Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Talk with the Preacher

Home
Progressive Christian
Building Beloved Community Together

Building Beloved Community Together

Last updated on: May 11, 2016 at 9:21 am by Amy Butler

Building Beloved Community Together 2016-05-08T18:32:36-04:00 Amy Butler

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

This is the last in a series of 3 posts that are part of an on going conversation at The Riverside Church on how the whole church is called to do the work of justice and building beloved community. These posts were inspired by a public discussion called #TrendingAtTRC I held with Beth Ackerman, Head of Riverside’s creation care ministry Beloved Earth, and Lisa Hinds Salmon, Chair of our Finance Committee. Too often the finances of a church and its social justice ministries are viewed as completely separate. But we know that churches most fully live into their mission when everyone is contributing their passions and strengths toward the same goals. I am grateful to Beth and Lisa for doing the challenging work of collaboration. We know Riverside is not the only church exploring these questions and hope these conversations are helpful to others.

In the first post we explored what we mean when we talk about “divestment” as a social justice tool and the second conversation examined the intersection of climate, race, and poverty. The questions for this post are: Seeing as the #Trending Conversation between Beloved Earth and Finance is an example of two seemingly non-related Riverside groups/ideas coming together, are there other cool examples/ideas of collaboration we could be exploring? How do I know what’s a good potential collaboration match?

Pastor Amy

I’m looking forward to both Lisa’s and Beth’s ideas in answer to this question, especially since I’ve heard so many ways in which they both have been leading collaborative efforts that maybe some in the congregation are even unaware of.

This church was born in the congregational tradition, a church tradition not without its flaws but certainly with robust possibility because partnership is embedded in the DNA of congregational polity. In other words, partnership between committed lay people and excellent professional staff is what helps us live into our best institutional witness.

The professional staff works as a collaborative team at all times, and that collaboration is strongest when exercised in partnership with laity. When a layperson or group has an idea for ministry or action, close work with a member of the staff will result in conversation about how and where collaboration is possible and meaningful. For example, this year the Riverside Book Club approached me about featuring a book I’d placed in the Welcome Center, Jennifer Finney Boylan’s book, She’s Not There. I mentioned that Jenny has been coming to church lately, so we worked together to see if she’d be available to join in. Then, it was clear that Maranatha should be involved, as Jenny is a leading national voice for the Transgender movement. It became clear then that communications, stewardship, IT, education, and other parts of church staff, programs, and laity also had potential interest in a program like this, so they were engaged in planning and participation. What began as a small program for a insulated group in the church evolved into a much larger expression and celebration, even, of our community. This is what I mean when I talk about #OneRiverside—working together in partnership, the best expression of our congregational polity, to impact our community and the larger world in the most meaningful ways we can.

Beth

#OneRiverside provides some great opportunities to get to know each other. In several meetings with Finance Chair Lisa Hinds Salmon and Pastor Amy I was able to connect on a human level with wonderful women who are doing important work but were, until then, somewhat unknown to me. With that backdrop it was even more inspiring to learn more about the justice-based investing which is the heart of the goals that Finance is working on now. At the congregational meeting Ms. Hinds explained their goal is to “align our money with our mission” around for-profit prisons, and to divest the portfolio from them. In this way the desire to have a more racially equitable world becomes actionable.

It got the Beloved Earth Community wondering, since we know Riverside’s mission includes “fostering responsible stewardship of God’s creation,” wouldn’t it be true under the new paradigm, that aligning of our financial priorities around earth justice is not far behind? Can we now divest from fossil fuels on a prudent and measured 5-year timeline?

Maybe you wonder, how much do Riversiders really consider environmental stewardship part of their spiritual life? A while ago I attended a retreat of the Mission and Social Justice Commission. People took turns answering, “When did your spirituality start and where were you?” most of them answered similarly, explaining they felt God when they were out in nature, perhaps from a young age. Whether it was an individual from the Prison Ministry, Sharing Fund, Maranatha or others, their connection to God is hardwired to his handiwork. So this awareness is another part of our connection to each other at church.

Now we are beginning to recycle as a church community with more intention, a #OneRiverside initiative. Paper use is being minimized, most recently announced as another #OneRiverside initiative with Stewardship. Now we are actively seeking more energy reductions everywhere in our 185,000 square foot building, a collaboration between the Building Committee, Patrick O’Brian, who is Riverside’s new property manager, and Beloved Earth.

Let’s continue to raise up our love and gratitude for creation, making sure those investments align with our God-given commitments, and do it as One Riverside.

Please see the Beloved Earth Community’s booklet about Divestment for more info: link. http://www.trcnyc.org/socialjustice/files/DivestmentFinalCombined2-18-16.pdf

Lisa

Collaboration is at the heart of the work we all do at Riverside. The Finance Committee serves our community of faith in this way. The question is “who are we called to be?” and “how can we live out radical love?” Embracing our collective belief system and having those beliefs represented in our investment policy statement with credibility, accountability, and moral authenticity is our mission.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

May 8, 2016

At the Intersection of Climate, Race & Poverty

Next Post

May 15, 2016 If We Knew Then…

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Answering the Call Being the Church Curating Wisdom Laughing Out Loud Living in Relationship Practicing Discipleship Reclaiming Baptist Speaking from the Pulpit Uncategorized

Select a Month July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005

Search for:

Building Beloved Community Together

Pastor Amy

Beth

Lisa

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

Archives

Categories

Meta

Who is called the "brother of the Lord" and wrote a New Testament letter?