Community organizing

Review: When We Stand

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When We Stand, Terence Lester (Foreword Father Gregory Boyle). Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2021.

Summary: Makes a motivational case for mobilizing with other to pursue follow Christ in the pursuit of justice.

We see so many things that are not “the way it’s meant to be.” The problems seem so big. We seem so small. Until we find others to walk together with us, where we are part of a mobilized community where everyone’s gifts multiply our impact. Terence Lester has been there and formed an organization called Love Beyond Walls focused on poverty awareness and community mobilization. He makes the case that we are better together than separate when pursuing justice causes. He writes this book to motivate us to mobilize in community and shows us how it is done.

It begins with getting out of our bubbles and figuring out who is proximate–our near neighbor in need. It requires making more time, doing a reset on our lives and figuring out what our “let go” list is to make space for others. Often we are absorbed with the pursuit of ephemeral success when we have the opportunity to devote ourselves to pursue something real, of eternal value. Lester describes two friends who sold a nice home for one that wasn’t as nice but well-suited to caring for foster children. He calls us to be willing to unlearn our previous notions, particularly around poverty, race, and justice. It may mean changing our way of living or even how we lead.

One of the shifts in our thinking is a shift from me to we, to be willing to collaborate to pursue social change. He notes how such collaboration means a willingness to die to what Dr. King called “the drum major instinct.” At the same time, this doesn’t mean we deny what we have to offer, even if it is the basic skill of cleaning and stocking a hand-washing station for the homeless during a COVID epidemic. Often, it begins with a modest first step, like the beginning of Love Beyond Walls out of the Lesters’ garage.

Lester comes back to the idea of time in a chapter on “living intentionally.” Far from the vision of the harried activist, his call is for margin, for deliberate thought about our schedules and what we do best when. He also reprises the “we” idea, encouraging us to bring others with us, to look for partners, to share the weight, and invite people into community. He urges us to maximize our impact through assessing our “social capital” and to play our part in God’s interconnected world.

Most of each chapter consist of stories Lester relates to share his point. This makes for an easy read and one that is inspiring as well as instructive. He tells a story of a man who stepped out and cared for someone proximate to him. Lester came out of a troubled home, often spending time away, sometimes on the streets. One night, he called a friend, Erik, who checked with his father, coming back on the line, saying, “Yeah, come on over–my family loves you.” He then describes how that love changed his life when he arrived at Erik’s home, and Mr. Moore came out to greet him:

“When I arrived at their family home after a long drive, Mr. Moore came out to my car, carrying food for me. I remember him looking at me and asking me to look at him….

“He looked at me earnestly and called me a leader.

“A leader?

“The word didn’t seem to fit at all…

“But when Mr. Moore said it, he meant it. He said that he saw something in me that no one else had. He’d seen the makings of a leader within me and had decided to speak to this capability.”

Lester, p. 28.

A friend’s father who opened his home, who noticed, and who shared what he saw. Someone who came alongside a homeless youth and practiced “we.” It changed a life and launched a young man on a life of community organizing.

Lester offers us stories like this throughout the book in a challenging and inspiring argument for mobilizing together. He leaves me with two questions that I will consider: who is the proximate for me, and who will I join or invite to join me?

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Review: Faith-Rooted Organizing

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Faith Based OrganizingFaith-Rooted Organizing, Alexia Salvatierra and Peter Heltzel. Downers Grove, InterVarsity Press, 2014.

Summary: Most advocacy and activism efforts have been organized around secular principles. The authors explore what organizing and advocacy work that is deeply and thoroughly rooted in Christian principles would look like and illustrate this from their years of experience.

Many community advocacy efforts have been organized around principles first developed by Saul Alinsky in the 1930’s. They hinge on an oppositional model that sees the other as “enemy” who needs to be forced or compelled to act justly by law or the pressure of a people movement.

Salvatierra and Heltzel do not deny the place of these efforts and in fact talk about both “serpent” and “dove” power as Christians make common cause with other activists. But they also contend that Christians have deep resources in their faith in which their organizing activities ought and may be rooted.

They begin with a historical survey of three justice movements: the civil rights movement, justice movements in Latin America and Cesar Chavez work in advocating for migrant crop workers. And one of the revelations of this book to me was to learn what a deeply spiritual man Chavez was, regularly fasting, and living at the level of those for whom he advocated.

The book then takes each step in the organizing process and re-roots it in faith-based practices:

  • Goal setting as dreaming God’s dreams.
  • Starting place: hearing the call of the poor, which if done well results in a dance of solidarity between poor and privileged.
  • Strategy: discerning the kairos issue at the root of the deep lies that perpetuate injustice and combating these with the truth. This also means addressing issues of power and hope and speaking prophetically.
  • Recruitment: what does it mean to both practice and mobilize Christ-centered community, mobilizing all the gifts of that community.
  • Leadership development: this not only involves discerning the gifts and calling of others but modeling the servant leadership crucial to organizing.
  • Sustainability: the importance of cultivating the deep spiritual practices and rhythms that sustain hope and energy.

As mentioned in the summary the authors illustrate their principles with stories from their years of organizing. At the end of each chapter, Alexia addresses a “letter” to her daughter and another young woman that sums up the chapter in her hopes for their organizing work.

It has struck me increasingly that a significant form of gospel witness is when Christians come alongside others making common cause around matters of justice and human flourishing and thoughtfully and graciously contribute the distinctive perspective that is shaped by their faith. Salvatierra and Hetzel give us a marvelous example of what this looks like in the nitty-gritty of organizing.