Susan Orr came to her first Ecumenical Advocacy Days in 2013, and the past several years, she’s been loading up the van with friends and colleagues in April to make the eight-hour drive from Rochester, New York, to Washington, D.C.
“In 2015, I said, ‘I’m going back. Who wants to come with me?’ ” Orr said Sunday night, after the closing plenary for Advocacy Days 2019. “There were about four of us that time, but it just keeps growing. This year, we have a group of seven — one pastor, six ruling elders representing six of our congregations.
“I can’t even put into words what these types of conferences allow for,” said Orr, presbyter for healthy congregations and stated clerk for the Presbytery of Genesee Valley. “When people think of advocacy, they think of people marching in the streets. That’s the sort of thing that makes a lot of Presbyterians uncomfortable. So, it’s helping people understand what advocacy is, and giving them the tools to help them do the work.
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“The forefront of social movements has been people of faith, just like yourselves,” said the Rev. Adam R. Taylor of Sojourners, who shared a Saturday morning plenary speaking spot with Ana Garcia-Ashley of the Gamaliel Foundation.