Serve & Advocate
Racial Justice
Our commitment and our resources are deep.
United Women in Faith is deeply committed to the ongoing work of racial justice. We strive to be in right relationship with one another; we work together for the transformation of church and world, following the teaching and example of Jesus Christ.
Charter for Racial Justice in an Interdependent Global Community
Because we believe:
- That God is the Creator of all people, and all are God’s children in one family;
- That racism is a rejection of the teachings of Jesus Christ;
- That racism denies the redemption and reconciliation of Jesus Christ;
- That racism robs all human beings of their wholeness and is used as a justification for social, economic, environmental and political exploitation;
- That we must declare before God and before one another that we have sinned against our sister and brothers of other races in thought, in word and in deed;
- That in our common humanity in creation, all women and men are made in God’s image, and all persons are equally valuable in the sight of God;
- That our strength lies in our racial and cultural diversity and that we must work toward a world in which each person’s value is respected and nurtured;
- That our struggle for justice must be based on new attitudes, new understandings and new relationships, and must be reflected in the laws, policies, structures and practices of both church and state;
We commit ourselves as individuals and as a community to follow Jesus Christ in word and in deed, and to struggle for the rights and the self-determination of every person and group of persons.
Therefore,
as United Methodists in every place across the land, we will unite our efforts within the church to take the following actions:
- Eliminate all forms of institutional racism in the total ministry of the church, giving special attention to those institutions that we support, beginning with their employment policies, purchasing practices, environmental policies and availability of services and facilities.
- Create opportunities in local churches to deal honestly with the existing racist attitudes and social distance between members, deepening the Christian commitment to be the church where all racial groups and economic classes come together.
- Increase efforts to recruit people of all races into the membership of The United Methodist Church and provide leadership development opportunities without discrimination.
- Establish workshops and seminars in local churches to study, understand and appreciate the historical and cultural contributions of each race to the church and community.
- Raise local churches’ awareness of the continuing needs for equal education, housing, employment, medical care and environmental justice for all members of the community, and to create opportunities to work for these things across racial lines.
- Work for the development and implementation of national and international policies to protect the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of all people such as through support of the ratification of United Nations covenants on human rights.
- Support and participate in the worldwide struggle for liberation in church and community.
- Facilitate nomination and election processes that include all racial groups by employing a system that prioritizes leadership opportunities of people from communities that are disproportionately impacted by the ongoing legacy of racial injustice, and use measures to align our vision for racial justice with actions that accelerate racial equality.
Sign up for important news and updates in our racial justice newsletter.
To learn more about our racial justice work, we invite you to:
- See a time line of important moments in racial justice history.
- Read our Charter for Racial Justice.
- Meet the Racial Justice Charter Support Team.
- Join our Interrupt the School-to-Prison Pipeline campaign.
- Visit our e-store for more racial justice resources
- Watch the video: Never Give Up – Cynthia and Michelle’s Faithful Fight Against Mass Incarceration
United Women in Faith first adopted the “Charter of Racial Policies” in 1952. We worked on ratification at multiple levels of the organization and readopted an updated version in 1962. Throughout the years, we lobbied the United Methodist Church to officially adopt the Charter, seeking to bring its commitments to the full body of the church. The Charter was first received by the General Conference in 1964and first included in the Book of Resolutions in 1980. Since then, it has been updated and readopted regularly by delegates to General Conference. From the 1950s to the present, the Charter has been a core part of our identity.
Racial Justice Charter Support Team
In January 2016, the Racial Justice Charter Support Team (RJCS) convened for the first time. The team was created to help give Racial Justice Charter committees the concrete tools to meet the urgent internal & external racial justice needs they face on a daily basis. The RJCS Team consists of 2-3 person cross-racial teams in each jurisdiction. E-mail Emily Jones at ejones@uwfaith.org to be connected with the RJCS Team in your jurisdiction.
Contact the office of
Racial Justice
Emily Jones,
Executive for Racial Justice
Email: ejones@uwfaith.org
United Women in Faith
Church Center for the United Nations
777 United Nations Plaza, 11th Floor
New York, NY 10017
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