SOCIAL JUSTICE
"You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
Mark 12:31
The United Methodist Church has a long history of advocating for social justice. During university, John & Charles Wesley and their Oxford 'Holy Club' visited the local prison and tutored neighborhood children. The early Methodists expressed their opposition to societal ills such as slavery, smuggling, inhumane prison conditions, alcohol abuse, and child labor. Today United Methodists work, march and pray for racial justice, environmental care, and fair treatment for everyone.
Learn how we continue in ministries of justice today and find places where you can serve.
"The United Methodist Church believes God's love for the world is an active and engaged love, a love seeking justice and liberty. We cannot just be observers. So we care enough about people's lives to risk interpreting God's love, to take a stand, to call each of us into a response, no matter how controversial or complex. The church helps us think and act out of a faith perspective, not just respond to all the other 'mind-makers-up' that exist in our society."
Excerpt from The Book of Resolutions of The United Methodist Church 2020/2024. Copyright © 2024 by The United Methodist Publishing House.
First adopted by the 1972 General Conference, the Social Principles document stands in the Wesleyan tradition of forthright moral witness and ethical action. The Social Principles articulate our ethical aspirations for the common good in our public policies and personal commitments. Through them, we seek to love God with our whole heart, mind, soul, and strength and to desire for our neighbors what we desire for ourselves.
"You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
Mark 12:31
The Social Justice Team works towards living into our Strategic Priorities of Missional Outreach and Social Justice. To help educate, disciple, and model ways to transform for the better those people and causes we seek to serve locally, nationally, and internationally.
Currently we partner with Woodlawn Faith UMC in worship and missional exchanges, as well as opportunities that you can find in our weekly newsletter (click the "Subscribe" button, below, to receive our weekly newsletter). We have a Social Justice section in our church library where you can check out books. We are offering tips for Creation Care in our weekly newsletter. Click on the tabs, below, to learn more about the different social justice focus areas at Aldersgate UMC.
Learn more about the Social Principals of the United Methodist Church.
The Social Justice Team comes together every 8-10 weeks to share what we are working on and plan for other ways to engage in our church and community. If you wish to know more, be part of a book and /or Bible study, or to actively participate in one of the above areas, please contact socialjustice@aldersgate.net.
Woodlawn-Faith UMC Partnership
Aldersgate UMC is currently partnering with Woodlawn-Faith UMC in worship and missional exchanges, as well as other events you can learn about here and under Upcoming Events. There are also opportunities to serve with Woodlawn-Faith UMC, such as Food Distribution on Fordson Road and to serve at the Community Gardens at the Grist Mill Park.
Woodlawn-Faith UMC is an African-American congregation in our area. This partnership came out of our work on our Focus 2025 Strategic Priorities. We heard you as our congregation wanting to be more diverse in worship and in engaging with our community.
Upcoming Partnership Events
Woodlawn-Faith Food Distribution
Friday, April 11th | 8:30am - 12:00pm
7730 Fordson Rd, Alexandria, VA 22306, USA
Help pack food boxes for distribution to folks who come to collect food.
Woodlawn-Faith UMC Partnership
Aldersgate UMC is currently partnering with Woodlawn-Faith UMC in worship and missional exchanges, as well as other events you can learn about here and under Upcoming Events. There are also opportunities to serve with Woodlawn-Faith UMC, such as Food Distribution on Fordson Road and to serve at the Community Gardens at the Grist Mill Park.
Woodlawn-Faith UMC is an African-American congregation in our area. This partnership came out of our work on our Focus 2025 Strategic Priorities. We heard you as our congregation wanting to be more diverse in worship and in engaging with our community.
Upcoming Partnership Events
Woodlawn-Faith Food Distribution
Friday, April 11th | 8:30am - 12:00pm
7730 Fordson Rd, Alexandria, VA 22306, USA
Help pack food boxes for distribution to folks who come to collect food.