The Board is guided by Rock Spring’s Just Peace Statement and Open & Affirming Statement and has two purposes:
International Priorities:
Internationally, the Board has prioritized the issue of peace in zones of conflict, with a special emphasis on seeking peace in Iraq, The Sudan, and Colombia. Additionally, Rock Spring is an active member in the National Religious Campaign to Ban Torture, seeking to ensure that our government never engages in torture.
State and National Priorities:
The Board’s national and state priority is immigration, with particular emphasis on immigration issues facing Northern Virginia.
Community Priorities:
Rock Spring will continue to support a wide range of community organizations and activities, including Arlington Interfaith Council, the Potomac Association, Shaw Ministries and other organizations of historical special interest to Rock Spring. The Board’s primary activity is to support an Iraqi family in Arlington
In addition, the Social Action Board identified three areas of special concern and interest to Rock Spring that cut across the geographic priorities listed above, including: eco-justice & open and affirming/marriage equality.
Join our Sub-Committees
Members and friends of Rock Spring are invited to join any one of the following five sub-committees, all of which operate under the oversight of the Board of Social Action:
• Sub-committee on international issues, focusing this year on (1) the campaign to ban torture and (2) peace in zones of conflict, including Iraq, The Sudan
and Colombia
• Sub-committee on state and national issues, focusing on immigration
• Sub-committee on local issues, focusing on support to an Iraqi refugee family
• Eco-Justice Committee
• Open & Affirming Committee
Sub-Committee on International Issues
The Campaign To Ban Torture
Rock Spring believes that torture is incompatible with God’s message of love and compassion for all. Rock Spring is a member of both the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) and the Washington Region Religious Campaign Against Torture (WRRCAT). Rock Spring commemorated Torture Awareness Month in June by displaying a banner reading “Torture is a Moral Issue.” The Board is also hosting an open forum on U.S. sponsored torture in September.
International Peace
Tents of Hope for the People of Sudan -- A Journey of Compassion and Peace with the Refugees of Darfur, Sudan: The Youth of Rock Spring (YORS) and the Social Action Board are working together in this community-based effort to draw awareness and action to the genocide taking place in Darfur, Sudan. As part of this initiative, we will decorate and raise a tent on our church grounds this spring. The tent will be used as a venue for educating our congregation and community and raising funds for humanitarian relief in Sudan and Chad. Our decorated tent will join hundreds of tents from over 35 states and 4 countries on the Mall in Washington DC in a national week-end event in early November to advocate for stronger US policies and action in Sudan. We will also sell 1’ by 1’ squares of tent canvas for Rock Spring members to decorate. These squares will be sent to Darfur where they will be sewn into tents to provide shelter and hope to a family in need. Stay tuned for more details.
Colombia: Rock Spring is partnering with church leaders in Colombia working for peace. In April, the Board of Social Action and individual members and friends of Rock Spring signed a letter to members of Congress, asking them to reconsider military aid to, and aerial fumigation in, Colombia and cut them back.
Sub-Committee on State and National Issues
Immigration
The Board of Social Action plans to work with other organizations in the area on immigration issues.
Sub-Committee on Local Issues
Sponsorship of an Iraqi Refugee family:
Since December 2007, Rock Spring Church has participated in a refugee ministry, working intensively with an Iraqi refugee family as well as with other Iraqi refugees. All of these individuals have entered the country on special parole visas, awarded to individuals and their families who have worked in some way with the United States and whose lives were in danger in Iraq. This category of refugees includes translators, embassy workers, and many others. The people in our group were granted asylum in June. Together with the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington and Langley Hill Friends Meeting, Rock Spring has helped to supply home goods for nearly 20 people, including two babies in five apartments.
One family has been provided housing through Rock Spring Church. With help from other churches, we have provided this family with many additional services—providing rides, identifying medical and dental support, purchasing grocery food cards, coaching adults on job hunting, and facilitating contact with children’s schools. We are continually reminded that while peace appears elusive in the world at large, our care and support is making peace in a small and tangible way. For information on how you can help, please contact the Social Action Board at: socialaction@rockspringucc.org.
Committee on Eco-Justice
Please click here for more information on Rock Spring's Eco-Justice Committee.
Open and Affirming Committee
For information on the activities of this committee on marriage equality and Rock Spring, please go to the Open & Affirming section of the web page by clicking here.
