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Tuesday, May 13
| Hope in the World Team | | Hope in the World at University Lutheran Church of Hope
At University Lutheran Church of Hope, recent work for social justice has been driven by two themes:
First, we believe the pursuit of social justice includes two main components: advocacy, to end injustice in the world; and service, to aid the victims of injustice.
University Lutheran Church of Hope has a long history of involvement in efforts to create progressive social change. Recent activities for advocacy include:
* Formation of the Hope Peace Makers group, which explores the life and teachings of Jesus and how they can be applied to challenge society and government to work for justice and nonviolent change;
* Participation in the lawsuit challenging Minnesota’s new “Concealed Carry” law, which we believe put severe restrictions on a church’s ability to regulate the safety of individuals on its property.
* Greater involvement in the interdenominational advocacy group ISAIAH, which rallies faith communities to push for justice in areas such as housing and immigration.
* We are also a Reconciling in Christ congregation, and participate each summer in the Pride Festival.
As we seek justice through advocacy, we also aid the individuals who are harmed by the inequities and violence of the world. Examples of service activities include:
* Two times per year, we host families in transition from homelessness through Families Moving Forward;
* Once a month, we prepare a monthly meal for low income households through Loaves and Fishes;
* The Global Missions Group has made two service trips to Mexico to help build a school; it has made a trip to Malawi taking solar ovens; and has raised money for nursing scholarships in Nigeria and capital support to Malawi;
* We collect for the local food shelf, and hold a summer drive for hygiene products for the Cabrini Partnership.
* We raise funds for Plymouth Christian Youth Center, Community Emergency Services, and other charitable organizations.
A second theme is that we believe that social justice should be a part of all our activities at University Lutheran Church of Hope. It would be a sad day when one committee, no matter how active, would be seen as the only group responsible for social justice. We believe this spirit runs through ULCH in everything we do, from worship to Sunday School to the rummage sale. To cite a few examples:
* A percentage of money raised through capital campaigns and rummage sale (12% and 10%, respectively) is given to outside organizations, and the donations from Sunday School students are often given exclusively to outside missions, such as the Heifer Project;
* Participants in Service Sundays (held each January) dedicate many hours of inter-generational effort to a variety of good causes – from making kits for midwives in Africa to writing letters for the advocacy group Bread for the World;
* Many Adult Education Forums provide opportunities for Hope members to learn about social justice issues.
We know that there are many more good causes than we can take on as a congregation. We have a few to which we commit ourselves as a church --because the common work helps bring us together -- and then use the power of individual members' interests and initiative to educate and support each other to work on many other areas of personal interest. Links to many of these organizations can be found in the "Supported Ministries" section of this site.
Karen Westwood, Team Leader
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