United to Love witnesses to justice
Hate divides. Love unites.
That’s the utterly simple and completely complex message that the members of the 241st session of the Baltimore-Washington Conference are proclaiming.
Amid a recent flood of presidential executive orders, a national wave of intolerance, and the rolling back of measures of justice, United Methodists in the Baltimore-Washington Conference are speaking out.
“We must rise together to meet this moment,” said the Rev. Stacey Cole Wilson, executive minister of Beloved Justice.
Cole Wilson unveiled a new Area-wide initiative, with Love Unites at its center, on May 14 during the Annual Conference session. The campaign will provide resources to local churches to make a public witness to a shared belief in dignity, justice, and collective liberation.
“United Methodists don’t cower,” said Bishop LaTrelle Easterling. “We stand and we make our voices heard and known.”
The Hate Divides, Love Unites initiative offers “a strategic missional response to the evils we deplore,” the bishop said. It is grounded, in part, by the Council of Bishop’s Statement on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
Reading from a statement that introduces the initiative, Cole Wilson said, “Across this nation, we are witnessing a rising tide of injustice: the unjust firings of public servants committed to truth, the arrests, criminalization of marginalized communities, cruel and unjust deportations that tear families apart, and the stripping of life-sustaining budgets from schools, healthcare, and housing. We grieve the resurgence of book bans that silence essential stories, the attacks on civil rights protections hard-won by previous generations, the rollbacks of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion commitments, and the escalating assaults on our LGBTQIA+ siblings. We also denounce resistance to environmental protections and climate justice that endangers God’s creation and frontline communities.
“These actions are not isolated. They are coordinated, deliberate, and deeply dangerous,” Cole Wilson said. “We say enough. … We refuse to be silent.”
To help churches share the message of how love unites, the conference is offering free banners and lawn signs to churches. Learn more.
Churches can also sign-up for campaign resources for worship, small groups, and community events and join a network of congregations taking faithful stands against injustice in all its forms.
Congregations are also encouraged to:
- Conduct teach-ins exposing the harm of unjust firings, book bans, rollbacks, deportations, civil rights violations, and climate inaction in accordance with the Book of Discipline and Book of Resolutions.
- Host public vigils, prayer walks, and interfaith services to uplift impacted communities and proclaim hope.
- Mobilize congregations to contact legislators and show up at school boards and city councils.
- Support those facing arrest, deportation, censorship, or public discrimination with legal aid, pastoral care, and public solidarity.
- Advocate for inclusive education, environmental justice, civil rights protections, and care for all God’s children.
- Connect with missionally aligned coalitions, hubs, and community advocates across race, faith, gender identity, sexuality, class, and geography to protect and expand sacred justice work.
While some people might view this initiative as political, Bishop Easterling assured the members that their witness echoes the teachings of Jesus, who in Luke 4:18-19 quoted Isaiah’s call to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free and proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
“Jesus Christ spoke truth to power and that is all that we are doing,” the bishop said. “This is not political; this is our baptismal vows.”