Peace and Social Justice Re-Structuring

[Joshua Chittum]

Hi P&SJ Network Google Group,

I have neglected something on my to-do list! Let me first explain what I was supposed to have done several weeks ago and then offer a mea culpa + a contingency plan.

1. As some of you may be aware, starting in January 2019 an effort began to re-invigorate/re-structure the P&SJ committee. This effort, still underway, is being done to help implement the recently adopted Rainbow church goals + because church council has asked for an updated document outlining committee structure.

2. This Thursday (May 9th @ 6:30pm) the P&SJ group will meet in person at Rainbow to review a proposed committee structure to submit to council. I was supposed to have made folks on this list aware of this much earlier and I apologize I did not. 

3. It donned on me and other group members recently that we could have done a better job communicating these upcoming changes to people in the Google Group. My delay in sending this message is not helping. Bottom line is we do not want anyone in this group to feel left out. We are trying to balance creation of new structure with old ways of doing things and this can be a delicate task. 

4. Attached is the proposed committee structure. If you have any questions, concerns, or ideas, please either attend in person this Thursday (if you can) or reach me at joshua...@gmail.com or 316-253-8786. Even if you get this message after our meeting, please do not hesitate to reach out and we can visit. 

Document found at this link:  P&SJ Structure Doc

Thank you.

Take Care,

Joshua

[Philip Rhoads]

Joshua, the Structure Doc looks AMAZING — a lot of good thinking and hard work! Very professional! The process looks solid; the proof is in the pudding, and for those of us born in MO — “Show Me”!

The clock is ticking on Climate Change. Asylum and refugee pressures and white supremacy populism are on a collision course. Affordable housing and the empty units up the hill on Mill St. are out-of-sight and out-of-mind . . . What about Venezuela and Iran and Gaza? The nuclear weapons plant in Grandview is going full-steam-ahead, and who do we have watching our bigger nuclear button? And mass shootings . . . ? Suicides . . . ! Did I miss anything?

Well, there is also the challenge of our fellow Christians, who read the Bible differently from us. Here is key excerpt from a weekly blog I receive (https://weeklysift.com/): 

The shooter at the Poway synagogue belongs to a congregation of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, an off-shoot that finds mainstream Presbyterianism too liberal. Apparently his manifesto (which I have not read) is full of "not only invective against Jews and racial minorities but also cogent Christian theology he heard in the pews."

If we were talking about a mosque rather than an evangelical Christian church, we'd be hearing claims that the young man had been "radicalized" by his religious institution, or that someone at the church must have known what he was planning, but didn't report it. But no one is going to suggest that the government should "watch and study" OPC churches, or that some of them may have to be shut down. That because we have freedom of religion in America -- at least for Christians.

-- 

Philip

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