As we continue to move further into the new legislative year, we would like to take the opportunity to highlight the priorities of The Office of Government Relations for 2018. Drawing from the priorities of General Convention and Episcopal Church leadership, we have structured our work around the three pillars of the Jesus Movement: Care of Creation, Reconciliation, and Evangelism.

Care of Creation and Reconciliation

We advocate to the U.S. government to promote legislation and policies that reflect our role as stewards of God’s creation. We work to ensure the importance of clean air and clean water for all of God’s people, as well as urging responsible use of our planet’s limited resources. Throughout our work and across all of our policy priorities, we seek to understand and address issues of justice and reconciliation. This includes racial reconciliation, as one lens for approaching many issues, from environmental racism to disparities in incarceration rates, to anti-refugee policies and discrimination against immigrants. Specific policy work in this area addresses poverty, health care, criminal justice reform, and international development.

Immigration
The Episcopal Church is committed to welcoming the stranger and advocating for a humane and proportional immigration system. Right now, our advocacy efforts are focused on urging Congress to pass legislation to protect Dreamers while continuing our prioritization for immigration policies that protect families from separation, offer meaningful access to citizenship, and respect the dignity of every human being.

Environment
The Episcopal Church is a powerful witness for addressing the care of our environment at the local, national, and international level. Our General Convention policy calls on lawmakers to significantly reduce carbon emissions within this century, to promote renewable energy technologies, and to financially support developing nations as well as local communities as they transition away from fossil fuels.

Refugees
The Episcopal Church has long supported a robust refugee resettlement program for those fleeing their countries to escape persecution and war. Through Episcopal Migration Ministries, our Church has worked in public-private partnership with the U.S. Government to resettle thousands of refugees since the inception of the program in 1980. This year, we are focused on maintaining our nation’s historic resettlement program and commitment to protecting displaced persons around the world.

Support refugees by advocating for refugees using resources on our webpage, donating to Episcopal Migration Ministries, or joining a multi-day training on the issue called Love God, Love Neighbor.

International Development and Conflict
We address food insecurity by ensuring that federal programs, from child nutrition programs to international food assistance, serve those most in need and are efficiently administered. We support legislation and policies that aim to prevent domestic violence and gender-based violence in foreign countries, and that protect the human rights of LGBT persons.

This year, we will continue to raise our voices to ensure that: (1) the federal budget addresses humanitarian, health, and economic development needs of our sisters and brothers overseas; (2) U.S. government implements a strategy to prevent gender-based violence and promote gender justice around the world; and (3) our government remains a leader in conflict prevention, peacebuilding, and advances human rights of all God’s children.

Other Issues
The Episcopal Church is dedicated to drawing a circle of protection around vulnerable communities and intentionally caring for God’s creation. We advocate on a range of other issues where we have Episcopal Church resolutions, which includes topics like human trafficking, common sense gun reform, healthcare, and disaster relief.

Evangelism Aimed to Educate, Equip and Engage

Underlying all of our work is evangelism, as a way of demonstrating Christ’s love for all by caring for the needy, the hungry, and the most vulnerable. By engaging in the sphere of public policy, we are living into our values as Christians and Episcopalians, and demonstrating what Church can be and what it can stand for. We seek to connect Episcopalians to their faith by educating, equipping and engaging them to do the work of advocacy as a part of the Episcopal Public Policy Network (EPPN). We serve as public witnesses for the Church to members of Congress and all who work in policy and advocacy.

We thank you all for being a part of this network, and we are excited to advocate with you throughout the coming year. We also hope to grow the size of the EPPN and the depth of materials available for learning about the issues important to all of us.

Civil Discourse Curriculum
In addition to making the full curriculum available online, we will be releasing the Civil Discourse content available for personal reflections during the weeks of Lent. The curriculum is designed to help people better understand and practice civil discourse particularly as it relates to politics, policy and legislation. The five-week program is best for church groups, adult forms, campus ministries, and youth groups.

Be sure to read our “Voices from the Church” supplemental document that features leaders from around the Episcopal Church reflecting on the intersection of faith, politics, advocacy and civil discourse.