Bishop Dwayne Royster
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The Next Move-This Kairos Moment

6/6/2016

19 Comments

 
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Many have been asking me about leaving Living Water UCC and POWER to head to DC.  Yes, I am leaving Living Water later this month and POWER shortly thereafter to become the Political Director of the PICO (People Improving Communities through Organizing) National Network in Washington, DC. PICO is the nation’s largest Faith Based Organizing Movement.  For those that know me well this is not much of a surprise.  I was a Political Science major when I started Boston College almost 20 years ago.  Politics and Activism/Advocacy/Organizing have been important to me since my childhood.  My faith has been equally important to me longer than politics.  Finally, I am able to work deeply at the intersection of two of my passions to bring about healing and hope for a broken world.

Some have asked about what church I will be pastoring.  I am not.  In my new role I will be serving as a Public Theologian in the midst of our Nation’s Capital.  In addition, later this year, I will be installed as the Presiding Bishop of Higher Ground Christian Fellowship International.  My mentor Bishop Kermit L. Newkirk, Jr. will be retiring from the role as Presiding Bishop.  I look forward to serving the church in that new capacity.  As a matter of faith practice, I am working with a collaborative of faith leaders from around the country on the creation of an Ecumenical Religious Order committed to a charism of Social Justice as Spiritual Discipline and Spiritual Practice.  The early conversations have been exciting and I look forward to helping establish this new body.   Please keep this effort in your prayers.  If you are interested in learning more about the order, please email me at
ddroyster1969@gmail.com.  I would be glad to share with you the plans in more detail.  My family and I will be looking for a UCC church in the MD/DC area to call home.  Pray for us as a seek a place where we can finally sit together during worship and delight in the Lord.

It has been a hard decision to leave both of these organizations and head to DC.  Yet, I am feeling called to our nation’s capital for such a time as this.  There is much going on in the world that requires faith voices to speak truth to power and demand justice in the land.  For that reason, I feel called in this moment…this Kairos moment.    I am not one who believes that faith should not be engaged in the political realm.  I am not sure how anyone could read the sacred texts of the Christian tradition and not see that faith has always engaged the empire in one way or another.  For many communities all across this nation there is great pain.  As the Rev. Dr. Howard Thurman asked in his book
Jesus and the Disinherited, “What does our faith have to say to people with their backs up against the wall?”  For far too long the church has been a sleeping giant.  It is time to “Wake Up!”  God has always had a remnant that has lifted a witness for Justice but now we need the whole of the many faith traditions and communities across our nation to become engaged.  Good people who do nothing in the face of injustice are not good people!   We must work to challenge the narratives and stories that have anesthetized our faith traditions into a dreamless slumber that does not even produce rest.  We do not need a sleeping giant but instead a massive army of faith people in a cacophony of voices that calls this nation to its better self.  A massive army that draws our faith communities out of the walls of their institutions and to care for the greater community that surrounds them.  A call to care for all of God’s creation!

So I head to Washington to be Faith Warrior. To fight for a Moral Economy! To Fight for Racial Justice! To fight for an end to Mass Incarceration!  To Fight for a Pathway to Citizenship! To Fight for Climate and Environmental Justice! To fight for issues yet to be named!


Please join me I continue my efforts to Change the Damn World!


​Grace and Peace,

+DDR
​
19 Comments
Angelica Rubio
6/6/2016 10:07:57 am

Good luck, Bishop Royster!

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Janis Edwards
6/6/2016 11:00:48 am

I pray for God's blessings on you, your ministry, and your family as you begin this new leg of your journey. I will miss you in our area but this sure seems like a great fit for your special gifts! I hope you know this prayer warrior and those in her house pray for you by name often.

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Stan Shapiro
6/6/2016 11:04:10 am

Brilliant and inspiring. Godspeed.

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Rev. Yolanda Hughes
6/6/2016 01:07:40 pm

Again, Blessings and Peace. I will be in touch. Awesome Man of God.

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George Cummings
6/6/2016 01:39:30 pm

Praying with you and your family as you take on this developing aspect of your calling.

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Sharon Ellis Davis
6/6/2016 02:14:20 pm

I am so happy you are entering this realm and I offer both my prayers and support as you get busy changing the Damn world!

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Linda
6/6/2016 05:38:05 pm

God Bless You!! I am very proud of you Dwayne for heeding the call, and wish you Godspeed as you move forward.

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Carol Duncan
6/6/2016 08:11:44 pm

I believe DC is exactly where you need to be exactly at this time. Take care of yourself for us.

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Bernadette Marie Cronin-Geller
6/6/2016 08:21:12 pm

You have been a gift to Philadelphia POWER and you will be a gift to DC and PICO

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lenora Richbow
6/7/2016 08:51:43 am

Good Luck Bishop Royster to you and your family. It was a pleasure meeting you and having you involved in my mother Georgia Lowe homecoming at your church then on Germantown Ave. I too left Philly in 1979 to venture out far West for a better opportunity than from what Philly had to offer at that time. Twice we moved back to Philly to pursue a Realestate project that my sister Marlene now lives in. The ludlow project on Franklin and surrounding new houses. I tried to get my family and friends to acquire the old houses by buying them then for $500.00 or less, they all laughed at me. Now look at the area Temple owns it all. We could all have been millionaires. Well the moral to this story is take care of family first and if they come along so be it. Have a safe and happy journey. Lenora Lowe Richbow & Michael Richbow & family.

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lenora Richbow
6/7/2016 08:57:55 am

(cont.) We were really walking with God. Didn't know how we were going to make it in Los Angeles. But with our faith and god he protected and guided us along the way. So Bishop Royster go with God and your Faith, (I know you already know that lol) Good Luck young man.

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Jon Pahl
6/7/2016 02:05:47 pm

Philly's loss is DC's gain...peace be with you.

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Lois Lennon Lewis link
6/7/2016 02:27:30 pm

My prayers will be with you every day, as you go about your transformative work for God. Blessings for you and your family as your begin a new phase of your service for the Lord. Amen.

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Patrick Duggan
6/7/2016 02:38:44 pm

God bless you Bishop Royster. I am inspired by the path you are blazing. Please continue these communications... I'm interested in learning more about the emerging ecumenical order.

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Paula Paul
6/8/2016 11:15:36 am

God's blessings to you in this endeavor. I know you'll hold feet to fire.

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Mike Denton link
6/8/2016 11:37:16 am

Congratulations Bishop and prayers for you in these new ministry settings!

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AUDREINEE "PLUMSUE" HARVEY-TYSON
6/8/2016 02:48:42 pm

I AM SO VERY HAPPY & DELIGHTED THAT OUR GOD CONTINUES TO "CALL THE SHOTS" IN THE LIFE OF MY FAMILY.. BISHOP & FIRST LADY DWAYNE ROYSTER. THERE CAN BE NOTHING BUT "GOOD SUCCESS" IN WHATEVER SITUATIONS THAT THEY LAY THEIR HANDS TO... MOVE FORWARD & TO GOD BE ALL THE GLORY!

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James Neatrour
6/8/2016 08:44:27 pm

Blessings on this next leg of your journey! Our prayers will follow you

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Beverly Dale link
6/9/2016 04:48:34 am

This decision has the handprint of God on it. I believe you have been preparing your whole life for just this kind of work in this particular place. Enjoy the challenges & rewards that God has in store for you. It is truly satisfying to know we are following our heart & our God--and find they are one and the same. Blessings to you.

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    Author

    Bishop Royster is Pastor of Faith United Church of Christ in Washington, DC.  He is also Senior Pastor/Founder Emeritus of Living Water United Church of Christ in Philadelphia.  He is a pastor, preacher, change agent, father, husband, and agitator born and raised in Philadelphia. He is the Northeast Regional Director of Faith in Action (formerly the PICO National Network). In addition, Bishop Royster is a former Councilman at Large for the Municipality of Norristown, PA.  The views on this blog represent personal views, not those of Faith in Action. 

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