Conference-goers in North Carolina are told that ‘Advocacy is something within all of us’
by Darla Carter | Presbyterian News Service
“Jesus and Justice,” the PC(USA)’s Young Adult Advocacy Conference, opened Friday in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Rev. Tony Larson, co-moderator of the 226th General Assembly (2024), was among those addressing conference-goers. (Photo by Alex Simon)
CHARLOTTE, North Carolina — With an inspiring sermon and a rousing rendition of “We are Marching in the Light of God” — sung in English and Swahili —the Young Adult Advocacy Conference (YAAC) kicked into high gear Friday on its opening day in North Carolina.
The “Jesus and Justice” conference is part of a series launched last year by the advocacy offices of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A). It’s designed to expand the ways young people do advocacy and to show how important advocacy is to the Church.
The Rev. Jimmie Hawkins, the PC(USA)’s advocacy director, addresses the Young Adult Advocacy Conference. (Photo by Alex Simon)
“We are committed not only to having a prophetic voice in this country and a global voice, but also to partner with you to amplify your voice,” said the Rev. Jimmie Hawkins, who directs the Presbyterian Office of Public Witness and the Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations. Whether young adults want to speak out on federal policy or interact with the United Nations, “we are a resource for you.”
Later, the Rev. Albert Moses, pastor of Matthews-Murkland Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, framed advocacy as an urgent matter. Given anti-immigrant sentiment and other disturbing results of public opinion polling on topics such as immigration, “now is not the season to sit on our hands or sit this one out,” he said, adding that people who do social justice work must display courage, commitment, consciousness and compassion.
The opening day took place at Sharon Presbyterian Church, near the Charlotte campus of Union Presbyterian Seminary. That’s where the bulk of the free conference will be held through Sunday, Oct. 20, with a host of regional and denominational leaders, including the Rev. Tony Larson, co-moderator of the 226th General Assembly (2024).
Lawrence Robertson led conference-goers in a multicultural singing of “We Are Marching in the Light of God.” (Photo by Darla Carter)
Lawrence Robertson, Mission Specialist for Compassion, Peace & Justice ministries, led participants and staff in a multicultural version of “We are Marching in the Light of God.” He chose it as the conference theme song because of an African proverb that says, “When you pray, move your feet.”
The takeaway: “Advocacy is something that’s within all of us just to do it,” said Robertson before energizing the room with the song with the help of the Rev. Dr. Alonzo Johnson of the Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People on drums.
Later, conference-goers listened to a sermon by Moses, who spoke on the danger of getting caught up in minor, day-to-day church work while forgetting the more important things. That’s a lesson he himself learned, not only from Scripture but from respected influencers, such as the late Rev. Dr. James H. Costen, former dean of Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary and the moderator of the 194th General Assembly of the of the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. The Presbyterian Historical Society has documented how Costen worked closely with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil rights movement.
The Rev. Albert Moses, pastor of Matthews-Murkland Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, preached Friday during the Young Adult Advocacy Conference. (Photo by Alex Simon)
Moses’s sermon was taken from Matthew 23:23, which in the Amplified Bible says, “Woe to you, [self-righteous] scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you give a tenth (tithe) of your mint and dill and cumin [focusing on minor matters] and have neglected the weightier [more important moral and spiritual] provisions of the Law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the [primary] things you ought to have done without neglecting the others.”
The Young Adult Advocacy Conference continues in Charlotte, North Carolina, through Sunday. (Photo by Alex Simon)
As further evidence of the Church’s calling, he cited Micah 6:8, which says in part, “And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God?”
Moses also noted that Jesus himself said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” (Matthew 5:6)
He also stressed the seriousness of social justice advocacy, noting, “This work may cost you your life, a limb or your livelihood.”
He closed with YAAC participants joining him in “I’m Gonna Live So God Can Use Me” — anywhere, Lord, anytime.
Check back here for additional coverage of the conference from the Presbyterian News Service.
The Presbyterian Office of Public Witness, the Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations and the Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People are among the Compassion, Peace and Justice ministries of the Presbyterian Mission Agency.
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