Four-day seminar at Colonial Williamsburg will educate, prepare future leaders
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Cherilyn Crowe / [email protected] / 202-544-4226 / 202-603-1663
WASHINGTON – The Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty will launch the inaugural BJC Fellows Program in 2015, offering young professionals the opportunity to deepen their historical, theological and legal understanding of religious liberty and develop skills to advocate for the cause throughout their careers.
Ten Baptist Joint Committee Fellows (“BJC Fellows”) will be selected from diverse educational, professional and religious backgrounds. They must commit to being advocates for religious liberty in their houses of worship and communities after they attend the BJC Fellows Seminar – a four-day intensive education program at Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia. The seminar will equip the BJC Fellows for activism, utilizing Colonial Williamsburg’s educational resources in conjunction with preeminent scholars and BJC staff members.
“Central to the Baptist Joint Committee’s mission is the critical need to develop the next generation of religious liberty advocates,” said BJC Executive Director J. Brent Walker. “While we continue to have great success connecting with groups through educational sessions in our Center for Religious Liberty and visiting campuses and churches across the country, we want to develop supporters who can educate others about these issues.”
After completion of the seminar, the BJC Fellows will serve as liaisons between the BJC and their communities, and they will be expected to use their skills to seek opportunities for public engagement, such as leading educational sessions, writing op-eds and using social media to advance the cause of religious liberty.
Walker noted that this program comes at a crucial time to prepare young leaders for what lies ahead. “When the BJC Fellows leave the storied Colonial Williamsburg area, they will possess the expertise and enthusiasm to be a religious liberty advocate in an increasingly post-denominational, religiously plural and politically polarized environment,” he said.
The invitation for applications for the BJC Fellows Program will be released Jan. 5, 2015, and due Feb. 15. The inaugural BJC Fellows Seminar will be held July 29-August 2, 2015.
The application process will require a cover letter, CV or resume, responses to a short questionnaire and two letters of recommendation. Applicants should have less than six years of experience in their current profession, and there are no religious requirements. The program covers most travel costs, lodging and meals for the BJC Fellows.
For more details on the BJC Fellows Program and application process, visit BJConline.org/Fellows.
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The Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty is a 78-year-old, Washington, D.C.-based religious liberty organization that works to defend and extend God-given religious liberty for all, bringing a uniquely Baptist witness to the principle that religion must be freely exercised, neither advanced nor inhibited by government.
