uniting
