What does it look like for churches to act faithfully in the current tumultuous political crisis? Prophetic witness and speaking up for justice matters; acting faithfully goes hand in hand with speaking faithfully. Whatever policy priorities churches focus on, they should always look to go deeper into solidarity with those in need in their communities — especially marginalized people who are in danger due to unjust government actions.
Solidarity isn’t affection. Solidarity is, instead, a recognition that our destinies are intertwined because of our common humanity. As Martin Luther King Jr. wrote in his 1963 “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.”
Solidarity can take the form of explicit activism, or it can be supporting and caring for those threatened by governmental or economic policies. But solidarity isn’t charity. It isn’t enough for us to just give money or stuff or our time to good causes. Instead, solidarity is about deepening relationships and basing those relationships on a shared recognition of our common human destiny. As King observed in that same letter, “Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.”
To become communities of deep solidarity, churches need to ground their work in intra-congregational relationships so that the congregation can act in a unified way, as the body of Christ. When congregations view their charitable and activist efforts as group projects for which they are communally responsible, rather than seeing their role as supporting individuals taking extraordinary action, it makes their work safer and more sustainable. Theologically, communal action and responsibility make concrete the ways we belong to one another.
Churches also need to cross the boundaries between secular and sacred, bringing work done with outside partners and coalitions into the relational heart of the congregation. Coalitions are stronger when participants build deep relationships, demonstrating the inextricable mutuality of solidarity. Crossing boundaries also means ensuring that everyone is able to participate in the work of liberation by making solidarity efforts accessible.
The work of solidarity is material and requires building relationships and also caring for the practical needs of others, both within the congregation and in the surrounding community. These ever-deepening relationships of solidarity nourish the congregation’s spiritual life, transforming the way it practices worship, prayer, and discipleship.
This isn’t about what issues form the focus of our activism. Churches have many areas to choose from when it comes to getting involved in improving the lives of those in their congregations and communities. Instead, the question that should guide churches is how we do that work so that we’re growing deeper into solidarity on whatever front our activism takes. Building a deep and sustainable base for action can help us respond when the torrent of need feels overwhelming.
Here are ten specific ways that churches can intentionally direct themselves toward becoming communities of deep solidarity by orienting their members’ relationships, time, money, and property in our web of mutuality.
- Do something as a congregation, together. Find an ongoing and relationship-building action for justice you can take as a congregation. Whether you are a pastor or a congregant, encourage everyone to take part in this action. In order for this action to be effective, the key is to make it an “ongoing” and “relationship-building” project. Accompany those in need and at risk: welcome asylum-seekers; support those returning from prison; mentor trans kids. Whatever you choose, take it on together.
- Bring work with organizational partners into the heart of your communal life. Rather than reinventing the wheel, it’s better for a congregation to work with partners that already exist and are doing activist work. If your church’s justice work is mostly through outreach partners, actively recruit and support people within your congregation to join those efforts. It’s not enough to have a Sunday service announcement. Personally invite and encourage involvement. Build a support circle within your congregation for the volunteers working with partner organizations so that they can build relationships with one another. For congregants who are not volunteering, creating congregant-led support circles encourages relationships of solidarity among both volunteers and those who are unable to directly volunteer with community partners. It helps make outreach efforts a group project for the church. Pray for these ministries and every member involved in them by name in your worship.
- Build relationships in the coalitions you are part of. Developing closer ties with organizational partners, like nonprofit organizations, applies to coalitions, too. Where your congregation is involved in interfaith, ecumenical, and denominational coalitions, deepen relationships by offering support groups or circles for those in and outside of your congregation who are working on coalition movements.
- Practice mutual aid. Care for each other’s needs within your congregation. No one goes hungry, no one gets evicted, no one struggles to find childcare; no one struggles to access healthcare, goes to an appointment alone, or feels shame over debt. Include congregational mutual aid in your church’s budget.
- Include parents. Even though parents are busy, they still have something to contribute. Offer ongoing opportunities, specifically aimed at parents of young children, to include them in the work your church is doing. Provide childcare so that parents don’t have to choose between caring for their kids and being part of the movement. Provide ways for kids to be involved in the work itself, too. Make sure these opportunities are repeated and not just one-time events. Coordinate with other families and provide opportunities for parents to build relationships with other parents and caregivers. Shared care for each other’s children is a radical practice of mutuality.
- Prioritize accessibility. Offer ongoing opportunities to participate in your work for justice specifically for elderly and disabled people. Accessibility needs vary, but this may mean mask requirements, remote opportunities, or offering rides to make events accessible to people who want to participate. Require masks in at least one of your Sunday services for an accessible option, and put air filters in your spaces. Look for who is missing, not just who is present, in your community, and make space for them.
- Bring the Word to the work and the work to the Word. Preach liberation, naming the systemic roots of the oppression you’re seeing, and be willing to take radical stances grounded in the gospel. Bring what you learn from the relationships you’re building outside of the church when interpreting scripture, in keeping with the tradition of liberation theology.
- Equip through political education. In addition to theology that liberates, empower discipleship by teaching and studying practical skills and capabilities to protect the vulnerable. For example, run a know-your-rights training and teach about immigrant defense, study and practice restorative justice skills like circle processes, and provide public health information, including harm reduction strategies.
- Be radical stewards of your property. Donate your building to groups in need; never leave it empty or unused. Consider donating part of your church property to be used as a green space. Seek out an organizational partner that can share your building. (And then see the second point to deepen your relationship with that partner.) If your church can be a sanctuary church for migrants, work with lawyers and other advocates to figure out how to make that a reality. If your church building cannot be a sanctuary space, then figure out other ways that it can be a space of protection and healing, life and liberation, restoration and joy.
- Let everything be done with prayer. Rather than thinking of worship as a separate activity or an event put on by the church — or worse, thinking of Sunday morning worship as the most important thing the church does — imagine how worship informs all the above actions, and how solidarity work becomes a form of worship itself. Suffuse all your efforts with prayer, and set aside specific times to pray and sanctify the work your church is doing. By work and praying, the church is made visible in deep solidarity.
Hannah Bowman is a graduate student in religious studies at Mount Saint Mary's University, Los Angeles, a literary agent, and the founder and director of Christians for the Abolition of Prisons, where she writes and teaches on the Christian theology supporting abolition. You can follow her on Twitter @hannahnpbowman.
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