Several Ways to Create A Social Justice Program
December 15, 2006
There are at least four ways to inspire a congregation to become active in social justice work.
- Hire a social justice director who will organize social action projects.
- Inspire people through a passionate minister or volunteer.
- Live in a place that's so socially conservative that to do nothing is unthinkable.
- Find just the right moment when the congregation is receptive to a new way of being.
Many of us yearn for our congregations to be more involved in the world. But making that happen can be a challenge. So we do what we can. And we marvel at those congregations that seem to make social justice a centerpiece of their ministries.
How did they get that way? There is no one answer. Often it was one of the four factors above. More often it was a combination.
Five years ago the UU Congregation of Columbia (UUCC), MD (369 members), had a few folks engaged in social justice work, mostly on projects that interested them and on which they could recruit other congregants to help. There was little funding for social action and no congregation-wide projects. Previous ministers and lay leaders had supported social action and urged congregants to be involved, but it was not members' main focus.
Then came a convergence of events. The Rev. Richard Nugent arrived as interim minister in 2001 to guide the congregation through a ministerial transition. According to Steve Von Hagen-Jamar, current social action chair, while Nugent was there the congregation "moved from being preoccupied with internal matters including a building expansion and a ministerial search and our own individual spiritual quests. Richard began to challenge us to do more and to put more money into social action efforts. This marked the beginning of a stronger focus outward than we had had for the previous decade."
About that time the congregation began work on a new vision statement and the result included a strong social justice component.
Things started to happen. The congregation joined with 20 other congregations to form People Acting Together for Howard County (PATH). The interfaith organization, a congregation-based community organization, focuses on affordable housing, transportation, and youth issues. Forty to 60 friends and members of the congregation participate in PATH, Von Hagen-Jamar says.
UUCC also now has an environmental activities committee and the congregation is beginning to focus on water issues. It's also working toward becoming certified as a Green Sanctuary, and it's engaged with the issue of marriage equality. Once a month the Sunday offering goes to a social action group in the community, totaling $12,000 to $15,000 annually.
Von Hagen-Jamar is quick to point out that at various times in its history his congregation has been very active in social justice work.
"What is changing now," he says, "is not the sense of the importance of social service, but rather the idea of having our efforts be a UUCC project rather than just an individual's project."
Nugent, who has been an interim minister for several congregations and is former chair of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) Commission on Social Witness, encourages the congregations he serves to look outside themselves. And because that plea comes at a time when the congregation is in the midst of other change, it is usually heeded. "I invite congregations to actively engage in an outward focus," he says. That means not only engaging in social justice work, but also "letting the community know you exist" by publicizing events.
Marion Zenker, the longtime elected lay leader of the Black Hills Unitarian Universalist (UU) Fellowship in Rapid City, SD (44), laughs when she's asked if the congregation is active in social issues. "I don't think any Unitarian Universalist can live in South Dakota and not be involved in social justice," she says.
Six of the fellowship's 44 members ran for the state legislature this fall. While none won, they gained valuable experience. Beyond that, members are engaged with Habitat for Humanity, war protests, Native American and bisexual, gay, lesbian, and transgender issues, and abortion rights.
The South Dakota legislature's extreme conservatism is part of the reason for this activism, says Zenker. It voted earlier this year to ban abortion outright (voters rejected that ban November 7) and tried to prohibit all "quasi-marriages" and to block a medical marijuana bill. "You can't witness all that and not get involved," says Zenker.
So political climate is one reason for the fellowship's activism. Another is that the fellowship supports social action and thus attracts like-minded people. "To a person we are very concerned about what goes on in the world," says Zenker. "People feel welcome, heard, and supported here. That's why they come here and why they give back to the community."
Social action has long been part of the life of the UU Community Church of Santa Monica, CA, (442). Its social justice committee has been engaged with farmworker and immigrant issues.
When the congregation called the Rev. Judith Meyer in 1993 she encouraged it to integrate social justice into the whole church, rather than locating it in a committee that might involve only a few people. As a result, the congregation took the unusual step of hiring a social justice intern for nine months to help it develop a new social justice approach.
What it came up with was a 12-member Faith in Action Commission that meets regularly to coordinate various task groups for specific issues. Each fall the congregation votes on the issues it would like to pursue that year. The task groups research an issue, bring an action plan to the commission, and then implement it.
If the congregation approves an issue, the commission is empowered to speak on behalf of the congregation. Otherwise it speaks only for itself about that issue in the larger community. Controversial issues require two-thirds approval.
There are task groups on hunger and homelessness, peace and civil liberties, green living, and bisexual, gay, lesbian and transgender issues. There is an annual report to the congregation.
"The congregation has a growing sense that we actually are involved in social justice work and that it's an integral part of the congregation," says Charles Haskell, Santa Monica governing board chair and the Faith in Action Commission immediate past chair.
For more information contact interconnections @ uua.org.
Last updated on Monday, July 30, 2007.
