As spring gave way to summer, the United States and the World were grappling with the legacy of systemic racism and violence under the shadow of a crippling pandemic. These are issues the Compassion, Peace & Justice (CPJ) ministries of the Presbyterian Mission Agency have dealt with for years. The July Justice & Peace monthly looks at ways the CPJ ministries have worked to guide the church through these days and joined the call for justice.

U.S. immigrants are keenly aware that there is a difference between what the United States promises — the American Dream — and what many immigrants experience each day.

"One of the things that the pandemic is exposing are all these pockets of chronic poverty and how chronic poverty creates even further gaps in the system, and when we see those gaps in the system I think that God’s Holy Spirit compels us to act."

The Presbyterian Committee on Mission Responsibility Through Investment (MRTI) has signed onto a statement calling for the investment community to help put an end to systemic racism and foster racial equity and justice.

Global Christian leaders, including the Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations, called on the United Nations Human Rights Council to create a Commission of Inquiry into the death of George Floyd and systemic racism and police brutality in the U.S.

A little under a year after it launched, the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program’s gun violence prevention webinar series concluded last month with a discussion about domestic violence. The entire series is available as a resource on the Peacemaking Program’s website.

The Matthew 25 invitation was officially launched in April of 2019. Over a year later there are more than 530 churches, groups and mid councils that have made the commitment to become a Matthew 25 church and work towards building congregational vitality, dismantling structural racism and eradicating systemic poverty.