With recent political developments, it has become more important for people of faith and faith communities to advocate with their elected officials on social justice issues that are important to their core values. The Church of the Palms Social Justice Advocacy Team supports and enables such advocacy. In particular, the Social Justice Advocacy Team’s goal is to organize and empower collective action on issues central to the social justice missions of our church (e.g., homelessness, LGBTQ, immigration, environment, criminal justice reform) in a manner that is likely to have a meaningful impact on those issues… and have some fun while we are doing it.
To accomplish this goal, the Advocacy Team…
- Monitors key developments in Federal, State, and Local governance to identify opportunities where we can make a difference.
- Provides training to the members of our congregation on various tools that can be used for political action. Last year we took a bus-load of 20 members down to the Arizona State Legislature to “kick the dirt” by meeting with our legislator, attending a committee hearing, and attending a session of the full legislature. We also conducted a well-attended public training on “Request To Speak” (a quick way to leave an impactful comment on pending state legislation).
- Organizes collective actions. For example, in 2025, the Federal government eliminated funding for an interfaith homeless program that was widely supported in our church. The Advocacy Team organized an interfaith letter writing campaign that resulted in the pastors at half a dozen faith communities writing letters to local elected officials along with literally hundreds of letters and e-mails from the members of those communities. Largely because of those letters, Maricopa County and the cities of Surprise, Glendale, and Peoria allocate hundreds of thousands of new dollars to addressing homelessness in the Northwest Valley.
- We are just starting to organize our advocacy efforts. As a result of recent developments, both the need and the opportunity for effective advocacy is greater than it has ever been. Come join us and make a difference. You will learn a lot, work with great people, have some fun, and impact the public policy on issues that matter to you..
For more information contact Judd Rinsema at: Socialjustice@thepalms.org