Last summer, I attended a Faith Rooted Organizing training hosted by held at the Highlander Center in Tennessee where generations of labor and civil rights activists like Rosa Parks have been trained in work for justice. The last workshop of the training, and the one that impacted me the most, was about revolutionary friendship.
Over the years, I have been inspired by the many ways people engage in social justice and movement building throughout The Episcopal Church, and by participating in this training, I was able to learn how to do my best to carry out this ministry in my own organizing work. Throughout the church, individuals, congregations, and dioceses are working to organize for positive change in their communities. Just as there is diversity in the Church, the ways we work toward creating structural change are different, and speak to the needs of each community. We do this work because in our baptismal covenant, we promise to “strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.”
The Faith Rooted Organizing UnNetwork training drew on the work of Rev. Alexia Salvatierra and Dr. Peter Heltzel, Faith-Rooted Organizing: Mobilizing the Church in Service to the World. http://www.ivpress.com/cgi-ivpress/book.pl/code=3661 The Faith-Rooted Organizing UnNetwork helps put this effort to mobilize into practice. The UnNetwork supplements the great work already being done in communities, helping those who are organizing through their faith to share best practices, foster relationships, and provide space to reflect.
During my training, workshops were offered on many topics: using the arts in organizing, working with specific populations such as students, and working on active listening skills. We learned about how to help decision makers become our allies in working for justice, and how to look at communities to learn what their assets are.
Most importantly, we forged revolutionary friendships with other people who are deeply moved by their faith to make the world a more just and peaceful place. A number of Episcopalians from across the Church attended this training, and it was wonderful to connect with them and learn about their organizing efforts. It was also powerful to connect with a diverse group of passionate, veteran organizers. Some attendees were young students, and some had been organizing for decades. They came from a broad range of faiths: evangelical, mainline Protestant, Roman Catholic, and other faith traditions. It was a safe space for attendees to raise concerns about race, gender, orientation, and gender identity, and share each other’s experiences with one another. We shared morning meditation, evening songs and dances, and revolutionary friendship.
I was able to bring all of this back to inform my work in my community, where I know a lot of work around justice needs to be done. I am grateful for this, and for the knowledge that everyone present brought my revolutionary friendship home with them as well. I am excited to hear that The Episcopal Church’s Office of Social Justice and Advocacy Engagement is planning to co-labor with Dioceses and Provinces around the Episcopal Church to make the Faith Rooted Organizing Training available . Together we can build a network of revolutionary friends committed to transformation, justice and renewal.
About the author: Erin Morey began her career as an attorney in the public defender’s office in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She currently serves as an advocate for local and national organizations that serve survivors of violence. She serves as the Social Justice commissioner of the Vestry at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Mt. Lebanon, and helps coordinate congregational and interfaith organizing efforts to change unjust systems.