Working Teams
The call to bear witness in public to the liberating work of Jesus Christ is extensive. To organize around this work, we have various working teams focused on specific areas of learning, growth, and advocacy. If there is a particular area you’d like to join,
“Finding yourself overwhelmed by suffering and injustice around you? You don’t have to address all of it and you certainly don’t have to address all of it at the same time. Pick one and join others who are already working on it. You’ll learn things that will help with the others and build a community of care in the process. We can do this because we are filled with and empowered by the Spirit of the Living God. May that Spirit guide you into all truth and to your place of service.”
Todd Porter, coordinator
NT-NL Public Witness Team
INCLUSIVE
CHURCH
We welcome everyone.
Jesus said, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” Regardless of any distinctions society puts on you because of your race, abilities and/or disabilities, family status, personal history, age, sexual orientation, or gender identity and expression. Inclusive Church works to help all congregations extend the radically unconditional inclusion of Jesus.
We exist as part of a living system, God’s creation designed to give and receive life. Our work in Creation Care recognizes the connection we have to the world on which our own lives depend, and the way we love our neighbors by caring for the living system on which we all depend.
BETTER
CONVERSATIONS
Tired of nothing but arguments that go in circles? Wanting to learn how to both listen and share? Better Conversations works to learn, practice, and grow our empathetic listening skills using controversial topics as a conversation stimulus.
We all want to believe the best about ourselves. We’ll declare, “I’m not a racist!” in response to the slightest suggestion that we might be. And we might be right. As we’ve observed the world around us and listened to the voices of our friends, it’s clear that we’ve inherited a society and economy that was built on land stolen from its indigenous people with the forced labor of people kidnapped from Africa. These are difficult things to hear. Our anti-racism work seeks to move past “not being a racist” to healing the layers of harm baked into the society and economy we’ve inherited.
Some days it seems like the whole world is aflame…
and not with the Glory of God, but with destruction and mahem, hate and vitriol, injustice and violence. Perhaps this has always been the case and it’s only more visible now that we can be anywhere in the world with a few mouse clicks. It’s tempting to say, “it was like this when I got here. It’ll still be like this when I leave. Why do you want me to do anything about it? It’s impossible!”
Our work in the Public Witness Team is to remind ourselves, our congregations, and our communities that with God, all things are possible. We want to faithfully stewarded our voices, opportunities, authority, and resources to be able to join Billy Joel in saying:
We didn’t start the fire
It was always burning, since the world’s been turning
We didn’t start the fire
No, we didn’t light it, but we tried to fight it
Joel, B. (1989, October 17). We Didn’t Start The Fire [Song]. Columbia. https://www.billyjoel.com/song/we-didnt-start-fire-11/