SOCIAL JUSTICE WORK
We are God’s instrument, following Christ, inspired by the Spirit in, with and for this community.
Mission Initiatives in Compassion, Justice, and Community Building
The church is located in the La Mesa neighborhood, bounded by Central to the south, Wyoming to the east, Lomas to the north, and Louisiana to the west. We are near the Fairgrounds in the heart of the International District. The church sees its mission as grounded in this neighborhood but global in reach. We seek to serve the needs and aspirations of those who live in this community and share life together. We participate in direct service efforts, as well as seeking more systemic justice remedies. Below is a sampling of some of our ongoing work.
Hunger
Feast of Hope at La Mesa
Many other churches have joined with La Mesa to put on this Thanksgiving Day meal that serves some 1,200 meals to the community. Many dinners are served to those who come to the church for the feast, but several hundred meals are also delivered to residents of homeless shelters, special needs housing programs, and home-bound senior citizens. Several hundred volunteers participate in preparation and serving. Our volunteers experience the richness of a community celebration.
Bread for the World
We participate in advocacy efforts through annual letter writing campaigns and direct contact to encourage our state and federal lawmakers to insure just hunger policies.
Heifer International
This organization began after World War II to rebuild food systems destroyed in the conflict and has worked ever since to develop appropriate, sustainable agricultural systems globally, especially in poor communities throughout the developing world. They are sensitive to introduce crops and animals that are a good fit to that context and maximize indigenous empowerment.
Eco Justice
This is a designation by the PC(USA) Hunger Program that the church has achieved a significant level of environmental practices in its life, including energy efficiency, reducing our carbon footprint, water conservation, recycling, eliminating plastics, and providing on-going education about climate change and its ethical implications for communities of faith. La Mesa Presbyterian Church believes we are created to be faithful stewards of God’s Creation. By working together to protect our environment, we grow stronger as a body of faith.
Health
Blood Drives
The church sponsors community blood drives 3 times a year in partnership with Vitalant Blood Services.
COMMUNITY ORGANIZING
Together New Mexico
The church is a member institution of Together New Mexico, a community organization comprised of 12 congregations, schools, unions and non-profits, who bring their faith and democratic values into public life by shaping policies and advocating in the following arenas - public education, immigrant's rights, workforce training and GED preparation, and mental health and addiction funding and services.
GUN VIOLENCE PREVENTION
Gun Violence Prevention
The church is proud to partner with New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence on several initiatives. We have held and participated in several Guns to Gardens Gun Buybacks that were very successful in removing unwanted guns from the community. Almost 50 % of these are assault or semi-automatic guns. All guns are dismantled onsite before being delivered to a high school to be turned into garden tools or art.
The picture above is a xylophone made from gun pieces by the welding class at Robert F Kennedy Charter School.