219 Hummel St.
Harrisburg, PA 17104-3399
Phone: 717-234-0415
Fax: 1-406-991-7166
E-mail: brethren.com.min@gmail.com
bcmPEACE.org @bcmPEACE /bcmPEACE
bcmPEACE’s Commitment to Inclusion & Anti-Oppression
As a community-based ministry, bcmPEACE welcomes and honors people of all races, ethnicities, gender identities, sexual orientations, religious backgrounds, physical or mental ability, ages, perspective, economic, or immigration status. We stand in solidarity with all of God’s beloved people and affirm their sacredness and dignity.
We, the staff, volunteers, and board of directors of bcmPEACE, confess that we have been complicit in the systemic oppression and institutionalized harm inflicted on our neighbors and marginalized communities.
As an organization founded on God’s shalom here in the inner city, we vow to examine ourselves and address our often-unconscious roles in this oppressive system. We stand with the families of those who have left us due to our nation’s systemic injustice and commit to work harder to change these systems as we find them while standing alongside our siblings yet to be liberated.
We seek peace, understanding that peace is not simply the absence of violence, but the presence of JUSTICE in love.
As a form of our repentance, we acknowledge we are an organization occupying the indigenous land of the Susquehannock and vow to continue our commitment to inclusion and anti-oppression through the following ways:
- We will be more intentional in growing our leadership to better include voices of color and persons on the periphery, including the Board of Directors, volunteers, and our staff.
- We will highlight the Social Justice Library to encourage greater learning of our collective explicit and implicit biases and acts of oppression.
- During our annual budget and strategic plan discussion, we shall make decisions through the lens of anti-oppression. (i.e., budget line item for anti-oppression training, support of persons on the margins, does this budget address our stance on inclusion, etc.)
- In our shared work in Harrisburg City, we will collaborate with and support other diverse congregations and community organizations in their liberation of all peoples from oppression and harm.
- The staff, Board of Directors, and volunteers will commit to attend an anti-racism and anti-oppression training once every three years.
- We will seek to interrogate structural dynamics to empower non-dominant ways of thinking, organizing, and programming.
- We will continue to nurture nonviolence training practices for youth, especially youth of color, through our Agape Satyagraha Program.
- We will continue to work at breaking the cycle of poverty and encourage leadership in our diverse communities through our Pathway to Prosperity Program.
- We will tend to the needs of the community by intentionally partnering with other organizations led by our siblings that may be particularly vulnerable to our current social system.
With this commitment we will hold one another accountable for this work of inclusion and anti-oppression as we recognize the issue of social justice is not singular, but intersectional. To fully pursue shalom, we must move toward this Beloved Community we seek in intentionality and grace.
- bcmPEACE Board of Directors and Staff
