The Faith in Action Writing Collective - Faith in Action: A Handbook for Activists, Advocates, and Allies

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Marques Armstrong is cofounder of Black Pearl LLC, a multifaceted consulting firm focused on racial equity. He is also CEO and founder of Hope & Healing Counseling Services and a trained community organizer and public-policy advocate.

Sharon Betcher is an independent scholar and writer, specializing in the area of disability theology. She is the author of Spirit and the Politics of Disablement (Fortress Press, 2007) and Spirit and the Obligation of Social Flesh (2013).

Bethany Bradley was a cofounder of the Womens March on Washington: MN March and continues to serve as a member of the Steering Committee for the Womens March Minnesota organization. She has a background in nonprofit event planning, branding, and media coordination.

DeWayne Davis is senior pastor at All Gods Children Metropolitan Community Church in Minneapolis. He serves on the Public Policy Team of the MCCs Global Justice Institute, representing the denominations public-policy advocacy initiatives at the federal level. He also recently served as the domestic policy analyst in the Episcopal Churchs Office of Government Relations and worked as a congressional aide before his ministry career.

Christopher Zumski Finke is a freelance journalist and reporter for Yes! Magazine, covering culture, justice, and citizen engagement. He is editor of The Stake, a pop culture and politics website. He worked in public policy for Wind on the Wires, an advocacy group specializing in renewable energy.

Sonja Hagander is university pastor, director of ministries, and associate director of the Christensen Center for Vocation at Augsburg University, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Americas most diverse college.

Jaylani Hussein is executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN). In 2013, he created Zeila Consultants to develop and offer cross-cultural training workshops on East African cultures.

Jim Bear Jacobs is a member of the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican Nation. He is a cultural facilitator in the Twin Cities, working to raise the publics awareness of American Indian causes, and currently serves as an associate pastor at Church of All Nations in Columbia Heights, Minnesota.

Nekima Levy-Pounds is an attorney, scholar, and national expert on issues of race. She was a professor of law at the University of St. Thomas for 13 years and also served as an adviser to Black Lives Matter Minneapolis before starting her own consulting company, Black Pearl LLC. She ran for mayor of Minneapolis in 2017.

Dee McIntosh is pastor of LightHouse MPLS, a Covenant Church plant in Minneapolis. She is a founding member of Black Clergy United for Change, a collective of Black clergy committed to racial justice and social transformation.

Kellie Rock is coordinator of refugee arrival services for Arrive Ministries, a Christian nonprofit organization dedicated to the cause of the refugee and immigrant.

Javen Swanson is associate pastor at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in St. Paul. He has previously worked as a community organizer with OutFront Minnesota and the Minnesotans United for All Families campaign, and was the interim faith work director for the National LGBTQ Task Force.

On January 21, 2017, millions of people marched in the streets across the United States and around the globe to advocate for fundamental human rights. A week later, thousands more held rallies and protests at airports and in cities to advocate for the rights of refugees and immigrants. Millions of Americans are becoming politically and socially active in a way that they never have before. Those who are just beginning to pay attention to long-standing issues of disparity, oppression, and injustice are joining in with those who have been on the front lines of these issues for decades. Maybe youre one of the people who recently attended a protest or a rally for the first time. Maybe youd like to be.

You want to make the world a better place. This resource can help.

This book offers primers on a whole range of topics, from racial justice to environmental concerns, from womens equality to disability rights, from mass incarceration to immigration, from LGBTQIA equality to Native Peoples rights. But none of these topics operate in a vacuum. In fact, youll notice significant overlap between topics. The wage gap between women and men is made much starker when racial differences are taken into account. The causes of disability are deeply rooted in issues of environmental misuse. We are not singly defined by our gender, or our socioeconomic status, or our race. Each of these elements in our identity makes up part of a greater whole with intersecting implications for our privilege and our disadvantage.

Because of this, we did not attempt to divide the book into chapters, sections, or parts. Well, we did, but we quickly realized how futile the exercise was. Instead, we provide you with short four-page offerings on more than thirty essential topics for would-be activists in todays world. Each topic will include practical suggestions for what you can do to make a difference in your community. But more than a to-do list, this book will broaden and deepen your perspective on these issues and challenge your assumptions. When you step out into the world to be an activist, advocate, and ally, youll have the tools (and confidence) youll need to make a real impact.

The contributors to this volume, introduced on page 7, are people of faith. Our valuesequity, justice, human dignity, care for the earthare all rooted in our faith and in the belief that all people are beloved children of God. If you are similarly rooted in faith, youll recognize those themes and values throughout the book. But there are countless pathways that lead a person to working for justice, and many have nothing to do with faith. All are welcome to this resource, and we hope youll find it meaningful and valuable, no matter what drew you to it.

Faith is not a prerequisite for working toward justice. But Faith in Action believes that the truest expression of faith is one that acts for the good of the world.