Each day 11 million undocumented immigrants contribute to our society working essential jobs in agriculture, health care, transportation, and other service industries. Immigrants participate in and sacrifice for our congregations and communities as family, friends, and neighbors. And yet, each day is lived with uncertainty for the future and fear of being stripped away from family, home, and community.
As a Reconciling congregation, we disagree with the exclusion of LGBTQ in the full life of our church (marriage and ordination specifically) and advocate for change in policy. We hope that you are aware that 2/3 of United Methodists in the USA believe that all discriminatory language about homosexuals should be removed from the Book of Discipline.
Homelessness, poverty, inadequate health care, rising health problems, debt, racism, worsening class/cultural divisions, insufficient personal savings, over-crowded penal systems, lack of mental health care, deteriorating public infrastructure, under-funded and failing public education. This is a long, although not exhaustive, list of the problems we all face in our lives, either directly or indirectly. If not the only source, wealth inequity is a major root cause of them all.
The Covid-19 Pandemic amplifies how much more difficult it is to provide for our families when we are experiencing a change in income or shelter due to unemployment or other circumstances.
The United Methodist Church has a long and rich history of concern for social justice which was demonstrated, for example, when the founder of Methodism, John Wesley, spoke out against the exploitation of the poor and some early Methodists spoke out against the slave trade.