NC Bishops offer letter in support of education

Dear United Methodist friends,

Grace and peace to you in the name of Jesus Christ.

We are deeply committed across North Carolina to the education of all children, to the support of teacher and administrators, and to stronger funding for public education.  

At the 2016 Sessions of the North Carolina and the Western North Carolina Conferences, we voted overwhelmingly to be energetic advocates for public schools.  Together we engage directly in public schools through C4C (Congregations for Children) and we work for support of our public schools through UMAPS (United Methodists Advocating for Public Schools).  (LINK to resolution passed here)

As the members of the General Assembly return to Raleigh on May 16, we offer four ways to support public schools, the children who learn in them, and the teachers who teach them.

1. Pray privately and in worship services for children in North Carolina, for educators and for the General Assembly.

2. Participate along with teachers in the statewide witness for public education on Wednesday, May 16, from 9 am - 3 pm in Raleigh and visit legislators to urge their priority attention to the needs of North Carolina children and those who teach them.

3. Offer personal encouragement to young people who are preparing to become teachers and offer thanks to those you know who are teachers, staff and administrators in our public schools. 

4. Contact by phone, email or letter your representative in the General Assembly, urging the priority of public schools in state funding.  Invite an offering of letters on Sunday, with letter-writing materials available to increase the witness for children.

Let us join in a great chain of prayer and support for our public schools on Wednesday, May 16, wherever we are across the state of North Carolina.

Lord Jesus Christ, long ago you said, "Let the children come to me."  Help us to live with strength this example that summons us to love, welcome, support, teach and care for all children in North Carolina.  We thank you for those you have called to teach in our public schools.  Bless them, we pray, in this week to come as they do their work and as they offer witness in our midst.  Strengthen the members of the General Assembly to be wise in their work on our behalf.  May the days of this week ahead be a time of seeing clearly, of loving deeply, and of giving ourselves generously to the holy work of educating the children in our communities. 

Bishop Paul Leeland, Western North Carolina Conference
Bishop Hope Morgan Ward, North Carolina Conference