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1. To advocate on behalf of The United Methodist Church by developing and maintaining a legislative advocacy agenda reflective of The Social Principles.

2. To equip United Methodists to advocate by relating to the global body of The United Methodist Church and building an advocacy network in which all may participate.

3. To engage social issues in an intersectional manner, opening the lenses of race, gender, and class.

4. To collaborate efficiently with other departments of Church and Society ensuring clarity and cohesion among issue areas

5. To reflect and analyze the impact of our work, using evidence-based efforts and recalibrating as necessary to ensure our efforts are having maximum impact.

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United Methodists receive training on advocacy, maybe through a specific issue, maybe at a seminar at the UM building

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To be able to have a consistent base of United Methodists to join Advocacy staff in congressional meetings.

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Grassroots Organizing at GBCS seeks to equip UM with organizing skills to build power to create change on a specific issue.

Organizing engages this work through two areas:

Training and Leadership Development

Partnership Development and Strategic Coordination across the United Methodist Connection

The entry point to our work often begins at an organizing training (Church and Society/PWJ Chair or AC training) or in relationship with a Partner where actions are already happening and UM have been engaged but seek technical assistance to deepen their work.

Organizing starts through relationships with UMs who are at the frontline seeking to create systemic change on an issue(RRT), through organizing I seek to build the capacity and ability of the UMs through teams, partners and the connectional umc to understand how to build strategic power to influence systemic change. The power to to influence change then informs how the advocate on legislations, that includes the communities that they are building with to share with their decisionmaker that they have the influence and relationship to create change.

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How I define:

Connector

Traffic controller

GBCS Hype Woman

Information Hub

Shepherd for Church and Society Chairs/Conference mission and advocacy staff

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As a part of the programmatic and legislative vein of GBCS and the broader United Methodist Church with the end goal of equipping and engaging UMs to practically live out the Social Principles and Resolutions in community and legislative bodies throughout the Connection (world)

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Introductory points vary depending experience level. It's about meeting people where they are. First steps are generally to get individuals connected to their larger networks - in conference support and peers while also providing a framework for how GBCS works with conferences on advocacy/justice efforts.

The ultimate goal is to equip conference leaders with the skills and resources needed for them to pursue advocacy and justice issues with purpose and intentionality without GBCS needing to hold their hand or give precise instructions on what to do and when to do it.

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Colleen's role in engagement...

Provide resources for PWJ coordinators: Advocacy resources and policy updates, focused on how we at GBCS define "peace with justice" (i.e. peacebuilding/disarmament/nonproliferation)

Traffic controller/connector (to use Amber's terms): Direct PWJ coordinators toward the right people at GBCS or within the connection

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Provide educational opportunities (seminars/webinars) for groups to learn about topics connected to the Social Principles, learn from experts (issue/policy), learn what UM's are doing on the issue, gain tools to take back to the community.

overlap with advocacy: inviting advocacy staff to speak on issues

overlap with organizing: inviting organizing staff to provide organizing trainings

Create Educational guides for local communities to use in their context (Pages for Progress, Resources on the Social Principles, Youth Curriculum)

Other Introductory Points with overlap:

with Engagement: Provide introduction to the work of GBCS and the Social Principles to Young Adult Clergy.

with Engagement and PwJ: Provide Church and Society Chairs and Peace with Justice Coordinators to gather in-person to gain tools and foster relationships.

desired end goal: connect groups and people to organizing or advocacy depending on where they are on their journey

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Looking and articulating intersections of local and global to effectively engage the multilateral system (global) and the member states (local/national)

UNIA has a unique organizational reach in the countries where UMs outside the US are located. Therefore, UNIA has become a programming venue for global work that GBCS must do. (Think Central/Regional Conferences)

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Start and end:

Engagement is often a first point of contact for new and emerging leaders. Folks are referred to me based on their desire to work on local advocacy and don't know where to get started.

Engagement works closely with PWJ and organizing. I'll occasionally pass specific issue questions on to advocacy staff. Education staff is also utilized for Social Principles and similar educational opportunities.

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Noting that people come into advocacy work at different levels on the ladder of engagement. Some learn about our work because they are already trained advocates, while some people's entry points have not included advocacy training.