I’m Adam and I’m pleased to introduce myself as the newest addition to the Joint Public Issues Team. I will be joining as the Advocacy Coordinator within the Methodist Church to help the JPIT churches amplify their impact and bring about a more just and peaceful world.
In 2023, I sat in a large hall in Paris watching as delegates from almost every country in the world argued over how best to solve the global plastic pollution crisis.
Until this point the voices of those who were most severely impacted by the effects of plastic pollution in their daily lives, those living in poverty and those working as informal waste pickers, had been mostly absent. These were the people I was there to support, but their calls for inclusion seemed to be falling on the deaf ears of those in positions of power.
Towards the end of the week of negotiations, feeling disappointed by the pace of progress and unsure exactly how my Christian faith played a role in such a sanitized, legalistic setting, I found myself sitting next to an unassuming woman. As we both sighed and scoffed as several countries – who just happened to benefit economically from the plastic industry – sought to block progress, we realised we might be on the same page and began chatting.
I introduced myself by saying that I worked for a Christian international development agency and she, to my surprise, said she was a Sister of St. Joseph, a centuries old congregation of Catholic women committed to social and environmental justice. We were two Christians from different countries, generations and church traditions but from two organisations that sought to represent the voices of Christians from across the world in their call for justice.
In my different advocacy roles I have seen, across geographies and cultures, in places that can at times feel devoid of any kind of spirituality, Christians, as well as followers of other faiths, working hard to make the world a fairer, safer place out of a deep conviction that their faith compels them to take action.
It is in this spirit of ecumenical justice work that I join JPIT. As we see the Christian faith being wielded to excuse unjust systems and actions around the world, it’s more important than ever that we make sure the radical love and unfailing faithfulness of our God are boldly stated and we do what we can in order to bring about a world that more closely matches these ideals.
Those negotiations on plastic pollution are still ongoing, but thanks to the contribution of many campaigners and some supportive country delegates, many more countries vocally support measures that would make the world a more clean and less dangerous place for waste pickers and those living in poverty.
I didn’t grow up in the church but my maternal grandparents were Quakers, in fact my nearly 100-year-old grandmother still is. My grandfather, who passed away years before I was born, was remembered in his Testimony (a kind of spiritual obituary for Quakers) with Micah 6:8:
“He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”
If that’s how my spiritual life story is summarised when my time comes, I’d be content.