• Who We Are
    • Who We Are
    • Mission
    • History
    • General Synod
    • Leadership and Ministry
    • Staff
    • United Church of Christ Board
  • What We Believe
    • What We Believe
    • Worship Ways
    • Daily Devotional
  • What We Do
    • What We Do
    • Office of the General Minister & President
    • Justice & Local Church Ministries
    • Wider Church Ministries
  • News
  • Church Finder
  • Donate Now
  • Search
UCC Logo United Church of Christ
  • Church Finder
  • Events
  • Contact
  • Store
  • Frontline Faith Portal
  • Donate Now
  • Search
  • Who We Are
    • Column
      • About
        • Mission
        • Constitution and Bylaws
        • History
          • UCC Archives
        • UCC Brand Guidelines
        • General Synod
          • Synod 33 Worship Videos
          • Past General Synods
        • Abuse Prevention
    • Column
      • Structure
        • Conferences
        • Affiliated Ministries
          • The Pension Boards
          • Cornerstone Fund
          • Insurance Board
          • The Council for Health and Human Services Ministries
          • Church Building & Loan Fund
          • Convergence
    • Column
      • Team
        • Elected Officers
        • Staff
        • United Church of Christ Board
          • Board Minutes
        • Office of General Counsel
        • UCCOSSN
    • Column
      • Career Opportunities
      • Annual Reports
  • What We Believe
    • Column
      • Worship
        • Statement of Faith of the United Church of Christ – La Declaración de Fe de la Iglesia Unida de Cristo
        • Worship Ways
        • Daily Devotional
        • Sermon Seeds
  • How We Serve
    • Column
      • Office of the General Minister & President
        • Welcome to Human Resources
          • Employee Relations Resources
        • Center for Analytics, Research & Development and Data (CARDD)
          • General CARDD FAQs
          • About The Center for Analytics, Research & Development, and Data (CARDD)
          • Authorized Minister Opt Out
          • Access UCC
          • Archived Reports
          • Assessment Resources
          • Information Policies and Requests
          • Faith Communities Today (FACT) Survey
          • MissionInsite
          • Statistics and Reports
          • Vital Signs and Statistics Blog
          • Data Hub FAQs
          • Data Hub
          • Yearbook and Directory
    • Column
      • Justice & Local Church Ministries
        • Justice
          • Faithful Action Ministries
            • Environmental Justice Ministries
            • Economic Justice
            • Racial Justice
          • Office of Public Policy & Advocacy in Washington D.C.
            • Justice and Peace Action Network
            • Our Faith Our Vote
            • Justice Training Resources
            • Action Center
          • Health and Wholeness Advocacy
            • Disabilities and Mental Health Justice
            • Encuentros Latinx
            • UCC HIV & AIDS Network-UCAN
            • LGBTQ Ministries
            • Our Whole Lives
            • Overdose and Drug Use Ministries
            • Scouting
            • Wellness Ministries
          • The Pilgrim Press & Stillspeaking Publications
    • Column
      • Justice & Local Church Ministries
        • Local Church
          • The Faith Education, Innovation and Formation (Faith INFO)Team
            • Weekly Seeds
            • Youth & Young Adults
          • Worship Resources
            • Worship Ways
            • Sermon Seeds
            • Synod 33 Worship Videos
            • Music and Liturgical Arts
          • Stewardship & Generosity Resources
          • Ministerial Excellence, Support & Authorization (MESA)
            • History, Polity, and Theology
            • Search and Call
            • Ministerial Profiles
            • Ministry Opportunities
            • Manual on Ministry
    • Column
      • Wider Church Ministries
        • Global Ministries
        • Global H.O.P.E.
          • Volunteer Ministries
          • Refugee and Migration Ministries
          • Disaster Ministries
          • Recovering Hope
        • Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations
  • Resources
  • News
    • Column
      • News
        • United Church of Christ News
    • Column
      • Columns
        • Witness for Justice
        • Into the Mystic
        • Getting to the Root of It
        • The Pollinator: UCC Environmental Justice Blog
        • UCC Roots
        • Encounters at the Well
        • Reflexiones
    • Column
      • Upcoming Events
        • Webinars
      • Subscriptions at the United Church of Christ
      • Changes & Deaths
  • Giving
    • Column
      • Donate Now
      • Ways to Give
        • Giving Tuesday
        • Disaster Ministries: How to Give
        • Our Church’s Wider Mission
          • Our Church’s Wider Mission Basic Support
          • Strengthen the Church
          • One Great Hour of Sharing
          • Neighbors in Need
          • Christmas Fund
          • 5 for 5
    • Column
      • Ways We Give
        • Scholarships & Grants

  • Home
  • News
  • Column
  • Witness for Justice
  • Celebrating the Unsung Heroes and Breaking Down Boxes
Witness for Justice

Celebrating the Unsung Heroes and Breaking Down Boxes

by Katie Adams | published on Apr 6, 2023

I want to buy a big bouquet of flowers for every person who has scheduled a hard-to-schedule meeting. And name a boulevard for each person who keeps track of the action items and next steps on a big project. I want to celebrate the note takers. The Excel sheet makers. The calculate how many slices of pizza we need figure-out-ers. I want to talk about the people who make up the infrastructure of the good work of justice and who often are the architects of the work but rarely the recipients of accolades. I bet right now you can think of those folks in your congregation. The work of making sure that the signs are printed, that someone has proofread the church bulletin or double-checked the protest route and gotten permits. This work can often be tedious and goes under the radar, but it is essential to what we do as people of faith working and yearning for a just world.

I also don’t want to get lost the idea that in advocacy spaces we’re being thoughtful and careful about not putting people into boxes. We’re deep in our patriarchal, white supremacist society, which means we must be mindful of who is doing the caretaking and administrative tasks. I work in coalitions a lot, which means everyone is doing all the jobs. But that also means that people who present as female are often taking notes, scheduling meetings, and keeping the coalitions moving on. This shows up time and again. As people of faith, we are offered such a gift in imagining a just world restored, and our commitment to justice and compassion should be reflected internally and externally. How does this show up in your organizations or congregations? Are we doing a good enough job not only celebrating that behind the scenes work but being equitable about its distribution and burden.

As the policy advocate for domestic policy issues in the Washington Office, I get to see both sides of this story, the massive work that goes into planning advocacy and the inspirational and life-giving work that plays out for all to see. Each person’s role in advocacy is critical and valued—but I don’t often see that articulated out loud. When people come to ask how they can engage in advocacy, I want to make sure we’re talking about the many and varied ways they can make a difference in the advocacy space. Whether it be using a bullhorn, compiling an Excel tracking sheet, writing a poem, calling and writing legislators, or birddogging them on congressional recess, your voice is important, and I don’t want that to get lost. Whatever skill you have is needed and important and deeply valued. Are you especially skilled at making cold calls? A walking thesaurus? Is one of your spiritual gifts coming up with fun yet not too corny icebreakers? Are there some drag queens in your congregation who can be a part of your Easter cantata? The list, and the need, goes on…

When we all work in concert with each other, it’s astonishing what can be done—just look around. But we all know the work of advocacy is long and we need to shore one another up in the journey. As we celebrate Easter and the renewal of hope it brings, let’s borrow some of that holy imagining to make our holy spaces and faithful places ones of celebration for profound prayers and also really well-made coffee. Let’s join together to make sure that we’re not sticking to the same way things have always been done by putting people in societally restrictive boxes. Because at the end of the day, imagining a just world for all starts with imagining that world for ourselves.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Katie Adams is the Policy Advocate for Domestic Issues for the United Church of Christ.

View this and other columns on the UCC’s Witness for Justice page.
Donate to support Witness for Justice.
Click here to download the bulletin insert.

Categories: Column Witness for Justice

Sign Up For Our Newsletter








Privacy Policy






Related News

Witness for Justice
Witness for Justice

The Road to Activism

I confess that throughout my life as an evolving queer organizer, I haven’t always been...

Read More
The Pollinator: UCC Environmental Justice Blog

Successful Movements

Not that many years ago both churches and social movements dived into figuring out how to make...

Read More
Witness for Justice
Witness for Justice

Tug of War

Over the past month, our nation has been anxiously watching the “debt ceiling” tug of war...

Read More
  • Column
    • Local Church and Conference Resource Directory
    • Mission
    • Justice & Local Church Ministries
    • Wider Church Ministries
    • General Synod Resolutions
    • How can I find local churches near me? Click here!
  • Column
    • Contact
    • News
    • Store

Content on ucc.org is copyrighted by the National Setting of the United Church of Christ and may be only shared according to the guidelines outlined here.

1300 E. 9th Street, Suite 1100
Cleveland, Ohio 44114

  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Follow us on Instagram
  • Subscribe on YouTube

Donate Now


UCC Crest
© United Church of Christ 2023. Privacy Policy.
Crafted by Cornershop Creative