By Galen Fitzkee
Ecumenical Advocacy Days (EAD) is an annual gathering of conscientious Christians uniting to speak for global peace and justice. As people of faith, EAD attendees understand every person to be created in God’s image, deserving of life, safety, dignity, and a voice loud enough to be heard and heeded.
This year, EAD’s theme “Fierce Urgency: Advancing Civil and Human Rights” (https://advocacydays.org) promises to call attendees into solidarity with marginalized groups to restore, protect, and expand voting rights in the US and to realize human rights around the world. The Church of the Brethren has recorded a desire to eliminate racial disparities, such as access to voting rights, from as early as 1963 (www.brethren.org/ac/statements/1963-racial-brokenness) and has consistently expressed support for the security of internationally recognized human rights. Now is the time to take action!
This year’s virtual conference will take place online on April 25-27 and will feature worship, prayer, inspiring keynote speakers, expert panel discussions, educational workshops, and the opportunity for attendees to speak truth to power on Capitol Hill. In past years, Brethren have attended EAD to lift their collective voice about topics like climate change, mass incarceration, refugees and immigrants, and more.
Former Brethren Volunteer Service worker Tori Bateman recalls, “EAD was a great chance for me to connect with the people of faith that are doing amazing work on today’s social justice issues, and helped me build skills in policy advocacy that I still use to this day.”
Register to take advantage of this unique and important opportunity at www.accelevents.com/e/eadvirtual2022! As the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said in his 1967 Riverside Church Speech, “We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being too late.”
— Galen Fitzkee is a Brethren Volunteer Service worker serving at the Church of the Brethren’s Office of Peacebuilding and Policy in Washington, D.C.
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Find more Church of the Brethren news:
- Intercultural Ministries offers webinars on ‘Understanding Bias,’ ‘Cultural Responsiveness,’ and ‘Being an Ally’
- Mission and Ministry Board extends general secretary’s term, recognizes Material Resources, approves 2026 budget parameter, among other business
- Deportation Defense Response offers new online giving option to support Church of the Brethren members, shares requests for prayer and praise
- Brethren Disaster Ministries shares domestic program survey
- Faith leaders condemn administration efforts to abandon historic US refugee program