Last week I wrote a bit about the social justice ministry IMPACT (or, “Interfaith Movement Promoting Action by Congregations Together”).  I noted that it’s an example of congregation-based community organizing, a form of community organizing that leverages the power of faith communities (in which large groups of people are already gathered) to affect change.  27 different religious communities in the Charlottesville and Albemarle County come together to make IMPACT — Catholics, a wide variety of Protestant and non-denominational Christian communities, Jews, Muslims, and us Unitarian Universalists.  (In fact, our congregation was among the first to bring the vision of this social justice ministry into reality, largely through the efforts of the Rev. Leslie Takahashi.  We’ve been a part of IMPACT, and IMPACT has been a part of us, since the very beginning!)

Even people who have heard about IMPACT for years may not fully understand the way that it works, because much of what IMPACT does is overshadowed by one big thing that gets a lot of attention — the Nehemiah Action (the largest public gathering in Charlottesville, and one of the largest interfaith gatherings in the Commonwealth).  This event is extremely important, yet there are many other ways to get more actively and directly involved with this religiously, racially, and socio-economically diverse organization dedicated to making a real and concrete difference in the lives of people in our community.

In the fall of each year the member communities that make up IMPACT each hold “house meetings” in which people are asked to share with one another personal stories of their own experiences with problems in the wider community.  You, a parent, a child, a friend, a neighbor … someone you know is experiencing some form of injustice, personally and directly.  The facilitators of these meetings are not looking for observations from afar, conjectures, or analysis and assumptions.  Instead, the purpose of these gatherings is to gather together real stories of real people dealing with real problems.  Anyone can participate in one of these house meetings; the more who do, the better the process works.  One way you can get more deeply involved with IMPACT is to participate in one of these house meetings.  (There is also training available for people who would like to go further and facilitate a meeting!)

All of the stories from all of the meetings that took place in all 27 faith communities are gathered together, and IMPACT staff look for common themes.  At an event known as the Team Assembly, Network Members from the various congregations get together to listen to some of the stories that have been shared, and to select from all of the issues that that have been raised three that will brought to a vote.  The folks who attend the Team Assembly are known as “Network Members,”  One way to be more actively engaged with IMPACT is to become a Network Member in our congregation, someone who makes a commitment to attend events like the Team Assembly, and to actively recruit people to attend the Nehemiah Action in the spring.

Next there is the Annual Assembly, at which anyone from the 27 member congregations can listen to the real stories of real people related to the three possible issues and to then vote on the single issue IMPACT will try to address in the coming year(s).  This meeting also provides an opportunity to hear updates on the progress that’s being made with the issue IMPACT is already working on.  If you want to play a role in helping to determine the issue that will be IMPACT’s focus, and you want to be inspired by the work that’s being done, you can attend the Annual Assembly.

After a single issue has been determined, the hard work begins — the general issue needs to be refined to something more specific, something that has an achievable solution.  This takes research, learning how other communities have tackled the problem, and what might be possible to do here.  It takes talking with stakeholders, and the people and organizations that have the power to address the issue, so that they can be engaged in the process leading to a real solution.  (This might be local politicians, organizations like Region Ten, or something as large as the UVA Health System.)  If you really want to have the most intimate involvement in IMPACT, if you want to actively engage the process of creating more justice for more people in our community, working with a truly diverse group of others as dedicated as you are to seeing real change, consider being part of a research team.

The single largest event on the IMPACT calendar is the Nehemiah Action.  Over 1,000 people come together in one place, for one night, as the people with the power to affect change are asked, publicly, if they will commit to doing so.  Some people have said that they find the Action to be “too confrontational” for their comfort.  Yet the purpose of most community organizing is to confront those with “institutional power” with a strong show of “people power” calling for change.  That’s why Network Members work so hard to get as many people to attend the Nehemiah Action as possible.  There’s a general principle that at events like this, for every 1 person in attendance there are at least another 10 people who for some reason were unable to come.  So when our community’s “movers and shakers” look out into the audience and see 1,000 people, they know that there are at least 10,000 looking back at them to see their commitment to doing justice.  If there is only ONE thing that you do to engage with this interfaith justice ministry, please attend the Nehemiah Action on Thursday April 11th, 6:30 – 8:00 at the Martin Luther King Jr. Performing Arts Center!

Part of the crowd that gathered for justice at last year’s Nehemiah Action!

In our congregation Greta Dershimer is perhaps the most knowledgeable person you can talk with to learn more.  (You can look in the church director, or call the church office, if you want to get in touch with her.)  And this Sunday, March 24th, the work IMPACT does, and the way it goes about doing it, will be the structure on which we’ll hang our service.

Remember, if what you want to do is talk about things, create committees to study community problems, or issue declarations about how things need to change — those things are important, but IMPACT is not for you!  On the other hand, if you want to make real, concrete changes in the lives of real people, consider getting more involved in our work in IMPACT.

Pax tecum,

RevWik