Over the past few years there has been an effort in Bellevue to update the regulatory environment surrounding homelessness, especially around supporting the construction of a year round shelter. The Church Council of Greater Seattle had already been doing work around encampments on church properties with the homeless community and Temple B’Nai Torah, and more recently with Temple De Hirsch Sinai.
Ongoing in Bellevue, the Church Council provides leadership, staffing, research and energy to organize an interfaith presence at City Council deliberations – and behind the scenes.
The reality of time and energy demands on many congregations preclude each doing it’s part alone. Though we may seem at times to be separated by definitions of faith, all faiths have basically the same concerns for the quality of how we live on this world together. It is imperative in my mind that we not only need each other but that we speak our shared values for the greater good of our communities and those who need our help. The focus and energy that the Church Council can bring to these issues makes us all able to participate.
Trish Rogers, Newport Presbyterian