Witness in Washington Action Alert

August 11^th, 2010

Friends, over the course of the last month and a little bit, I have had the opportunity to speak to some of you at Annual Conference, National Youth Conference, and through email and phone correspondence. But I would ideally like to hear from all of you. I have created a very brief online survey – it shouldn’t take more than ten minutes – for you to share your thoughts on what the Church of the Brethren should be doing in Washington, DC, and on the issues of the day, and how involved you would like to be with the work. This is the beginning of your opportunity to shape the future of communications and involvement you have with this work. Please follow the link below and share your thoughts. All input is a blessing, is needed, and will go a long way to shaping this work. Thanks so much.

Click here to share your thoughts.

Church of the Brethren Policy:

1962 Annual Conference Statement on a Washington Office reads: “The Brethren now have a continuing witness and service in Washington: sharing of information on issues and happenings of particular interest to Brethren; serving on Brethren Seminars and other delegations to Washington; servicing on passports and other technical clearances for Brethren work; representation of Brethren, personally or arranging for others, at meetings and conferences, governmental and otherwise; alerting the Brotherhood, normally through the Brotherhood offices, on Washington developments of interest to Brethren; arranging for testimony before Congressional and administrative committee […]The General Brotherhood Board has pursued the concern of the query on Brethren interests in the nation's capital and has provided for representation in Washington.”

1967 Annual Conference statement The Church, the State, and Christian Citizenship reads: “The church is responsible for informing its members and other citizens concerning the moral and spiritual values inherent in the courses of action proposed or adopted by policymakers of the various divisions of government from local to international levels. It can and should invite people to consider with care the insights which our religious heritage offers on a particular problem. In such cases the church may or may not take a definate position; its main concern is to encourage discussion within a Christian context and with a Christian spirit. Since most issues of politics need clarification in regard to their moral aspects, and many are extremely complex, the church's more frequent contribution may well lie in the approach of reasoning together and of formulating general policy statements. Yet the church must be prepared to speak on specific issues when clear moral principles are involved, irrespective of any particular political party, candidate or leader. Should the church abdicate this responsibility, there would be created a vacuum readily filled by self-seeking groups.”

For more information about the witness ministries of the Church of the Brethren, contact Jordan Blevins, Advocacy Officer for the Church of the Brethren:

Jordan Blevins
C/O National Council of Churches
110 Maryland Ave. NE
Suite 108
Washington, DC 20002
jblevins@brethren.org
202-481-6943

Church of the Brethren, 1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120. The Church of the Brethren is a non-profit religious and educational organization recognized by the Federal and State governments. Donations are tax deductible as allowed by law. © Church of the Brethren

Contact us

Unsubscribe or change the messages you receive

Forward this message to a friend