Current Issue

Uniting, Deliberating, Advocating

War, hunger, poverty, and ecological degradation. These are just some of the reasons we support Kairos.

As an ELCIC member, it’s important for you to know which organizations you’re supporting, what they do to advance the mission of the church, and how they do it. That’s why, over the past few years, we’ve featured some of our long-standing partners on the cover of Canada Lutheran.

Chances are you’re familiar with the name “Kairos Canada,” but I wonder how much you really know about the nature and scope of the organization’s work here in Canada and around the world. This issue we’re inviting you to learn more about this vital partner in mission.

Just as you know Canadian Lutheran World Relief as the ELCIC’s relief and development partner, I want you to think of Kairos as your vehicle for social change. This organization—a coalition of churches and religious organizations working together for justice—is at the forefront of preserving dignity, human rights, and ecological responsibility, among other things. Rather than providing an emotional knee-jerk response to injustice, Kairos favours an informed and measured approach.

For example, in its “countries of concern” (Palestine and Israel, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Colombia, and the Philippines), Kairos examines the external forces shaping and sustaining the regional conflicts, political crisis, sexual violence, and poverty it hopes to abate.

In northern Canada, team members are listening to their Inuit, First Nations, and Métis sisters and brothers who testify that climate change is endangering their cultures and livelihoods.

In communities across the nation, Kairos staff members are facilitating workshops on the topic of peace in the Middle East. And in Ottawa, as part of the Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability, Kairos is advocating for legislation that would hold Canadian corporations accountable for abuses committed internationally. It’s an organization that is helping to build social movements and give the most vulnerable in our society a voice.

Our cover story on page 10 will help explain in greater detail the work Kairos undertakes with our cooperation and support. Whether the organization is conducting research on climate change or marching on Parliament Hill, the end goal remains the same: to bring about social transformation in order to create a more just, peaceful, and sustainable world. In other words, to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:8.)

Lucia Carruthers, Editor