Rio Texas Methodist Federation for Social Action

The October meeting of the Rio Texas MFSA will take place virtually on Thursday, October 13 beginning at 7:00pm CST.  We will have two speakers, representing two current social justice issues: (1) LGBTQ+ rights, and (2) Poverty.

Nancy Mossman will speak on behalf of the Reconciling Ministries Network (RMN).  Nancy is the coordinator for the Rio Texas RMN Team.  In addition to coordinating the team’s presence at the Rio Texas Annual Conference, she also supports Rooted & Rising, another ministry of the Rio Texas Reconciling Ministries Team.  The goal is to provide a safe space for spiritual growth and community to United Methodists who are seeking an open and affirming spiritual community and do not have one in their local context.  This program provides a tailored spiritual gathering with prayers, music, storytelling, scripture, mission emphasis and community building opportunities.  This is an evolving ministry, reflecting the needs of the community.  This program is affiliated with the Reconciling Ministries Network at rmnetwork.org and our Facebook page is Rooted & Rising: Queer Rio Texas UMs & Allies.

The Austin Poor People’s Campaign (the local iteration of the national Poor People’s Campaign headed by Rev. William Barber) will be represented by Jim Crosby.  Jim founded Nonviolent Austin four years ago as part of the national Campaign Nonviolence and their Nonviolent Cities Project (www.paceebene.org). Their goal is to build a culture of peace, including putting an end to war, poverty, racism, and environmental destruction.  Around the same time, he read The Third Reconstruction, by Rev. William Barber, co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign (PPC). The goals of the two organizations, Campaign Nonviolence and the PPC, overlapped almost exactly.  When Jim heard a year and a half ago that the Poor People’s Campaign had organized a march from Georgetown to Austin, based on the historic 1965 Selma to Montgomery march, he signed up.  Since that time he has worked with the Texas PPC faith leaders group, hosting a weekly Thursday night Zoom study of the book We Cry Justice: Reading the Bible with the Poor People’s Campaign.  Jim retired in June of 2020 after 27 years of teaching and serving as Lay Chaplain at St. Stephen’s Episcopal School, Austin. Transitioning from academic to activist, he’s found himself now, in retirement, busier than ever! His heart is in training others in classical Gandhian/Kingian nonviolence. As you join this zoom call, we ask each caller to MUTE themselves, unless the caller is part of the program.  You will be prompted to unmute whenever we get to Q&A time.

To join the Zoom meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87823580342?pwd=YzI4czAyTzN1RHdlbkdweStRQ3RQZz09