The Public Affairs and Religious Liberty (PARL) department exists to interact and build relationships with public officials; represent the Seventh-day Adventist church’s viewpoint to policymakers; and promote and protect the cause of liberty in all forms as a God-given right. This liberty includes Religious Freedom, Economic Empowerment, Social Justice, Judicial Impartiality, and Racial and Gender Equality for all people.

The PARL department has a number of ways it serves the constituents of South Central Conference:

• Train pastors and PARL directors to develop and strengthen the PARL Ministry
• Advocate for liberty, empowerment, justice, impartiality, and equality for all people
• Show the correlations between PARL, prophecy, and last day events
• Assist church members in resolving problems related to religious liberty issues at the workplace or school
• Conduct Religious Liberty magazine campaigns
• Help to promote Religious Liberty in churches, schools, and other institutions
• Provide pastors and local church congregations with information on current regional and national happenings in which the Adventist Church has an interest and which affects religious liberty issues
• Monitor state legislative actions, clarifying with state officials and legislators the Church’s position on the issues and working together to bring about solutions which uphold individual religious freedom
• Mobilize the clergy and laity to speak out on serious religious liberty issues, whether on a local, statewide or regional basis
• Interact with public officials and represent our church’s viewpoint to policymakers

The South Central Conference PARL department is available to do the following:

• Speak at engagements promoting PARL issues
• Assist with writing letters concerning religious liberty issues at the workplace or school
• Collaborate with the local church’s PARL director to promote PARL initiatives in your churches/organizations

Areas affecting PARL include but are not limited to the following:

• #Me Too/ Sexual Abuse
• Civil Rights
• Criminal Justice Reform
• Economic Disparity
• End-time Events/ Prophecy
• Genocide
• Gun Rights
• Health Care
• Homelessness
• Housing Discrimination
• Human Trafficking
• Hunger
• Immigration
• Incarceration
• LGBTQ
• Public Policy
• Race Relations
• Religious Liberty/ Persecution
• Sabbath Accommodations
• The Census
• The Environment
• Voter Registration/ Voting Rights/ Voter Suppression
• Women’s Rights/ Equality

You may contact the PARL department in the following ways:

Director:
Pastor Paul Goodridge

Phone:
(352) 207-3451 cell

(615) 226-6500 ext. 137 Office

Email:
pgoodridge@scc-sda.org

Secretary:
Judith Eddings

Phone:
(615) 226-6500 ext. 133 Office

Email:
jeddings@scc-sda.org