The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s advocacy director spoke at a press conference in the nation’s capital Wednesday afternoon to press Washington lawmakers for a “faithful budget” and income tax breaks for struggling Americans.
Those attending the PC(USA)’s first-ever Young Adult Advocacy Conference, “Jesus and Justice,” concluded their time together Sunday morning with a silent march and a prayer at the steps of Old National Bank in Louisville, where on April 10, 2023, a former bank employee killed five people before being fatally shot by police.
During an advocacy conference for young adults, the Rev. Jimmie Hawkins used the traditional image of a blonde, blue-eyed Jesus as a symbol of the need to challenge the status quo.
After stepping down from a platform to be closer to young people gathered for an advocacy conference at the Presbyterian Center, the Rev. Shavon Starling-Louis lifted up the words of the biblical prophet as a call to Christians to speak out for the marginalized.
“Jesus and Justice,” the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s first-ever Young Adult Advocacy Conference, got underway Friday at the Presbyterian Center and online. Eighty young people registered for the free three-day conference, including an online cadre of about 30 young adults.
Having read Matthew Desmond’s book “Poverty, by America” together, members of the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board meeting online Thursday discussed what they might do to help eradicate systemic poverty, as called for by the PC(USA)’s Matthew 25 invitation.
A recent Matthew 25 webinar provided inspiration and information about using effective strategies for eradicating systemic poverty, including banding together to build power.
Before the Rev. Jimmie Hawkins took to the stage at Schaller Memorial Chapel to deliver the final convocation for Synod School this year, the Rev. Dr. Matt Sauer of Manitowoc (Wisconsin) Cooperative Ministry, as he’d done all week, donned a red zip-up cardigan just like another Presbyterian, Fred Rogers, used to. It was Sauer’s duty to remind those attending the 69th annual gathering that not all the world is like the Synod of Lakes and Prairies’ Synod School, which concluded on the campus of Buena Vista University.
“Y’all responded a little better than I thought you would yesterday,” the Rev. Jimmie Hawkins told Synod School attendees, referring to a talk he delivered on whether some symbols belong in church. “So today I thought I’d talk about Christianity and capitalism.”
