Justice in society - Social Justice at Fairlawn - A Journey
Worth Taking
Social justice has been embedded in the life of Fairlawn Avenue United Church
from the very beginning. Our church history, contained in the 2007 Directory,
tells us the following:
“The earliest branch of the Fairlawn family tree was formed as Toronto’s
Second Congregational Church in 1849 [160 years ago] by 25 renegade members
of the city’s first Congregational church who were opposed to slavery.”
Social Justice Vision
Our vision, now an integral part of Fairlawn, encompasses this history and
expands on how we must act as Christians for social justice.
Fairlawn Avenue United Church will be an
inspiring and thriving champion of social justice where the congregation is
passionately engaged in actions which transform society, individual lives and
ourselves as we move toward a just and sustainable world.
Guiding Principles
- Being inspired by the life and teachings of Jesus
- Educating ourselves and others about the root causes of social injustice
- Being active and visible advocates for social and political solutions
- Working in partnership with others to leverage our own efforts and
resources
Background
The Vision of
Social Justice at Fairlawn flows from, and is consistent with, the key documents
of our Church which preceded it, including:
- The Call to Social Justice in
the
Bible
- The Call to Social Justice in
our parent organization The United Church of Canada
- The Covenant that joined
the St James Bond and Fairlawn Heights United Church congregations
- The Constitution of that
new Congregation
- And, finally, the Mission
of that new Congregation
What we want to accomplish
- raise awareness and advocate for poverty reduction including
- decent work,
- livable income,
- healthy food and
- affordable housing
- influence politicians to make
significant progress in poverty reduction
- network with social justice
groups in other congregations
- engage the congregation passionately in
acts of social justice
-
continue our work on affordable housing
-
pursue new interests in poverty reduction
such as Make Poverty History
http://www.makepovertyhistory.ca/ and the ‘25
in 5’ campaign
(the Ontario’s Government’s Poverty Reduction Act 2008 to reduce the
number of children living in poverty by 25% over 5 years)
You can help us by
- joining our working team
- reading these Social Justice web pages
- providing ideas for social justice projects
- bearing witness to social injustice and encouraging others to do the
same
- writing letters to the editor and letters to politicians encouraging
poverty eradicadtion
How to reach us
What we have accomplished so far as a congregation
-
We
adopted poverty reduction as a focus with affordable housing
as a key component. In so doing, Fairlawn Avenue United Church
joins a broad coalition of faith communities and community agencies that are
working together to ensure the Government of Ontario lives up to its
commitment to reduce child poverty by 25% in 5 years.
- We established a foothold in social housing through grants of $ 2.4 million from the sale of St.
James Bond United Church to the Toronto Christian Resource Centre; Fred
Victor Centre; Parkdale United Church's Green Phoenix House and the South West
Affordable Housing Group – all for the construction of new affordable
housing units. We continue to support three out of the four organizations to which we have provided funding for
affordable housing: Toronto Christian Resource Centre; Fred Victor Centre;
and Parkdale Green Phoenix.
- Through the St. James Bond Social Justice Trust Fund, we provided funding for
a CRC staff member and a volunteer to attend a series of advocacy workshops
provided by the Multifaith Coalition on Homelessness and the Wellesley
Institute. We provided funds for a Community Advocate position at CRC and
one at the United Church of Canada. We funded a poverty reduction advocacy group,
Poverty Free Ontario. We continue to consider the best use of these funds in the longer
term.
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Advocacy in Action, working for a Poverty Free Ontario
Building affordable housing at 40 Oaks, Regent Park
2011
Some members of your Social Justice team
Click to see the full
list
From Vision to Action: 2011 and beyond
Priorities for Social Justice at Fairlawn
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