Stephen Paul Bouman

Faith-Rooted Organizing

Ethics, Culture & Social Issues

“On a cold February night some years ago I experienced a rite of passage in my understanding of mission. Two thousand followers of Jesus created a table in the midst of creation. They met with the mayor of New York City to negotiate issues like crime, drugs, jobs and affordable housing as they struggled to reroot the life and mission of their congregations in their communities. I saw the power and effectiveness of community organizing come alive. I saw the Nehemiah Project literally rebuild burned-out neighborhoods around our congregations with thousands of units of affordable housing. "The arts of community organizing have come a long way since the scuffling days of Saul Alinsky and the Back of the Yards organization in Chicago. For me, over the years, connecting with organizing networks has been life giving and game changing. The arts of listening, power analysis and leadership development have undergirded my ministry as parish pastor, bishop and now denominational executive. "In writing Faith-Rooted Organizing Alexia Salvatierra and Peter Heltzel have made an immense contribution to the maturing of the community-organizing tradition in relationship to the mission of the Christian gospel. They begin where people of faith live: in the biblical drama, their local faith communities, their daily walk with Jesus. This book makes organizing accessible to evangelical Christians, and provides renewal and deep grounding for all spiritual journeys. "For example, sometimes Christians encounter community organizing through the lens of power, and they struggle to see its resonance with Christian ethics. The chapter on 'serpent power' and 'dove power,' speaking of power from within the depths of the Christian narrative, isboth realistic and hopeful. All through the book I got the sense of an attempt not to make organizing palatable to evangelical Christians but instead to help bring out the great gifts that Christians contribute to any effort to rebuild a just world. The perspective of 'the least of these' always keeps faith-rooted organizing rooted in the perspective of Jesus. "Faith-Rooted Organizing is steeped in real-life experience. Many stories make the concepts come alive. And the book is a love letter from Alexia and Peter to an emerging generation seeking to follow Jesus in lives that matter.”