The Jewish Community and CHANGE…

This year, as I walked in the annual march to remember the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I stood side-by-side with fellow clergy, community leaders, and engaged citizens. So many of those present on that day are members of CHANGE and I was reminded of the power of coalition building, creating relationships, and working for justice. It was through the same values that CHANGE holds dear that the civil rights agenda was advanced in the 1950s and 1960s to create the kind of change our country so desperately needed at that time. Our challenge today is to investigate the issues and the parts of our community where injustice and a lack of civility still reside. CHANGE is a wonderful meeting ground and organization through which all of us – clergy, community leaders, concerned citizens – can meet, discuss, and organize to make our community strong, safe, and vibrant. As a very small minority, the Jewish community is particularly aware of what it means to be on the outside. Perhaps as a result of being such a small number, we are all the more so committed and vocal about the need for the values commanded to us through our sacred scriptures: for love, peace, harmony, and justice.

May we build our community together as neighbors who empower one another to promote good things for everyone.

Rabbi Mark Strauss-Cohn

Temple Emanuel

The Muslim Community and CHANGE…

The racial and ethnic diversity of Winston-Salem’s Muslim community mirrors the demographic

composition of the city. CHANGE is the only social advocacy group in Winston-Salem that addresses the myriad of multifaceted issues that are germane to the general community and the Islamic faith community in particular. CHANGE provides the Muslim community with another viable outlet to demonstrate an assertive Islamic involvement in the life of the larger community of which we are a part.

The organizational style of CHANGE facilitates the development and training of grassroots leadership. This process facilitates leadership within the Muslim community while contributing to the reservoir of leaders whose skills are honed and utilized in various sectors of community involvement.

CHANGE affords a mutually beneficial opportunity for interaction for the city’s faith, activist, and Muslim communities in an atmosphere of respect and cooperation. These kind of relationships may otherwise seldom be developed, if at all. CHANGE’s focus of galvanizing the local faith community’s physical and human resources to better the quality of life for all residents of our city is consistent with the mission of Islam and our local Muslim community.

Winston-Salem is enriched by the work of CHANGE. The Muslim community is enriched and enhanced by CHANGE. Muslim involvement in CHANGE is not just a good idea; it is a religious and social imperative.

Imam Khalid Fattah Griggs

Community Mosque of Winston-Salem

The Christian Community and CHANGE…

We Christians demonstrate that we know God through expressing our love to one another (1 John 4:7-16).  The love which we express is certainly not selfish love or erotic love.  It is love grounded in the way that God has disclosed his love toward us in Christ.  God loves us through Christ neither because we first loved God nor because we warrant God’s love.  The love of God goes beyond mundane considerations.  Our duty as Christians is to love in the same manner that God has conveyed love redemptively to us in Jesus Christ.  This is why the confession of faith in Christ includes a commitment to love others as God in Christ has loved us.

This commitment to love others as God in Christ has loved us is what brings Christians like me into relationship with CHANGE.  Moreover, to love one another is more than a sentiment.  One cannot confront and challenge evil with sentimentality. Evil has many forms and is a perennial struggle, and that is one of the reasons why there has to be collectivity.

It is fitting that CHANGE is an organization that organizes and mobilizes to keep our community accountable because we are being held accountable by God to love one another.

Since we have this ministry we must be engaged in the affairs of the world that impact all our brothers and sisters.  CHANGE is the kind of ministry that has startlingly kept Jesus relevant throughout history.  Does this mean that Christians get involved with politics?  The answer is unequivocally, yes!  Why? Because public education, public health, public housing and public policy have a political dimension.  Loving one another produces hope and there could be more hope if the people of God would live out their calling in public affairs.  Our relationship with CHANGE helps us understand the intricacies of the political process. Together, Christians and organizations like CHANGE can educate the public on the issues, thereby enabling them to gain power.

I have said many times that Christians have power, but their power must be used for good.  In fact, as Christians we can never be interested in power without goodness and goodness without power. Our relationship with CHANGE helps us to live out our power for good.

If we are to live out our Christian responsibility (love one another as Christ has loved us), then we must be about our Father’s business. We must partner with organizations like CHANGE to promote and produce nonmarket values of love, care, and service that run counter to cultural values such as maximizing personal preferences and profits.  It is my great hope that many Christians in our city will join me and help to foster a relationship with CHANGE to make a loving difference in the lives of all of our citizens.

Rev. Darryl Aaron

First Baptist Church- Highland Avenue