Faith-Rooted Organizing: Mobilizing the Church in Service to the World

Rev. Alexia Salvatierra · Peter Heltzel

Dec 2013 · InterVarsity Press

About this ebook

With so many injustices, small and great, across the world and right at our doorstep, what are people of faith to do? Since the 1930s, organizing movements for social justice in the U.S. have largely been built on assumptions that are secular origin—such as reliance on self-interest and having a common enemy as a motivator for change. But what if Christians were to shape their organizing around the implications of the truth that God is real and Jesus is risen? Alexia Salvatierra has developed a model of social action that is rooted in the values and convictions born of faith. Together with theologian Peter Heltzel, this model of "faith-rooted organizing" offers a path to meaningful social change that takes seriously the command to love God and to love our neighbor as ourself.

About the author

Rev. Alexia Salvatierra is an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. She also serves as a consultant for a variety of organizations, including World Vision USA/World Vision International/Women of Vision, Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, the Christian Community Development Association the Womens? Donor Network, Auburn Theological Seminary, Interfaith Worker Justice, PICO and Sojourners. She is adjunct faculty at the New York Theological Seminary and Biola University, and for over eleven years she was the executive director of Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE).
Peter Heltzel (PhD, Boston University) is Associate Professor of Theology and Director of the Micah Institute at New York Theological Seminary. He is the author of Resurrection City: A Theology of Improvisation and Jesus and Justice: Evangelicals, Race and American Politics. In addition to writing for USA Today, Books Culture, and Sojourners, Heltzel has published numerous articles in journals, such as Political Theology, Princeton Theological Review and Scottish Journal of Theology. An ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), he serves as Assistant Pastor of Evangelism at Park Avenue Christian Church. Heltzel has a deep commitment to the power of words and music, to social justice and to a global movement of radical change and collective activism. This passion was honored when he was awarded the 2014 Nelson Mandela Community Activist Award for his ongoing work to make a difference in New York City. Heltzel serves as director of the Micah Institute, which seeks to educate New York City faith leaders on issues of social and economic justice, to equip leaders to serve as change agents for social transformation and movement-building, and to act as a powerful coalition of organizers and advocates transforming New York City. He also serves on the Metro Commission on the Ministry and the Anti-Racism/Pro-Reconciliation Team of the Northeastern Region, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Heltzel lives in Harlem with his wife, mezzo-soprano Sarah Heltzel.