About the Justice and Advocacy Commission

The Justice and Advocacy Commission serves as the arm of the Council through which the member communions and their boards and agencies, together with participating non-member communions and related organizations, cooperate in efforts to pursue justice in church and society, especially the elimination of poverty in the United States, racial justice, justice for women, environmental justice and responses to the urban crisis.  This Commission works in collaboration with public policy ministries of the Council.  (NCC Bylaws)

Four keywords help delineate the Commission’s constitutional mandate:

1. The Justice and Advocacy Commission (JAC) is called to integrate or coordinate the Council’s various justice ministries so that each is seen in light of, and contributes to, the whole work of the NCC.  Representatives of the justice-oriented working groups and committees – as well as staff persons in the Public Policy Office in Washington, D.C., the office on International Affairs and Peace, and the Mobilization to Overcome Poverty program – will serve on and/or report to the JAC.
    

2. The JAC is called to focus the Council’s justice ministries.  There is always a danger that the energy and resources of the NCC can be dissipated by a plethora of resolutions, issues and causes.  The JAC can help determine what needs priority attention at a given moment and how that attention might be given through the NCC and its member churches.
    

3. The JAC is called to deepen the justice ministries of the Council, which includes providing and/or encouraging a solid and ecumenical theological foundation.  Toward this end, the JAC will develop or review policy statements on matters of justice.  Such statements, while no substitute for direct advocacy and public action, can clarify the Council’s distinctive motivation for justice ministry, enable the NCC to be more pro-active in its justice agenda, and help the member churches to discover common theological ground.
    

4. The JAC is called to extend the Council’s justice ministries.  Work for justice is often regarded as the province of issue-focused networks that can be ignored by the wider church.  In order to counter this tendency, the JAC will cooperate with other NCC commissions, and with partner organizations, in order to educate and equip church members for creative public involvement on behalf of justice.

The JAC reports directly to the NCC Board of Directors (Executive Board) and, through it, to the General Assembly.  Members of the JAC understand that they represent their churches and/or working groups and committees, but also that, when meeting as a commission, they seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit with regard to matters of justice.  The Commission’s task is to hold the churches accountable to the justice commitments they have made through the NCC, to urge the churches to act together for justice to the greatest possible extent, and to prod the churches through the NCC to ever deeper engagement for justice.

In all its work, the JAC will seek to give glory to the triune God, confessing Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word of God, as Savior and Lord, and relying upon the transforming power of the Holy Spirit.

Justice resources available on the Web include:

• Eco-Justice
   
• Justice for Women

  'Staying on Course: Navigating the Shifting Tides of Government and Church Partnerships' -- A Resource from the NCC Justice for Women Working Group on Understanding the New Overtures to Churches by the Federal Government
   

• Mt. Olive Pickle Boycott/Farm Migrant Labor Conditions

• Peace With Justice Week

• Pillars of Peace for the 21st Century

For more information on the Commission, contact:
 

Wesley M. "Pat" Pattillo Senior Program Director for Justice and Advocacy and Communication in the New York NCC Office: 475 Riverside Drive, Suite 880, New York, NY 10115 Phone 212-870-2048

• for NCC Eco-Justice Program, contact Cassandra Carmichael, Washington Office