Public witness in DC
On Monday, July 29th, Disciples leaders and advocates from the DMV area joined with leaders and advocates from a diversity of faith traditions in an interfaith prayer session and a press conference in front of the Supreme Court. The prayer session and press conference were organized by a team working with Dr. Alvin O’Neal Jackson, executive director for religious outreach for the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival.
Speakers included PPC co-chair Bishop William Barber, II, and a number of leaders and advocates from a variety of religious traditions, all of whom, despite their religious diversity, shared common faith-based values. The speakers called for greater civility in our deeply fractured and polarized political environment, and greater unity around policies that help low-wage workers and people living in poverty.
The PPC:NCMR prayer session and press conference launched the Moral Monday Season of Prayer, a time for all people of faith, conscience, and good will to “call upon our nation to embody democracy, justice, and voting rights, and to urge that the race for the presidency - and all other positions of leadership that have accountability to the public - to be grounded in truth, love, and equity.”
Some of the DISCIPLES who participated in this event are pictured to the left. Pictured from left to right are Rev. Tim Bobbitt, senior pastor at First Christian Church of Alexandria, VA; Rev. Sarah Nave-Fisher, senior pastor of University Church in Hyattsville, MD; Rev. Stephanie Kendell, senior pastor of National City Christian Church in Washington, DC; Dr. Marcus Leathers, regional minister of the Christian Church Capital Area; and Dr. Laird Thomason, retired pastor and retired hospice chaplain. (Laird worked hard alongside Disciples minister Linda Walling, then director of Faithful Reform in Healthcare, to help promote support from Disciples and other people of faith for the Affordable Care Act, which was signed into law by President Barack Obama. Shortly after that, Rev. Walling was invited to the White House to receive a special award. Accompanying her was Dr. Laird Thomason and Rev. Dr. Ken Brooker Langston, executive director and team leader of the Disciples Center for Public Witness).
Be at the CENTER of it all - Partner with us at the Disciples CENTER for Public Public Witness - Click Here
Disciples at the event not pictured here are Bishop William Barber, II, co-chair of PPC; Dr. Alvin O’Neal Jackson, director of religious outreach for PPC; and Dr. Bob Perry, retired minister, current regional elder, and co-chair of the board of the Disciples Center for Public Witness. Also not pictured here is our close friend and amazing colleague from the Washington Office of the United Church of Christ, Rev. Michael Neuroth.
Dr. Alvin O’Neal Jackson, Dr. Robert Perry, Dr. Marcus Leathers, Rev. Stephanie Kendell, and Dr. Laird Thomason are all on the Board of the Disciples Center for Public Witness.
One Former CENTER/DC4PW Board Member Presents Special Award
to Another Former Board Member
DR. DELORES CARPENTER, Senior Pastor Emeritus at Michigan Park Christian Church in Washington, DC, retired professor of theology at Howard Divinity School, and former member of the Disciples Center for Public Witness Board of Governors, received a special award for women demonstrating excellence in ministry in many ways for many years. Presenting the award to Dr. Carpenter was THE REV. SHEILA SPENCER, recent past President of Disciples Home Missions and former member of the Disciples Center for Public Witness Board of Governors. The Board and Advocacy Team of the Disciples Center for Public Witness congratulate Dr. Carpenter on receiving this well-deserved award, and thank Rev. Spencer for her incredible, impactful, and inclusive leadership at Disciples Home Missions, as well as her much-valued recent service on our Board of Governors. We are truly blessed to have had both of these amazing women serve on our Board and provide leadership to our unique justice ministry.
NATIONAL CONVOCATION 2024
The 2024 Biennial Session of the National Convocation of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada took place July 11 -15, 2024, in Greensboro, NC. The conference included great worship, singing, and preaching, special awards to truly special servants of God, a visit to the International Civil Rights Museum, our workshop on 'Faith & Politics,' and an official collective statement of prayer and concern about Gaza (final text to be provided soon).
From top left to right by row: Bishop William Barber, II, gives a message about the plight of low-wage workers and people living in poverty, and their potential for gaining much greater input into the public policy decisions that shape their lives; the International Civil Rights Museum built within the Woolworth’s store where student sit-ins led to the end of segregated lunch counters; Ken Brooker Langston (The Center/DC4PW), Jack Sullivan, Jr. (Ohio Council of Churches), and Hanna Broom (Poor People’s Campaign: National Call for Moral Revival), panelists at a well-attended workshop on ‘Faith & Politics,’ moderated by Dr. Alvin O’Neal Jackson; Dr. Cynthia Hale, Senior Pastor of Light of the World Christian Church in Decatur/Atlanta, GA, delivering a sermon that both challenged and inspired everyone at the worship service; strong preaching and singing by Rev. Delesslyn Kennebrew, the newly installed Administrative Secretary of the National Convocation and the Associate General Minister of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada; Rev. Brenda Cardwell, Senior Pastor of Pilgrimage Christian Church in Suitland, MD, receiving a special award of recognition of excellence over many years and in many ways in ministry by women leaders; Dr. Alvin O’Neal Jackson, a major leader of the Poor People’s Campaign: National Call to Moral Revival, opening the Biennial Session with a rousing sermon that was theologically, ethically, and spiritually challenging; and Dr. Delores Carpenter, Senior Pastor Emeritus of Michigan Park Christian Church in Washington, DC, and retired professor of theology at Howard Divinity School in Washington, DC, saying thank you and making a few other comments after receiving the same prestigious award that was given to Rev. Brenda Cardwell.
Dr. Delores Carpenter and Dr. Cynthia Hale are former Board members of the Center/DC4PW, and Dr. Alvin O’Neal Jackson is the co-founder and President Emeritus of the Center/DC4PW.
NOTE: The final text of the National Convocation’s statement on Gaza will soon be available.
The first night of the 28th Biennial Session of the National Convocation opened Thursday night, July 11, with a rousing theologically, ethically, and spiritually challenging sermon by DC4PW President Emeritus Dr. Alvin O’Neal Jackson: ‘Makes Me Wanna Holler.’ The sermon was part of a moving worship service that included, among others, General Minister and President (and DC4PW Board Member) Rev. Terri Hord Owens and Rev. Delesslyn Kennebrew, Administrative Secretary of the National Convocation and Associate General Minister. Tomorrow (Friday, July 12) the Center/DC4PW will be partnering with DJAN (Disciples Center for Public Witness) to host a workshop on ‘FAITH & POLITICS: The 2024 Elections.’
For Disciples and others at this conference, this workshop will take place at 2.45 pm in Augusta B. Among the presenters are Dr. Alvin O’Neal Jackson, Dr. Jack Sullivan, Jr., and Dr. Ken Brooker Langston. (Dr. William Barber, III, may also be there). Please join us!
HAPPY FOURTH of JULY!
This Independence Day and this election year, let us rededicate ourselves to freedom and democracy and pray that what prevails within us is what Lincoln called 'our better angels,' not our demonically divisive, deceptive, and destructive tendencies.
The 60th anniversary of the civil rights act of 1964
Join us in celebrating, defending, and promoting civil rights
On July 2, 1964, President Lyndon Baines Johnson, a member of the Disciples of Christ, signed into law the Civil Rights Act, a law ending many of the more blatant forms of institutional racism taking place at that time in the United States. Political leaders were ready to support this law due to the strong justice activism and advocacy of the members of the Civil Rights Movement, a movement led by The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Today we must continue to be vigilant and get to work, especially in this election year, because many of these rights are being ignored, undermined, or just plain taken away. We cannot, must not, and with both active participation in the democratic process and the aid of our God, we will not let this continue to happen!
Disciples AT the center of it all
DISCIPLES AT the center of it all
Over the weekend, Disciples from all across the US joined with the CENTER to support the Assembly/March for/with Poor People and Low-Wage Workers in DC, and to listen to speakers from diverse groups, including our own Disciples leaders: Bishop Barber, Dr. Alvin O'Neal Jackson, and our GMP The Rev. Terri Hord Owens. It was a great event in which our leaders "did us proud."
POOR PEOPLE’S CAMPAIGN
Assembly/March in DC on Saturday, June 29th, at 10 am EST at 3rd and Pennsylvania NW
Mass Poor People’s and Low-Wage Workers’ Assembly & March on Washington and to the Polls - Saturday, June 29th at 10 am EST at 3rd & Pennsylvania NW, Washington, DC
This event is co-sponsored by the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada
Also by the Christian Church Capital Area and the Disciples Center for Public Witness
