Creating partnerships through advocacy
The Rev. Christina Cosby of the Office of Public Witness gives conference-goers a how-to on affecting public policy
NEW YORK — The Rev. Christina Cosby helped the 90 or so people attending the Synod of the Northeast’s “Connection to Transformation: Creating Partnership Culture in faith Communities” conference last week to better understand how they can work together to impact public policy.
Cosby is the representative for Domestic and Environmental Policy Concerns with the PC(USA)’s Office of Public Witness in Washington, D.C. On Friday, she pulled the curtain back on how advocacy gets done — and how conference attendees can advocate alongside others.
“Our faith has taught us to be people of resilience,” she said, noting that advocacy is “standing for and with the marginalized. In the church, it’s standing with. We don’t speak for; we speak with and alongside.” The Office of Public Witness and its sister organization, the Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations, strives to “advocate for God’s justice,” Cosby said, including racial justice, housing and health care, voting reform and access to public education.
Think of advocacy as a spiritual discipline, like walking a labyrinth, praying, singing praise to God or reading Scripture, Cosby suggested. “It takes time to sit and listen, to learn and engage and wrestle with the hard questions … and to listen to the people who are most impacted.”
The PC(USA)’s social witness policy “started at the congregational level with people saying, ‘This is not right,’” Cosby said. Policies were “formed through the discernment process at General Assembly.”
She explained the roles of the denomination’s advocacy and advisory committees and the coalitions OPW works with, including the Washington Interfaith Staff Community. Priorities on the domestic side of advocacy include ensuring voting rights, enacting commonsense government reform, addressing systemic racism and the criminalization of poverty, and speaking up for immigration reform, the end of hunger and the promotion of affordable housing.
Global priorities range from human rights, an end to harmful sanctions, the promotion of global health and education, and the safety of refugees.
She reminded those gathered in the sanctuary of the historic First Presbyterian Church in Jamaica that “chaos is strategy. It keeps people disoriented, disorganized, distracted and divided.”
“The current administration knows what it’s doing,” Cosby said.
For one take on the current situation, Cosby suggested this video:
Church advocacy is nonpartisan, Cosby stressed. “We are called to advocate for humane and just policies, and to provide safe refuge” for those who need it most. One example: Presbyterians have been involved in the Sanctuary movement since at least the 1980s.
OPW has published a “Holy Discontentment: Lifting Your Voice for Effective Advocacy” guide for use by individuals and congregations. While the guide focuses on national legislation, “we are in the process of updating it for states and communities.”
Cosby closed her talk with this video of Spencer LaJoye’s “Plowshare Prayer”:
Read other Presbyterian News Service stories on the “Connection to Transformation” conference here, here and here.
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