Terry Woodnorth

Rather than doing a gift survey, you may want to check out the online tool https://www.thecommon.org. "We provide an easier way to volunteer , give , serve , help and get help in your community. By changing how you share needs and abilities, your community can increase connections, simplify communication, and effectively decrease the distance between a person with a need and the person who can help."

The denomination has already done some of this work for deacons. See the "Nondenominational Agencies Evaluated for Support 2012" in the booklet at http://www.crcna.org/site_uploads/uploads/Ministry%20Shares%202011%20booklet.pdf.

Has a similar survey been done recently with Christians in the US?

Wow - can't believe it's been 10 years already!

Planning to read Wild Hope: Stories for Lent from the Vanishing by Gayle Boss for Lent. (Check out http://justice.crcna.org/lent-2020-wild-hope.)

Thanks for introducing yourself and your new position, Jodi! Are you working in the Grand Rapids office or do you still live and work in Massachusetts?

From the Diakonia Remixed report:

"Another related principle is that the delegation of deacons to major assemblies is not about equal representation as such, as if there should be some balance of power, but rather it is about the full representation of the whole church which these offices represent. When deacons are missing from major assemblies, the full voice of the church is not heard, nor is the full ministry of the church under discussion. The purpose of the major assemblies is not simply governance and adjudication but deliberation about the church’s character and ministry, a deliberation in which the deacons ought surely to participate."

How about another bullet under reason 1? The whole church is fully represented when all the offices (deacon, elder, pastor) are represented.

The Center for Public Justice in Washington, DC, has developed a new Political Discipleship curriculum that is currently being piloted. It is a curriculum for small groups that provides a practical approach to Christian citizenship and engagement with public justice. If you'd like to read a summary of the curriculum and determine whether you think it would satisfy Overture 12, you can find it in Dropbox. I've also shared it with Steve Timmermans.

"Justice is what love looks like... in public." - Craig Greenfield

I found Mark Roberts' devotional Loving the God Who Loves Justice to be helpful in the context of this discussion. The words “justice” and “equity” are frequently found in Scripture in relationship both to God and to those who seek to obey him (cf., Psalm 9:8 and Psalm 99:4).

But then there is Jesus' response to "Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth" and "Love your neighbor and hate your enemy" in Matthew 5:38-48. I would prefer to take my direction from Jesus who fulfilled the law rather than trying to argue that the Persian law described in Esther is normative for our context.

Here's a resource I recently discovered - Halloween Brings the Mission to Your Doorstep.