As 2017 draws to a close, we face renewed challenges in the fight for faith, family and freedom in the Commonwealth. At the same time, we are also building on our strengths and uncovering new opportunities for the months and years ahead. Though it’s not easy, we are proud to fight for family values and generate pro-family victories here in the often hostile ground of Massachusetts.
- Preaching to the choir In order to have an impact for good in our culture, people of faith need to be educated and
equipped to engage in the public square on moral issues. That’s why my staff and I set a goal for 2017 of deploying MFI’s Engage the Bay State curriculum in 100 churches across the Commonwealth. We’re excited to announce that we met this goal and continue to add new churches and small groups to the list! We also managed to complete Engage translations in Spanish, Portuguese and Mandarin, allowing us to reach diverse communities of faith.MFI’s Director of Community Alliances Michael King and I were invited to speak at more than 40 churches this past year, giving presentations on the work of MFI or, in some cases, even preaching a sermon on the civic stewardship of loving our neighbors through promoting family values in public policy. We held citizen lobbyist training seminars in 16 churches, which translated into a record turnout at our annual pro-family lobby day at the State House this past spring. (If you would like Michael or me to speak at your church or event, you can email Michael King at Michael@mafamily.org).
- Fighting bad bills and using good laws When the state senate passed a bill this past fall that would have decriminalized “unnatural” sex between adults and children, MFI raised the alarm in the media. As a result, this provision has
been eliminated in the House version of the bill and will not be enacted into law. This is why it is critical that MFI has the resources necessary to keep a vigilant eye on Beacon Hill!In addition, we are helping to educate the next generation about their First Amendment rights – even at school! Many young people are being fed misinformation regarding their rights to speak openly about their faith in the public schools. One young boy at a “Bring Your Bible to School Day” event shared that his teacher told him, incorrectly, that he couldn’t talk about God in school since it could make others feel uncomfortable. MFI is here to educate students, parents and teachers that children do not have to check their First Amendment rights at the door when they go to school. Another example of this was this week’s second annual State House Nativity Celebration. About two hundred people sang Christmas carols, read scripture, and said “Merry Christmas!” while exercising their Constitutional rights to freedom of religion in the “People’s House” on Beacon Hill.
- Learning how to turn losses into wins Although our state voted to legalize the commercial production and sale of marijuana last
November, the new law included provisions for cities and towns to prevent retail marijuana shops from coming to their communities. This past year we’ve been working with churches to take advantage of this window of opportunity to protect their communities. MFI’s Mike King has been meeting with pastors around the Commonwealth, educating and equipping them on this issue. Just this month, the town of Acton (which had originally voted for recreational marijuana) had 1200 people show up at town meeting, and almost 80% of them voted to ban pot shops in their town! Examples like this remind us that there are always opportunities to work with what we have, even in difficult circumstances. We need to be ready to educate, equip and mobilize citizens to defend our shared family values here in our Commonwealth, but we can’t do it without you.
Will you help us build for the future? Your support now gives us the resources needed to maintain our momentum into next year and beyond. End-of-year giving is extremely important in making sure we have the resources to hit the ground running in 2018.
Please support MFI today!
For our families,
