Advocacy - August 2023
Hello friends of CHOA,
Hope you had a good summer. The CHOA team took a break in July, so we are rested and fresh to continue. We are ready. Hope you are ready as well.
We are ramping up with new efforts, and new approaches. Join us as you can. We know this may stretch you. Also, share this with others.
Below is what we are covering in this newsletter:
- Pray for Housing in Arcadia: On Saturday, September 9th, from 6:30pm to 8pm, we are going to come together for a corporate prayer time at Hope International Church (1741 South Baldwin Avenue, Arcadia CA 01997). Join us!
- Advocacy: Why advocate for housing? From a Chrisitan perspective, CHOA wants to remind us all the example of Moses. Does that apply to us here in Arcadia? We will talk to each City Council member over the next 6 months. Consider joining us and speaking to your City Council member.
- Cloth drive for school children across LA County: Consider partnering with Volunteer Collective, and organize your church by putting a box and collecting clothes for kids across LA County. More information is below.
Pray for Housing in Arcadia
From the Christian perspective, we realize God created this earth. God is the true owner of the land. God also moves us all – including our elected leaders – to open their hearts, minds, eyes, and imagination. God can move situations to allow for better housing options in Arcadia. Absolutely!
Join us! Our friends at Hope International Church (at 1741 South Baldwin Avenue, Arcadia) will lead us in their prayer time. We will join their regular monthly Saturday night prayer times, and have the focus on housing. Praying to God is how change occurs.
Here are the key areas of prayer:
- We go before God, to work for those unhoused here in Arcadia.
- We ask God to open doors to make decisions to allow affordable housing to be built here in Arcadia.
- And yes, we pray to God to begin to move the churches and other faith communities in Arcadia to get engaged, to speak, and to act and serve on housing issues right here in Arcadia.
- Lastly, we ask God to continue the efforts already occurring in Arcadia for the unhoused and those on the margins, and to assist and grow the CHOA team.
Join us at this time, or pray individually. A more detailed prayer list can be found in the PDF link below. Also, see the flier further below.
Advocacy
Advocacy is not the most typical way a church works in the community. Most of the time, churches show love, compassion, and mercy towards their neighbors through acts of service. Providing welcome, hospitality, sometimes food and clothing, and sometimes just by spending time and volunteering are ways churches serve. This is great to see.
From the housing perspective, the work needs to go further upstream. Advocacy is upstream from providing services. When we advocate for housing, that allows for housing development to occur. Once the development occurs, then services can be provided. The progression is shown below:
You may wonder: Why should the faith community advocate, on issues like housing? Is that in Scripture at all?
It is! God continually calls people of faith to speak. Mostly, we can see that from the prophets. Moses is probably the best example. Let’s look at 2 places in Scripture, particularly around Moses at the burning bush. In the first excerpt from Exodus Chapter 3, we read that God is concerned about the suffering of his people. There seems no way for change. The Hebrews are locked into slavery in Egypt. God has an alternative solution: 1) freedom from oppressive treatment by the Egyptians, and 2) the promise of land (a home.)
Exodus 3:7-10 (RSV) – God speaking to Moses
7 Then the Lord said, “I have seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters; I know their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Per′izzites, the Hivites, and the Jeb′usites. 9 And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring forth my people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.
Sounds great. Except, this means Moses needs to make a change. He has to change where he lives. He has to change what he is doing right now. He has to go back to Egypt, a place he actually ran away from (read the Chapters 1 and 2 of Exodus to remind you of the back-story.) He internalizes and visualizes what that will mean for him. He is saying, “No way”. Let’s read Moses’ response in Scripture, from Exodus Chapter 4.
Exodus 4:10-14 (RSV) – 2 of many responses from Moses
10 But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either heretofore or since thou hast spoken to thy servant; but I am slow of speech and of tongue.” 11 Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him dumb, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.”
13 But he said, “Oh, my Lord, send, I pray, some other person.” 14 Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses and he said, “Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well; and behold, he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you he will be glad in his heart.
This response is not the only way Moses is trying to politely say, “No thank you”. God is patient, but God is also persistent. God reminds Moses basically, I’m sending you AND I’m providing what you need…and what to say. There is probably a language barrier for Moses, either speaking Hebrew well, and/or Egyptian, or both. God also provides a team for Moses, starting with his brother Aaron. God is able.
Keep in mind, Moses is tasked to speak to the most powerful person in the known region. Pharaoh has armies. Moses has nothing. (OK…Moses has support from God.) Who really wants to do that? What will happen to Moses (and his family)? How does one begin to talk about letting all your slaves go…all your free labor? Moses is advocating to Pharoah that the economy will change. Does Moses think this is worth it? To take the first few steps is definitely an act of faith!
What do we take away from this example of Moses? Does this apply at all to our time, to our situation in housing in Arcadia, and LA County?
Do you think housing is a problem? A large problem? Bigger than yourself? Do you feel you understand the problems of housing, and can provide solutions? It’s big right? I do not think any one person has all what it takes to explain housing, and all the many solutions we need.
Let’s start with our faith in God. The Lord God cares about us, and our neighbors. Do you think God cares about folks struggling with their rent and mortgage payments? Can we imagine that God cares for those currently living unhoused in Arcadia? Are you encouraged there are also others speaking out for better housing in Arcadia? Would you like to speak together with the CHOA team?
In faith, we need to advocate and speak for better housing solutions, here in Arcadia. God has provided us with some tools. There are solutions right here in Arcadia, and the city needs to hear from the members of our faith community in Arcadia. For example, we have a plan to build 1,600 Affordable Housing units here in Arcadia, read the previous newsletters in the CHOA blog, on what the Housing Element is, and what Affordable Housing really is, see the link below, or reply to this email.
In the next 12 or so months, this plan can be made possible by us speaking up at City Council. CHOA in our next newsletter will provide a plan for us all to speak (and email) our City Council members, on what we as a faith community would like to see occur in the next 8 years. Seriously pray and consider to step out in faith, and join us to speak out.
We will speak first with Mayor Pro Tem April Verlato in mid-September, for District 1. Let us know if you would like to join us at that time. After that, we will speak with the other City Council members. We will provide a fuller plan in our next few newsletters. You can contact us at the “Contact Us” web page from our website, see the link below.
Cloth drive for school kids across LA County
Finally, we provide an opportunity to place a collection box at your church to gather clothes for school children across LA County. This is for Volunteer Collective, and the drive will occur in September. Do know, some families in LA are in need, so providing students clothes is one less expense they have, allowing housing to remain an option for them.
Sign up to get a box delivered, or for more information, go to https://bit.ly/3HxbHd8. See the flier below.
Below is what Rick Stoff – the Executive Director of Volunteer Collective – is saying about this “Layer Up” clothe drive:
Your business, faith group or school will love being part of the biggest citywide donation drive in years.
Winter will be here before we know it, and staying warm is a very real issue for many LAUSD students whose families can’t afford enough heat or warm clothing, right here in Los Angeles, and it takes a toll on their children’s learning ability.
We can do something about this.
September 15-25 Volunteer Collective, will provide boxes for donations of new and gently used warm clothing at drop-off points across the city, with an emphasis on houses of worship and businesses. Then, on the weekend of October 14-15th, your staff and their families will be invited to schools in Boyle Heights, Pacoima, and other locations to help sort and distribute donated items
This is a win-win opportunity for all involved! Participating in the Layer Up Drive will help families stay warm and students succeed in school, while we build a more collaborative community.
