POWER Metro Continues to Evolve

In February of 2016 POWER Metro was born at a convening congress of faith communities at Trinity Lutheran Church in Lansdale; many members of GPC attended, our faith community being a founding member of this four county, multifaith, interracial social justice organization.  POWER Metro is an offshoot of POWER (Philadelphians Organized to Witness, Empower and Rebuild, an organization that formed in 2009, becoming a local affiliate of the national organization Faith In Action (once known as PICO).  Since 2009, POWER has expanded to beyond Philadelphia as POWER faith communities throughout the state are forming. As part of a ten year perspective, POWER is carrying out a listening campaign (1000 1:1’s in two months), looking at how they are viewed in faith communities that have been supportive.  GPC is part of that listening initiative as some members of the congregation will be asked to share their understanding of the role of POWER and POWER Metro in the life of our congregation and community.

Gladwyne Church’s financial support and engagement has been steady throughout POWER Metro’s early years.  There has been an evolution of working together as four counties (Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery) on issues. Connecting the work of faith communities in four counties on issues was too unwieldy. although certain issues require statewide coordination, such as the educational funding initiative. Therefore, POWER Metro has moved to structuring itself into geographic clusters within each of the four counties. In the beginning of 2019 the Main Line Cluster of POWER Metro came into being.  Now in its infancy, we are working to knit together faith communities along the Main Line to work on issues of racism and social justice. 

Stay tuned as POWER Metro-Main Line Cluster works to identify key issues of social justice upon which faith communities along the Main Line can unite. Developing relationships with faith communities along the Main Line is a priority, therefore initiatives that encourage such relationships are one’s that POWER Metro-Main Line Cluster wish to support.

HEADS UP:  Stay tuned for news to have you help by calling or writing during the week of October 7-11 to encourage State Representative Curt Sonney, Chair of the Education Committee in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, to have a public hearing on the issue of state education funding that he promised on June 12 when he was confronted by members of POWER and POWER Metro (ask Bruce MacCullough to tell his story 😉