Faith & Justice | August 2025


August 2025

Looking Back, Looking Ahead

As we look back on the past few months, we’re also excited to give you a sneak peek at what’s coming this fall and winter. From new content to upcoming events, there’s so much good ahead—and we can’t wait for you to be part of it.


Summer Wrap-Up: Food & Justice

This summer, we turned our attention to food and justice through the themes of coloniality, liminality, and mutuality. Journeying together through Buttermilk Graffiti by Edward Lee and invigorated by an in-person event baking bread with Reem Assil, we explored food as a vital spiritual practice for the work of justice.

“I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry,” Jesus proclaims in John 6. These words invite us to think beyond individual satisfaction, toward the shared abundance of God’s kingdom. Bread is made to be broken and shared; it becomes life when it nourishes not just one, but many.

Our hope is that as we move into the fall, we keep asking: How can our eating make us more just, more generous, more awake to the Spirit’s presence among one another? How can our eating move us toward more tangible experiences of mutuality?


Coming Up This Year

Perhaps you’ve walked by the school supply aisle this month and wished you could still feel the serotonin rush of picking your new trapper-keeper. Consider studying with us this year! (No supplies required, but we won’t stop you from decorating your notebook…)

We’re reading some amazing books and we'll get to hear from the authors at our fall gathering (or watch their sessions throughout the coming months as we discuss their books).

Here’s a glimpse of what’s ahead in 2025-2026…

🍂 Fall Semester: Spiritual Theology: The Way of Jesus — exploring what spiritual resilience looks like in uncertain times. Join us in Nashville on September 11-14 to learn from our four authors: Jeff Chu, Jara González-Justiniano, Brian McLaren, and Yolanda Pierce. Early bird pricing available through 8/31!

❄️ Winter Gathering: Save The Date! Join us January 29-31, 2026 in the Bay Area to learn with our special guest: author and theologian Pádraig Ó Tuama. We are so thrilled to spend time engaging with his wisdom on storytelling, spirituality, and the work of justice.

🌱 Spring Semester: We’ll pursue our annual theme of Public Theology: The Work of Justice with a particular focus on storytelling.

📅 Online Workshops: Opportunities throughout the year for conversation, reflection, and action.


Join Us Online!

🎥 Complimentary livestreaming access to all events: New this year, all members receive access to livestreams of all events! Tune in from anywhere and watch the conversations. Plus, catch up on events you’ve missed with recorded excerpts, shared monthly. No additional cost or event registration. 🎉

📚 Monthly Curriculum: We provide liturgies, readings, and reflections centered on monthly themes, curated especially for this community. For preaching or devotional reading, we also create justice-oriented lectionary reflections. Join the conversation online.

🤝 Stay Connected: Build community with folks from diverse walks of life who are also seeking to integrate faith and justice.


26 Preachers, 4 Cohorts, Countless Impact

We’re thrilled to announce our Preaching Justice Fellows for 2025-26. In the coming year, 26 preachers from across North America, representing diverse Christian traditions, will work together to learn what it means to preach justice. We trust their work will enrich the Faith and Justice community and many more communities beyond.


Help Us Close the Fiscal Year Strong

As we come to the close of our fiscal year, we want to pause and thank you. Your generosity has carried us through a year of growth and impact—from online cohorts that provide vital support for laypersons and clergy to powerful, meaningful gatherings that many of us are still thinking about. Together, we’ve seen what’s possible when people believe in our mission and give so others can flourish.

With just a few days left in our fiscal year, we invite you to consider making a special gift. Your support now will help us finish strong and step into the year ahead with the resources we need to sustain programs that help our mission of “Pursuing a theological imagination for the common good.”

Every gift—large or small—makes a difference. Thank you for partnering with us in our work!


More…

The Faith and Justice Network

Seeking Faith, Learning Justice

Read more from The Faith and Justice Network

Dear Friends of Faith and Justice, In a year filled with so many reminders of our world‘s need for more faith and justice, we took time as a team to reflect on our work in the world. This process led to a refined vision and mission, which we are excited to share with you now! We trust you‘ll see how this renewed clarity guided our activities over the past year and is now shaping our sense of the work that lies ahead. Our Work in 2025 F&J Fellowship and Network: At the heart of our community...

November 2025 Honoring Our Pasts, Embracing New Futures Community Reflections on In My Grandmother's House While our November theme is The Inward Journey, the guidance of Rev. Dr. Pierce reminded us that inner work is never an individual endeavor. We are each a unique reflection of the Divine image of Love, shaped within the intricate networks of our families, communities, and churches of origin. Rev. Dr. Yolanda Pierce speaking at our Fall Gathering As we enter a season of celebration, one...

October 2025 Choosing Love in a Fragile World Community Reflections on Good Soil In reading Jeff Chu’s book and digesting his remarks from our Fall Gathering, a theme emerged: choosing love. Click to watch Jeff Chu's talks from our Fall Gathering Love, as Jeff reminds us, is not a feeling—it’s a deliberate, often difficult, choice. And love is not separate from faith and justice—it’s foundational. In both his book and our live conversation with his Farminary professor, Rev. Dr. Kenda Creasy...