building relationships

THE CHURCH ADULT education class was stuck. After five weeks of exploring the immigration crisis with legal and advocacy organizations, they invited me to help them discern where and how to act. But they were foundering. A subset of the group had been working with the congregation on immigration issues for many months. “Why haven’t the changes we pushed for come to fruition?” they asked me. “How can we make a difference?”

Congregations are often unclear on how they can act effectively in public during our dangerous and unpredictable times. In my teaching and practice of congregation-based community organizing, I’ve learned that one reason for this is because the issues dictate the strategy. Too often, faith leaders present the crisis around a particular justice issue as more pressing than the sacred values we hold and that motivate our faithful action.