“Justice, and only justice, shall you pursue” is the theme of the 2019 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. This ancient appeal from the scriptures urges us to be focused on the main things: justice, redemption, right relationships. Include the prisoners, the strangers, and the poor in your community; do not be distracted by empty, symbolic actions or hollow promises.
Federal elections provide an opportunity for people of faith to reconsider what their faith commitments have to do with Canadian public life. Faith can provide an enduring vision of hope, a penetrating perspective on justice for all, and deep convictions about community, care for others, a love for creation, solidarity, and service. We need the vision, perspective, and convictions of people of faith to move us beyond partisan promises and postures to genuine solidarity and service with people and the whole inhabited Earth, the oikoumene.
The Canadian Council of Churches offers this guide as a source of reflection for all who are participating in the 2019 federal election. The members of the Canadian Council of Churches have achieved consensus on the priority issues listed here. Each priority issue includes sample questions you can ask of candidates, then lists resources and links where you can learn more. We invite you to use this resource to:
- think through your own election priorities;
- call a group together to prepare for meetings with candidates;
- organize and participate in all-candidates meetings in your riding;
- go deeper into issues you care about and work on them with others; and
- ask questions of your representatives and candidates for office.
The Canadian Council of Churches
Project Ploughshares
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity