What Can I Do? 

Advocacy for Peace and Justice at Westminster

“Putting our faith into action with compassion to benefit all God’s people”

Westminster Presbyterian Church strives to offer opportunities for the congregation to share Jesus’ love and His call to seek justice by reaching out to make changes in public policies that impact the lives of all God’s people.

God calls on each of us to speak up for those who are hungry and oppressed, just as Moses spoke to the powers of his day. Jesus and his disciples, too, challenged both religious and political authorities to do the right thing.  Since our faith calls us to seek justice, we take our concerns to those who have the power to implement justice on a large scale.

Maybe you are interested in issues of poverty, hunger and human needs, civil rights and religious liberties, health care or family issues.  You can join an advocacy network on an issue you feel strongly about and make your voices heard!

“People are waiting for Martin Luther King or Mahatma Gandhi to come back - but they are gone.  We are it.  It is up to us.  It is up to you...”
Marian Wright Edelman.

Westminster, together with other churches in our denomination, will mark October 3 this year with a call to peacemaking, urging us to be followers of the Prince of Peace.

One concrete way that we do that is by receiving the Peacemaking Offering. Through this special offering, we work together with others locally and nationally through the PCUSA General Assembly’s Peacemaking Program to learn and live out the ways of peace.

As in the past 25 percent of our Offering goes to our presbytery or synod, and the remaining 50 percent goes to the General Assembly for peacemaking involvement throughout the world, while we retain 25 percent of what we receive from the congregation.

In 2009 we chose to send the 25% of the offering that we can retain to the Presbyterian Education Board in Pakistan. The purpose of the Presbyterian Education Board is to provide schools for education of children in Pakistan under Christian auspices and determine the policies of these schools; to develop and inculcate in students a spirit of service and high quality of character; and, to train and provide new leaders for both nation and church.

Veeda Javaid, Executive Director of the Presbyterian Education Board in Pakistan, writes: “We are fighting a complex war with guns and bombs on one hand, humanitarian aid on the other and a vision for the future far away. The only way our country can move forward is through education. The socio-economic conditions of the country desperately need education and spiritual values and more educated young men and women. In this situation PEB is struggling hard to be an agent of change. In order to achieve big, we need to take small definite steps. We are working hard to spread peace, love, unity, brotherhood and tolerance in the society through our students.” 

Advocacy Links

Some suggestions for taking action for specific issues you care about: