Peacemaking & Social Justice
Peacemaking & Social Justice
The Peacemaking and Social Justice Committee works to promote the peace of Christ by addressing systems of conflict and injustice in our time, fostering reconciliation, and addressing anxiety and discord prevalent in our society. A guiding document is the PC(USA)’s Commitment to Peacemaking, which St. Philip has affirmed on three separate occasions over the past 42 years. It suggests pursuing peace and justice through
- encouraging worship that expresses the reality of God’s peace-giving,
- encouraging prayer and Bible study,
- creating opportunities for peacemaking in families and community living,
- working with and supporting community ministries,
- supporting study and response to global issues,
- studying global security concerns,
- making peace with the Earth, and
- receiving the Peace and Global Witness Offering.
At St. Philip, we focus our efforts in the following areas:
Study and Advocacy
Social Justice Study Group -
This group meets by Zoom on the first Monday of the month, from 7 to 8 p.m., to discuss social justice issues of the day (for example, racism, Christian nationalism, and immigration) within the context of our faith. The group also regularly engages in study and discussion of a book on a topic of current interest.
Texas Impact –
Texas Impact, an interfaith policy network advocating with the Texas legislature for justice, provides congregations with information, opportunities, and outreach tools to educate their members and engage lawmakers on pressing public policy issues. The committee provides resources for voting and elections.
Certified Earth Care Congregation
As an Earth Care Congregation, St. Philip continues to make its buildings and operations, worship services, education, and outreach respectful of the glory of God’s creation.
Community Garden -
On a small sunny patch of land along the driveway between the west side of our campus and the parking lot of our shopping center neighbor are raised concrete beds that provide a sustaining, nourishing home to St. Philip’s Community Garden. This fertile spot nurtures St. Philip’s care for our neighbors and for God’s creation. Supported with funds from the Peacemaking and Social Justice Committee budget for over a decade, the Garden produces hundreds of pounds of vegetables each year, all of which are donated to the Christian Community Service Center emergency services food pantry.
Solar Panels -
Our solar array was commissioned in the summer of 2020, just in time to take advantage of some sunny summer days. The system, during its first eight days, generated 1,890 kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity. In its first year, the average daily solar production was 55% higher than the expected daily production over the course of a year.
We have established an Ecological Food Service Policy for a more effective stewardship of food-related resources and waste at churchwide events and those managed by guest groups on our campus. View Ecological Food Service Policy Document.
Each spring, the Church & Society Sunday School class features speakers on a variety of environmental topics in conjunction with the PSJ committee, fulfilling St. Philip’s commitment to continuing education of members and friends on current concerns related to God’s Creation.
We Choose Welcome
We Choose Welcome is an awareness campaign of the Presbyterian Church (USA) that is an expression of personal and corporate commitment to welcome refugees and immigrants into our communities. The phrase stems from a statement made by former Stated Clerk of the Presbyterian Church (USA) Gradye Parsons, in which he urged us to “Choose welcome, not fear.”
To welcome others is a central value of the Christian faith, and one also shared by most of the world’s religions. The call to welcome the stranger is so common in the Bible that one must wonder if it is repeated so often because of its importance, or because we are so quick to disregard it. In this time of great global and domestic conflict, perhaps both are true.
- Amid fear of terrorism and radicalism, we choose to welcome those who flee from terror and tyranny.
- Amid hate speech and hate crimes, we choose to welcome those rejected because of their skin color or their unfamiliar way of dressing.
- Amid anxiety about our own economic prosperity, we choose to welcome those who come from distant lands to labor in our fields and our warehouses.
- Amid political debates that seek to divide us between those who are born here and those who are not, we choose welcome—welcome for all children of God, proclaiming one household.
Fair Trade
Fair trade promotes economic justice by developing farmer groups around the world through partnerships that observe the human rights of all involved and pay fairly for goods and services that have been sustainably sourced. Purchases of fairly traded items support efforts toward alleviating poverty, gender inequality, and climate change. St. Philippians do the important work of questioning our economic lives as we move beyond what our dollars do in the offering plate, to considering what our dollars do in the marketplace. Fair trade purchases can help us ask ourselves important questions like: Does my coffee provide good wages to small farmers, or does it enrich CEOs at the expense of the producers? Are our Palm Sunday palms damaging God’s Creation? Is my savings account supporting development and women’s rights or fueling human rights abuses? Were our St. Philip t-shirts produced in a sweatshop?
Here are two ways St. Philip regularly supports fair trade in its concern for the earth and those who derive their livelihood from working on it:
Equal Exchange
Equal Exchange and its groups of co-op farmers are St. Philip’s fair-trade partner, through the PC(USA)’s Presbyterian Coffee Project. Coffee served during our fellowship gatherings is organic and fairly traded. There are opportunities to buy products for personal use around the "chocolate holidays" of Valentine's Day, Easter, and Halloween, and at the Alternative Market each November. St. Philip consistently ranks in the top 5% of EE’s church sales partners.
EcoPalms
Palms used for Palm Sunday are sustainably grown and harvested, promoting environmental and social justice. (Plus, they are much more lush than your typical Palm Sunday palm!)
Peacemaking and Social Justice Alcove
The Peacemaking and Social Justice alcove is a visible reminder to St. Philip, and a sign to those who visit us, of our longstanding commitment to God’s shalom and to the care of God’s good earth entrusted to us. The next time you leave the Gathering Area, make a point of heading down the carpeted hallway with the benches along the way and stopping for a moment at the small alcove on your right at the end. There you will see a special display of documents demonstrating St. Philip’s commitments to peacemaking and earth care.
Peace & Global Witness Offering
Received the first Sunday in October (World Communion Sunday)
- Promotes the Peace of Christ by addressing systems of conflict and injustice across the world.
- Through the Peace & Global Witness Offering, congregations are encouraged and equipped to find and address the anxiety and discord that is prevalent throughout this broken and sinful world.
Anti-Racism
African American Spirituals
We recognize the Black composers of music who are unknown to history and therefore unable to receive royalties directed to their estates for the use of their songs in our worship services. To remedy this inequity, a fund has been created and approved by the Session where we collect voluntary “royalties” for using this music. Anyone may donate to the fund by going to giving then selecting African-American as the fund. You may also contribute by writing a check with African-American Spirituals in the memo line and placing it in the offering plate or mailing it to the church office. This small gesture of reparation seeks to help heal the long history of injury to Black persons. Contributions received over the course of the year are donated annually to a local organization supporting Black musical traditions.
Matthew 25
The Matthew 25 Initiative is designed to bring about “radical and fearless discipleship” among congregations and mid councils by engaging in three targeted missions: building congregational vitality, dismantling systemic poverty, and eradicating structural racism. St. Philip has committed to the focus on eradicating structural racism.
Inclusion
More Light Presbyterians
More Light Presbyterians’ (MLP) mission is to empower and equip individuals and congregations to live into their welcome of LGBTQIA+ people. MLP has developed interrelated programs to move congregations along a pathway towards full inclusion, improve ministry services for LGBTQIA+ individuals in need, and expand the faith-based movement opposing discriminatory legislation. Their programs help congregations and their members develop new skills to deepen their welcome to LGBTQIA+ people within their churches and in their wider communities. The Our Work section at the link below provides more information about MLP’s various programs!
Covenant Network of Presbyterians
The Covenant Network of Presbyterians (CovNet) seeks an equity still not fully realized for LGBTQIA+ people in church and society, by
- Engaging the church to invite all of God’s children into safe and welcoming congregational spaces of affirmation, healing, dignity, and purpose.
- Educating the church to expand our welcome of LGBTQIA+ people, to affirm their gifts for ordained office, and to uphold marriage equality for all.
- Equipping the church to bear witness to justice through advocacy and activism at the international, national, and local church levels; speaking a prophetic word in anxious and divided times; and standing with others in fighting hate and oppression against any of God’s children.
St. Philip bears a unified witness to generous hospitality and faithful justice through a long history of support of the work of CovNet.
