Join in an intentional ministry to witness to your faith by seeking justice for vulnerable Pennsylvanians. The LAMPa Ambassador Ministry  will equip you to be in personal contact with your state lawmakers a minimum of four times a year. The ministry’s goal is to make each of our 253 legislators aware of the commitment of Pennsylvanian Lutherans to work for justice through legislative action.

Become a LAMPa Ambassador, one of our faith community’s “go to” people to speak out on behalf of our most vulnerable Pennsylvania neighbors.

As a LAMPa Ambassador, you would:

•   Be in regular, intentional contact with your State Representative and Senator by taking one concrete action every three months: either in a face-to-face meeting, a phone call, a letter, a postcard, or speaking out in a public forum where your representative is present.

•   Review and respond to ACTIONET  alerts, engaging LAMPa staff with any questions, comments, or concerns.

•   Participate in one face-to-face meeting with your legislator a year. This may be at Lutheran Day at the Capitol  or another time at your convenience.

•   Report your contacts to LAMPa so that we can better document our collective efforts as we continue to tell the story of the ELCA as Public Church.

LAMPa will provide all ambassadors with advocacy training, theological and practical resources and ongoing support to be an effective Ambassador  for justice in Pennsylvania.

To sign on or learn more, contact:

Marissa Harris Krey, Advocacy Developer

717-545-3500    or   mharris@lamp.org

More optional  activities available to LAMPa Ambassadors are listed below:

Fall Visits: 

Each fall, LAMPa staff will help organize group district visits with key officials around the state.  The focus for fall 2010 will be Hunger.  These fall visits are another opportunity to fulfill your face-to-face Ambassador commitment in a group setting.

As time goes on, Ambassadors will have the opportunity to develop their leadership skills by becoming the contact point for their district’s fall visit.  This will allow the fall visits to expand from a few key districts and cover more territory.

Webinars & Conference Calls:

As LAMPa continues to venture into exciting new tools for online advocacy, Ambassadors will occasionally have the chance to serve as a focus group.  After learning and reacting to the new tools, LAMPa staff will use Ambassador feedback to better equip and train all LAMPa advocates.  Additionally, webinars and conference calls - increasingly used by our coalition partners as a crucial educational tool - would be launched to Ambassadors first. 

Championing LAMPa in your Congregation or Synod:

While the chief commitment of Ambassadors is to foster strong relationships with their State Representative and State Senator, Ambassadors also have the option of recruiting new ambassadors to join this ministry and encouraging congregation members, friends, and neighbors to participate in LAMPa activities.