QJC happenings...

Friends,

I don’t know about you but it seems as if time is always escaping me.  Before we know it summer will be over and we’ll be rolling into a new school year and a new season.  I just returned from Chicago where I attended a class for the ordination track with the ECC.  It was a good time for me to stop, reflect and focus on the call of the Pastor.  Obviously, these thoughts can take one to various different places both personally and generally but in terms of my role at Quest I recognize that I have a responsibility to join in the efforts of compassionately extending our hands and feet in unity with the justice and restoration that God desires for all of creation.  There is great need and I can honestly confess that sometimes I feel overwhelmed but recently feel liberated and free in realizing that this call to justice and compassion is not any one sole person’s responsibility, but it is a community effort—one that we are all called to.  Let’s continue this work together. 

The following are opportunities to inform and empower you, as well as give you space to focus the energy to move-- to act!

•    August 27th Neighborhood meeting re 88-unit permanent housing facility in Interbay.  Hosted by Downtown Emergency Service Center (DESC) @ Q Café from 6:30-8:00p  Please join your church and other neighbors in Interbay to discuss the 88-unit permanent housing facility that DESC is hoping to start right here in the Interbay neighborhood for the homeless.  DESC has been advocating for the homeless for 20+ years and have 800+ units of permanent housing for the homeless in the greater Seattle area. 

•    Sept 13th Journey to Mosaic (J2M) panel discussion @ Quest from 2:00-3:00 pm  Journey to Mosaic (J2M) leads participants to sites of cultural significance and historical/present-day racial injustice, and will witness a sampling of Christian ministries living out the Kingdom.  Through films, tours, partner/large group discussions, and prayer, the J2M-North Pacific will open doors to a powerful journey of spiritual transformation.
The panelists will share their personal experiences and give an overview perspective of what to expect on the J2M journey.  Come hear from other covenanters, as they teach us about the humbling opportunity of understanding racialization in our local and regional context.

•    September 19th International Justice Missions Film Screening entitled At the End of Slavery @ Quest Church from 7-9 pm Followed by a presentation by Holly Burkhalter, IJM VP of Government Relations

•    September 20th International Justice Missions (IJM) Advocacy Training  1:30-4:30 pm @ Quest Church We would like to invite you to participate in IJM’s Northwest Advocacy Weekend. Events will be held September 19 and 20, 2009.
IJM has expertise about what it takes to end slavery and in trafficking, but the people who matter most to Members of Congress are their constituents. We need your help to urge your elected officials to support the Child Protection Compact Act of 2009 — groundbreaking legislation that seeks to eradicate trafficking children in designated focus countries. At IJM’s Northwest Advocacy Weekend, you will receive training to help you exercise your political voice to make a difference for those who are suffering from violent oppression.

•    Film, Faith, Justice at Seattle Presbyterian Church on October 15th through the 17th. Film, Faith, and Justice 2009 is a film and lecture series developed by The Other Journal and featuring the films of the Human Rights Watch Traveling Film Festival, some being premiered for the first time in Seattle.
Correlating speaker presentations and panel discussions will articulate personal and communal responses to modern issues of injustice such as poverty, violence, immigration, and social responsibility through the lens of religious faith more broadly, and the Judeo-Christian tradition more specifically.