Mission Statement: The Social Justice and Public Witness Committee elevates, inspires, and nurtures the church’s public witness for God’s love and justice in the world.

It is the vision of the SJPWC to:

• Listen to the congregations and communities in Grace Presbytery call to do SJPW work.
• Lead GP with respect to the command to love neighbors, do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God.
• Inform and guide GP on the society and the world’s upheaval where a public witness is needed to speak Truth to power.
• Connect to the national statements concerning Social Justice and Public Witness.
• Actively engage others to act through public witness, protest, and deeds of compassion and love.

All of the actions above should be done to further God’s justice in the world as set forth in W-5.0304: exercising power for the common good; dealing honestly in the private and public sphere; seeking dignity and freedom for all people; welcoming strangers; promoting justice and fairness in the low; overcoming disparities between rich and poor; bearing witness against unjust systems; and redressing wrongs.

The Evolution of Social Justice Work in Grace Presbytery:

Since the creation of the Social Justice Task Force in 2019 by Grace Presbytery, the SJTF has been discerning a call to raise the consciousness and awareness of our member churches and our communities in many ways.

We believe that the Presbytery’s faithful recognition of a Christian mandate, and the yearning in our families of faith to listen, to learn, to lead, and to educate was divinely inspired. In turn, the SJTF has endeavored to be obedient to the call to truly be public witnesses. Again, Grace Presbytery has responded.

The presbytery voted to move the SJTF to a committee rooted in the commitment that “God sends the Church to work for justice in the world.” (W-5.0305) The newly formed Social Justice Public Witness Committee (SJPWC) was created to elevate, promote, inspire, and nurture the Church’s public witness for justice and love through deep connections and coalitions with and for our congregations and their neighbors. The SJPWC will continue to provide education, advocacy, witness, and solidarity in word and deed as we share the Good News for the common good.

As people of faith, we are called to “do justice” as it says in Micah 6:8 and, in doing so, reflect the heart of God. This means listening to the voices of the marginalized when they cry out about a lack of fairness. Having a heart that is moved by these cries and filled with compassion leads us to make personal sacrifices to serve those interests, needs, and causes.

Our hearts are full of gratitude. We have opportunities to do justice work. We are blessed with a sense of urgency, we hope you are too. We pray, and ask you to join us in this prayer, that our work together will continue to move us toward social justice and public witness in our world.