Christian Advocacy: Called to be God's Voice!
In Jesus’ parable of the good Samaritan, the traveller on the road met
someone who beat him up, someone else who passed him up, and, finally, someone who lifted
him up. That last person in his witness of service to a person in need, was being an
advocate.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has committed
itself to do public policy advocacy. This church both encourages its members and
congregations to advocate justice, and it also carries out public policy advocacy through
its institutional structures.
In doing so, this church is being faithful to the witness
of the Church throughout all ages and is continuing a tradition it received from the
churches that united to form to ELCA.
Lutherans understand advocacy, quite simply, as a way to
love the neighbor and to do justice in society. Motivated by God’s love for us,
advocacy seeks to express God’s special concern for the poor, the neglected and the
vulnerable. It is activity done for the well-being of others, particularly with --and
for-- those whose voice is not heard in the places of power. Advocacy is an extension of
the church’s practice of serving the poor, and vulnerable, a practice that reaches
back to Israel’s calling, Jesus’ ministry, and the witness of the early Church.
