Each year, our Pacific Northwest Conference Board of Church and Society (CBCS) awards several grants to organizations, congregations, and projects around our conference. The support for these grants (split between our Conference and connectional Peace with Justice projects) comes entirely through Peace with Justice Sunday – traditionally the Sunday after Pentecost, which in 2021 will be Sunday, May 30. The General Board of Church and Society (GBCS) is reminding us that while that is the traditional day, particularly in the midst of the complications of the COVID era individual congregations may choose any Sunday that best fits their community’s needs and rhythms.
Over the last several years, grants have been awarded to local efforts that combat domestic violence in northern Idaho, support indigenous youth from central Washington participating in a national leadership conference, help for refugee families in Olympia, and much more. The 2020-21 Peace with Justice grants will be shared by a video that will be posted on the CBCS Facebook page on Friday, May 21.
In preparation for and support of congregational efforts to engage with this special Sunday, GBCS has created a comprehensive resource kit for leaders and pastors available here. This includes basic information about Peace with Justice giving, as well as printable and social media resources in Spanish, Korean, and English. There are also worship resources, support for helping children understand and engage with our commitment to social justice, and even interviews and podcasts you can use or engage with.
We hope your congregation or ministry setting will join us in this shared work in which our church seeks to live into the prophetic legacy of the best of Christianity. Whether through raising funds to support these grants, providing education to your community about the core role of justice-seeking in our tradition, serving the broader community in which you are in ministry, or working directly to repair and redress the generations of harm that colonialist and Empire-driven Christianities have inflicted on our world – THANK YOU.
For more information, please email CBCS Chair Ann Mayer (arsamayer@yahoo.com) or Conference Peace with Justice Coordinator Rev. Dave Wright (dwright@pugetsound.edu).
