Members of two Detroit area congregations were honored Sunday at the Presbyterian Voices for Justice 221st General Assembly (2014) Awards and Education luncheon.
The theme for the event, held at Fort Street Presbyterian Church, was "Hope for Detroit: Economic Justice and Racial Reconciliation." Some 50 people attended the event.
Fort Street and Littlefield Presbyterian Church in Dearborn were presented Promotion of Social Righteousness Awards. Also honored with awards were individuals Gloria Albrecht and Thomas Priest.
“These awards are being presented in recognition of their commitment to and passion for all God’s people and their service to the entire church,” Presbyterian Voices for Justice Co-moderator Sylvia Thorson-Smith said.
Accepting the award on behalf of Fort Street, which operates the Open Door outreach ministry, was Sharon Mook, pastor.
“There is so much more we can do,” Mook said. “We are both humbled and honored to be recognized. We will simply keep doing what we are doing.”
In accepting the award for Littlefield, pastor Frances Hayes said that while the church, located in Dearborn, which has a 70 to 80 percent Middle Eastern/Muslim population, faces numerous demographic challenges, she believes that it was “planted there for a mission of justice.”
Albrecht is a professor of Ethics at University of Detroit-Mercy and a longtime member of the PC(USA) Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy.
Priest is a retired PC(USA) teaching elder and a former moderator of the Presbytery of Detroit and a member of Detroit Truth and Reconciliation Commission.