When we advocate together, good things happen

LOUISVILLE — The power and promise of joining together to advocate for neighbors being impacted by unhelpful policies and other ugliness, up to and including warfare, were on full display Wednesday during the Presbyterian Advocacy Hour, which attracted nearly 120 viewers.

The webinar, called “Building Power and Sharing Victories,” featured a panel of three partners of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.):

• The Rev. Marietta Macy, the co-chair of the Palestine Justice Network, which was established by the 216^th General Assembly (2004).
• Rachel Koelzer with the National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC), which organizes Korean and Asian Americans and immigrants to achieve social, racial and economic justice.
• Shantha Ready Alonso, the executive director of the America the Beautiful for All Coalition, which works to give communities a voice in land, water and ocean policy decisions.

Catherine Gordon of the Office of Public Witness welcomed attendees and said the event was a collaboration among OPW, the Office of Immigration Issues, Presbyterian Hunger Program, the Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People, and others. Held the fourth Wednesday of most months, the Presbyterian Advocacy Hour will be on hiatus until January 2027. Learn more here.

Before hearing from panelists, the Rev. Dr. Aimee Moiso, director of Social Witness Policy in Presbyterian Life & Witness, offered a brief talk on how theology and ethics “undergird our work.” Moiso outlined the report “How and Why the Church Makes a Social Witness Policy,” adopted by the 205^th General Assembly (1993).

According to the report, social witness policy is, at its heart, prayerful; consultative, collegial and communal; multilateral and multidirectional; ecumenical; and continual.

Macy encouraged those attending to follow the Palestine Justice Network on Facebook and Instagram and to sign up for OPW’s Action Alerts so they can remain informed on actions they can take on Capitol Hill.

“We’re trying to decolonize ourselves in every way by not imposing solutions on people we are not in true relationship with,” Macy said. “Everything our network has asked the General Assembly to do has been in partnership with Palestinians who have been on the receiving end of this reality.”

“Unfortunately, everything in the West Bank is getting increasingly worse and more unstable,” Macy said. Neighborhoods and entire villages “can be closed off by a few soldiers closing checkpoints. … The West Bank is in the early stages of what Gaza experienced. We need to continue doing more.”

An action any congregation can take is to study Kairos Palestine II, which PJN describes as “a living confession born from the heart of Palestinian Christian suffering.” Learn more about the study guide by watching this video.

Macy called the work “a ministry of presence and solidarity. So many Presbyterians have experienced traveling there, and it’s good to highlight that we have folks there maintaining personal connections.”

Koelzer noted her work in the immigrant rights space began in 2018. “I am very passionate and enthused by this conversation about connections and solidarity,” she said. “Coalitions are powerful because we unite around a shared goal or outcome, not because we believe the same things.”

Koelzer described NAKASEC as “a network. We bring together local and state organizations to build power at the federal level on citizenship and immigration.” She described the work required to support a disabled woman named Emily, who’d been issued a deportation order. NAKASEC helped restore her green card and Emily was able to move into more accessible, safer housing. “She’s now learning to make Kimchi,” Koelzer said, offering “big thank yous to all our partners who made this possible.”

Ready Alonzo said it “feels like home when we’re talking in a faith-based space about why we do this work.” She offered up “a victory story, which we are all starved for.”

The “big-tent coalition” she leads “had a victory this year,” Ready Alonzo said, turning back an effort in Congress to weaken the Endangered Species Act. “Because of heavy public pressure, the bill got pulled on Earth Day this year,” she said. Organizations including another PC(USA) partner, Creation Justice Ministries, were at the table, and “it got a ton of news coverage,” she said. “The issue was so hot that it helped us create a broader story about what was going on with endangered species.”

Ready Alonzo offered this advice to those on the call: “If you have expertise, make sure you are building your alliances. If you are a generalist, make sure to get news alerts on issues you want to be activated on.”

“I love hearing about your success, because we don’t hear too many of those,” Macy told Ready Alonzo during a question-and-answer session. It can be “challenging and demoralizing as Presbyterians when [elected] representatives are entrenched and aren’t interested in what we have to say.”

“A core tenet is centering those who are directly impacted,” Koelzer said, adding that “those without a deportation order are also directly impacted — my neighbor, my co-worker, my friend. There is a level of impact for everyone. It’s not an ‘out there’ issue. It’s directly related to us.”

“As we talk with folks we don’t align with in a lot of ways, we keep each other bolstered because we have that support,” Koelzer said. “Being clear on what the shared goal and values and beliefs are can be anchoring and supportive when you have to navigate things that come up that are in conflict.”

“We don’t all need to be the eye or the hand. Diversity makes a strong body,” Macy said, adding a note of caution about “whether bridges … are safe bridges to build” for Palestinians who are directly impacted. “When the tests come, are [partners] going to still be there, or will they wither and wash away? It’s not safe for us and for the people we work with to be overly broad.”

Asked about the 2026 Farm Bill, which awaits approval in the Senate, Ready Alonzo said that along with partners including the Presbyterian Hunger Program, “we are keeping an eye on what opportunities we have with the Farm Bill to invest in what we care about.”

“We have received feedback from Capitol Hill that just being at the table is a huge deal,” she said. “Often the Farm Bill is driven by big ag.”