Starting Social Justice Work
June 1, 2002
Q. We don't have much of a culture of doing social justice work as a congregation, but we'd like to try. How do we get started?
A. There are two sources that could be helpful. Rev. Anne Odin Heller has written a book, Churchworks: A Well-Body Book for Congregations, which has a chapter on social action. It includes exercises to help a congregation understand the importance of social action and how to get started. It also has a list of twelve projects and ways to raise money for social justice work.
The second resource is The Prophetic Imperative: Social Gospel in Theory and Practice (Second Edition), by Rev. Richard S. Gilbert, minister at First Unitarian Church of Rochester, NY. His book describes the history of social justice work within our movement, reasons for doing it, and ways to do it. A chapter describes how First Unitarian became a leader in social justice work.
Both books are available from the Unitarian Universalist Association Bookstore (800) 215-9076. Churchworks (Skinner House, 1999) #7008 is $20. Prophetic Imperative, (Skinner House, 2000) # 7740 is $18.
For more information contact interconnections @ uua.org.
Last updated on Friday, April 18, 2008.
