This summer DOOR Atlanta will not only provide great hands on service and educational opportunities for the churches who participate in our Discover program, but we will add advocacy to our plate as well. We have partnered with the Georgia Minimum Wage Coalition to help educate people of faith about the difficulties of feeding and housing a family while working a minimum wage job. As part of this educational effort our participants will have the opportunity to write a letter to their representative in Washington and mail it during their week in Atlanta. My hope is that those in power will be inundated with letters from young people who are concerned about justice for low wage workers. Although this topic might seem controversial during an economic downturn, I am hopeful that the conversation will open participants' eyes to the struggles low wage workers are experiencing and be called to work for justice on their behalf.
I'd like to start the conversation by sharing an essay by my friend Chris Henry. He is a local Presbyterian pastor here in Atlanta and has been active in the Georgia Minimum Wage Coalition for several years.
"While I was a student at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, I had the opportunity to serve two nights a week as the Overnight Host at a men’s homeless shelter operated by Clifton Sanctuary Ministries, a former Presbyterian Church that now opens its doors nightly to thirty men who have nowhere else to turn for a warm meal and a place to sleep. I had taken the job because it would provide me with a little extra income as a student; what I received was an education in the realities of life for many who live and work in our communities. One of the most shocking discoveries for me was the number of men who worked full-time and still found themselves homeless and without enough income to provide the basic necessities. These men were security guards, retail store employees, custodians, and food service workers. They provided services on which we all rely and worked hard at their jobs. And yet, their hourly wages were not sufficient to secure adequate housing and food.
As a person of religious faith, I believe that we as a community have a God-given responsibility to provide fair wages to those who are doing their part by working hard everyday to make ends meet. It was the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah who reminded his community of their call to treat their workers with justice and fairness with these words: “Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his upper rooms by injustice; who makes his neighbors work for nothing, and does not give them their wages” (Jeremiah 22:13). In our own time and place, people of faith must again stand together to call for just wages.
That is why I am proud to say that over 130 clergy supporters have signed a letter urging the Georgia General Assembly to act on raising the state minimum wage. We have given presentations and preached sermons at churches. We have spoken out on the steps of the Capitol. We have sought to stand in the long line of prophets who have come before us to declare that the end of injustice and greed is coming, and, with great faith, we believe it to be so.
For people of faith all over the state, the issue of minimum wage is not primarily a political or economic matter. Rather, it is an issue of morality. We who believe that God has created a world of abundant goodness, also believe that God intends that abundance to be shared with justice and compassion. When we see families in our state suffering due to unjust wages, our faith calls us to hear their stories. When we watch the prices of almost everything rise dramatically and the minimum wage become a poverty wage, our faith calls us to respond. Working for fair wages is an issue of morality because it is an issue that affects real people—members of our families, our neighborhoods, our congregations and our faith communities. These are real people, just like those men at Clifton Sanctuary Ministries, whose only request from us is the opportunity to succeed.
Together let us pray for the day when justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Till then, let us give feet and voice to our prayers as we take action on behalf of those left behind in the state of Georgia."
~Jannan Thomas, DOOR Atlanta City Director
Thursday
Happy Earth Day!
Happy Earth Day!
Today I’d like to share a little bit about the things we do at DOOR Atlanta to try and love Mother Earth a little bit more. Since the summer of 2008, DOOR Atlanta along with the other DOOR cities stopped using plastic water bottles in our Discover mission trip program. Instead we bought Nalgene water bottles that we check out to each participant for the entire week. We then wash and sterilize the water bottles at the end of the week and use them again for the next group. We’ve been using the same water bottles for the past three years and have substantially reduced the amount of recycling we generate during a Discover mission trip week. That same year we also bought cloth re-usable lunch bags, in cooperation with DOOR San Antonio, from a sewing coop. Each week we recycle glass, cardboard, aluminum and plastic, in an effort to keep our trash as limited as possible. Lastly, this past summer we made the switch from using plastic grocery bags to reusable grocery bags. Not only does this help us re-use our bags instead of using them once and recycling them, but it sends a strong message to our Discover mission trip groups that we value earth sustainability as part of our ministry. It is quite a site to see us unload 60 bags of groceries from reusable bags. We still have ways we can grow in our care for creation in our Discover program, but I'd like to believe we have a firm foundation on which to build.
Our Discover program is not our only program that is stretching itself in regards to creation care. Our Dwell houses have taken some unique steps towards Earth Care as well. Both of our houses are avid recyclers and composters. In addition, the houses are very interested in eating more locally grown food. And by locally grown, I mean in their backyard. The Grant Park house got chickens this year and has just recently stopped buying eggs from the grocery store and is able to sustain its egg usage entirely by their chickens. The Capitol View house has spent most of this year researching how to turn their backyard which was filled with rocks and trash, into a garden. It is a true resurrection project. They are just now planting their first seeds and are excited and hopeful about supplementing their food budget in the future with produce from their backyard. There has always been a tension in our Dwell houses between the desire to eat organic, locally grown food and the limits of their budget, but I am excited to see the creative ways they have approached these issues and tried to eat faithfully. Both houses have explored being part of a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) and I am hopeful they will figure out a way to make this work within their food budgets.
Finally, I got word from Presbyterians for Earth Care (PEC) about their bottled water campaign. I share it with you in the hopes you might pledge to stop using plastic water bottles as well. PEC writes:
“Annie Leonard, who previously brought us the online "The Story of Stuff" has made a new fast-paced online film that tackles bottled water. "The Story of Bottled Water" outlines how consumption of bottled water went from something considered laughable (as it costs as much as 2000 times the amount of tap water) to such a high-demand product that the US consumes a half a billion bottles of water each week. The film is a great primer in many issues related to bottled water, including the justice aspect of where our bottles are sent to be recycled. (Leonard found that some of these bottles that we stick in our recycling bins are actually shipped to India, and instead of being recycled, they end up becoming a waste problem for India to deal with.) Watch "The Story of Bottled Water" and learn more about issues surrounding bottled water from the Presbyterians for Earth Care's bottled water campaign. PEC also has a bottled water pledge that you can sign. Pledge not to drink bottled water unless the tap water in your area is truly unsafe, and share your knowledge with friends and family, who may not realize that producing bottles for bottled water for US consumption uses enough oil each year to fuel one million cars.”
Happy Earth Day!
~Jannan Thomas, DOOR Atlanta City Director
Today I’d like to share a little bit about the things we do at DOOR Atlanta to try and love Mother Earth a little bit more. Since the summer of 2008, DOOR Atlanta along with the other DOOR cities stopped using plastic water bottles in our Discover mission trip program. Instead we bought Nalgene water bottles that we check out to each participant for the entire week. We then wash and sterilize the water bottles at the end of the week and use them again for the next group. We’ve been using the same water bottles for the past three years and have substantially reduced the amount of recycling we generate during a Discover mission trip week. That same year we also bought cloth re-usable lunch bags, in cooperation with DOOR San Antonio, from a sewing coop. Each week we recycle glass, cardboard, aluminum and plastic, in an effort to keep our trash as limited as possible. Lastly, this past summer we made the switch from using plastic grocery bags to reusable grocery bags. Not only does this help us re-use our bags instead of using them once and recycling them, but it sends a strong message to our Discover mission trip groups that we value earth sustainability as part of our ministry. It is quite a site to see us unload 60 bags of groceries from reusable bags. We still have ways we can grow in our care for creation in our Discover program, but I'd like to believe we have a firm foundation on which to build.
Our Discover program is not our only program that is stretching itself in regards to creation care. Our Dwell houses have taken some unique steps towards Earth Care as well. Both of our houses are avid recyclers and composters. In addition, the houses are very interested in eating more locally grown food. And by locally grown, I mean in their backyard. The Grant Park house got chickens this year and has just recently stopped buying eggs from the grocery store and is able to sustain its egg usage entirely by their chickens. The Capitol View house has spent most of this year researching how to turn their backyard which was filled with rocks and trash, into a garden. It is a true resurrection project. They are just now planting their first seeds and are excited and hopeful about supplementing their food budget in the future with produce from their backyard. There has always been a tension in our Dwell houses between the desire to eat organic, locally grown food and the limits of their budget, but I am excited to see the creative ways they have approached these issues and tried to eat faithfully. Both houses have explored being part of a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) and I am hopeful they will figure out a way to make this work within their food budgets.
Finally, I got word from Presbyterians for Earth Care (PEC) about their bottled water campaign. I share it with you in the hopes you might pledge to stop using plastic water bottles as well. PEC writes:
“Annie Leonard, who previously brought us the online "The Story of Stuff" has made a new fast-paced online film that tackles bottled water. "The Story of Bottled Water" outlines how consumption of bottled water went from something considered laughable (as it costs as much as 2000 times the amount of tap water) to such a high-demand product that the US consumes a half a billion bottles of water each week. The film is a great primer in many issues related to bottled water, including the justice aspect of where our bottles are sent to be recycled. (Leonard found that some of these bottles that we stick in our recycling bins are actually shipped to India, and instead of being recycled, they end up becoming a waste problem for India to deal with.) Watch "The Story of Bottled Water" and learn more about issues surrounding bottled water from the Presbyterians for Earth Care's bottled water campaign. PEC also has a bottled water pledge that you can sign. Pledge not to drink bottled water unless the tap water in your area is truly unsafe, and share your knowledge with friends and family, who may not realize that producing bottles for bottled water for US consumption uses enough oil each year to fuel one million cars.”
Happy Earth Day!
~Jannan Thomas, DOOR Atlanta City Director
Young Adults struggle to find their place in the Church
The past couple of days I have been looking for articles exploring the impact of doing a year of service on young adults’ faith and vocational discernment. It was surprising to me to find there has not been a lot of study done on this topic. Although I wasn’t able to find exactly what I was looking for, I did find some interesting data on young adults and their connection with the church. According to USA Today, “Seven in 10 Protestants ages 18-30, both evangelical and mainline, who went to church regularly in high school said they quit attending by age 23. And 34% of those said they had not returned by age 30. That means that about one in four Protestant young people have left the church.” As coordinator of the Young Adult Volunteer program of the Presbyterian Church in Atlanta and Director of Dwell, our intentional Christian communities for young adults, I have the privilege of walking with young adults as they explore their faith at this pivotal point in their lives. I see firsthand the struggles that young adults have finding their place in congregations. At the same time I see young adults who are highly interested in God, highly interested in participating in vital mission, and many times in need of guidance and support. Unfortunately many young adults are also largely uninspired by what churches are currently doing. Many of the folks in our Dwell program find the Christian community experienced in the Dwell houses as closer to what they are searching for in a church then what they find in traditional congregations.
The Barna group, in their study titled “Twenty-something’s struggle to find their place in the church” believes that lack of leadership opportunities may be one of the reasons that young adults struggle to find their place in the church. The study showed that “just 4% of young adults currently serve as a lay leader at their church; only 12% have been a leader at any time in the past two years. Older adults are three to four times more likely to serve as church leaders.” In fact, the age group with the greatest number of church leaders is those in their 50’s. Is it lack of leadership ability or desire to serve as leaders that prevent young adults from serving? Surprisingly no. The Barna study reports that “people in their 20’s and early 30’s are actually more likely than older adults to think of themselves as leaders – and they are much more likely than mature generations to want additional training to become better leaders.” Perhaps one of the reasons that our Dwell communities are attractive to young adults is our practice of having the participants shape the communities. It is the gifts, passions, struggles and leadership of all of the Dwell community members that make the communities what they are. As Director of the program I try to serve as a mentor and pastoral support to the houses, but it is the folks in our houses that lead our weekly Dwell nights and develop their service work in the neighborhood. My hope is that our program plays a small role in helping young adults find their place in the church. Many of our community members make big life-shaping decisions while they live in our communities. It is my desire that our Dwell communities provide a space for the Dwellers to take seriously the biblical perspective in making those decisions, both while in the community and in the future.
The Barna group, in their study titled “Twenty-something’s struggle to find their place in the church” believes that lack of leadership opportunities may be one of the reasons that young adults struggle to find their place in the church. The study showed that “just 4% of young adults currently serve as a lay leader at their church; only 12% have been a leader at any time in the past two years. Older adults are three to four times more likely to serve as church leaders.” In fact, the age group with the greatest number of church leaders is those in their 50’s. Is it lack of leadership ability or desire to serve as leaders that prevent young adults from serving? Surprisingly no. The Barna study reports that “people in their 20’s and early 30’s are actually more likely than older adults to think of themselves as leaders – and they are much more likely than mature generations to want additional training to become better leaders.” Perhaps one of the reasons that our Dwell communities are attractive to young adults is our practice of having the participants shape the communities. It is the gifts, passions, struggles and leadership of all of the Dwell community members that make the communities what they are. As Director of the program I try to serve as a mentor and pastoral support to the houses, but it is the folks in our houses that lead our weekly Dwell nights and develop their service work in the neighborhood. My hope is that our program plays a small role in helping young adults find their place in the church. Many of our community members make big life-shaping decisions while they live in our communities. It is my desire that our Dwell communities provide a space for the Dwellers to take seriously the biblical perspective in making those decisions, both while in the community and in the future.
Wednesday
Cultural Baggage: What we bring with us as we engage in Mission
This Friday I have the privilege of being one of the panelists for a Presbyterian Church webinar focusing on “Cultural Baggage: What we bring with us as we engage in Mission.” You may be asking yourself: “What exactly IS cultural baggage?” If you google it, the following definition appears on Wikipedia.
"The term cultural baggage refers to the tendency for one's culture to pervade thinking, speech, and behavior without one being aware of this pervasion. Cultural baggage becomes a factor when a person from one culture encounters a person from another, and unconscious assumptions or behaviors can interfere with interaction. The "baggage" imagery implies that cultural baggage is something that one carries at all times and that it can be burdensome, hindering freedom of movement (i.e. hinders intercultural dialog)."
Exploring cultural baggage is something that happens a lot at DOOR. When we engage in mission we are given great opportunities to experience other cultures while building relationships with brothers and sisters in Christ. This is certainly our hope for all our participants in Atlanta, whether they come for a week or a year. But what happens when our own cultural baggage gets in the way of building relationships? Are there ways we can minimize our cultural baggage? Is all cultural baggage bad? What can/should I bring on my mission experiences? If these questions interest you, please join us for the webinar on Friday, April 9 at 1 p.m. (EST). To sign up please follow this link: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/291887578. One of the best ways to address cultural baggage is by being aware of our own culture and the cultures with which we engage in mission. To learn more about how to do this, please join us on Friday. If you are unable to join us this Friday, the webinar will be taped and available online. I’ll post a link once it is available.
~Jannan Thomas, DOOR Atlanta City Director
"The term cultural baggage refers to the tendency for one's culture to pervade thinking, speech, and behavior without one being aware of this pervasion. Cultural baggage becomes a factor when a person from one culture encounters a person from another, and unconscious assumptions or behaviors can interfere with interaction. The "baggage" imagery implies that cultural baggage is something that one carries at all times and that it can be burdensome, hindering freedom of movement (i.e. hinders intercultural dialog)."
Exploring cultural baggage is something that happens a lot at DOOR. When we engage in mission we are given great opportunities to experience other cultures while building relationships with brothers and sisters in Christ. This is certainly our hope for all our participants in Atlanta, whether they come for a week or a year. But what happens when our own cultural baggage gets in the way of building relationships? Are there ways we can minimize our cultural baggage? Is all cultural baggage bad? What can/should I bring on my mission experiences? If these questions interest you, please join us for the webinar on Friday, April 9 at 1 p.m. (EST). To sign up please follow this link: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/291887578. One of the best ways to address cultural baggage is by being aware of our own culture and the cultures with which we engage in mission. To learn more about how to do this, please join us on Friday. If you are unable to join us this Friday, the webinar will be taped and available online. I’ll post a link once it is available.
~Jannan Thomas, DOOR Atlanta City Director
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