An Interspiritual Approach to Fighting for Social Justice
Working for Justice Takes Courage. Working Across Differences Takes Practice.
You care about what's happening in the world. Perhaps you're already organizing, advocating, supporting vulnerable neighbors, or participating in a social justice movement. Or perhaps you're looking for a way to become involved but aren't sure where to begin.
Even people who share a commitment to justice can disagree about strategies, priorities, and leadership. Movements can become fragmented, and the demands of organizing can leave little time to reflect on whether our efforts are making a difference.
Yet working across differences is essential to building stronger movements. Listening deeply, sharing power, and recognizing when to lead or follow can help people with different experiences and perspectives work toward common goals.
Join four faith leaders actively engaged in social justice movements for a three-part workshop exploring how spiritual practice, collective action, and collaboration can strengthen our work for justice.
Drawing on Wayne Teasdale's framework of prophetic voice, witness, and action, we'll examine approaches including community organizing, mutual aid, advocacy, accompaniment, protest, and direct service.
Through conversations with experienced leaders, spiritual reflection, and practical exercises, you'll assess your strengths, explore ways to navigate conflict, and develop a personal action plan.
Whether you're already involved or discerning your next steps, this workshop offers time to reflect on your role, learn from others, and consider how you want to contribute.
Tuesdays, March 30, April 6 & 13, 2027
6:30 PM – 8:30 PM ET
Live on Zoom · Recording included
General Public $160 · OSLA Affiliated Alumni $125
What We'll Explore
Session One: Listening for the Sound of the Genuine
with Rev. Lisa Holton and Rev. Laurene Williams
Inspired by Howard Thurman's teaching on the "sound of the genuine," we'll begin by examining what calls us to justice work and how our spiritual beliefs, experiences, and values shape our commitments.
Through journaling, personal reflection, and one-on-one conversation, you'll assess your current work, identify strengths and challenges, and consider where you may want to grow or make changes.
We'll also explore how intentional spiritual practices can support ongoing discernment and help sustain our involvement in social justice movements.
Session Two: Prophetic Voice, Witness, and Action
with Rev. Jordan Jones and Rev. Barbara Becker
Social justice movements rely on different forms of participation. Advocacy and protest give voice to injustice. Accompaniment and court watching bear witness. Boycotts, disruption, and direct action challenge existing structures.
Drawing on Wayne Teasdale's framework, we'll examine how these approaches work together, where they may conflict, and what we can learn from faith leaders engaged in different forms of social justice work.
We'll also explore practical approaches to de-escalation and collaboration when cultural differences or disagreements about strategy create tension.
Session Three: When to Bridge, When to Break
Working across differences requires discernment, clear boundaries, and an understanding of how power operates within communities and movements.
We'll examine whose voices shape decisions, whose perspectives are overlooked, and when effective solidarity requires stepping back rather than taking the lead.
We'll also explore strategies for navigating conflict, deciding when to pursue collaboration, and recognizing when boundaries or a different approach may be necessary.
Participants will revisit insights from the previous sessions and develop a personal social justice roadmap, identifying practical steps for deepening their current commitments or becoming involved in new work.
What You'll Take Away
Insight From Leaders Doing the Work
Learn directly from faith leaders involved in organizing, advocacy, and community-based social justice movements, including the challenges they face and the practices that sustain them.A Clearer Understanding of Your Strengths
Use guided self-assessment to identify your skills, motivations, areas for growth, and the role you want to play in social justice work.Practical Skills for Working Across Differences
Explore deep listening, collaboration, de-escalation, boundary setting, and approaches to navigating conflict within groups and movements.Spiritual Practices That Support Action
Consider how presence, reflection, discernment, and shared spiritual practice can help sustain your involvement in justice work.Your Personal Social Justice Roadmap
Leave with a personalized action plan and resources to help you take the next steps, whether you're building on existing commitments or finding a place to begin.
We hope participants will be transformed in at least three ways:
Gaining inspiration, insight, and practical advice from people on the front lines
Receiving the gift of time, attention, and tools to focus on their own gifts and blockages in this work
A personal action plan that will help them move forward after the workshop and find new ways of deepening and expanding the work they do in the world.
How We’ll Learn Together
This workshop brings together faith leaders whose experiences span different spiritual traditions and approaches to social justice.
We'll draw on teachings from Howard Thurman, Thomas Merton, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Zen Peacemakers, the Seven Lakota Virtues, and adrienne maree brown, alongside examples from contemporary movements for racial justice, immigrant rights, Indigenous sovereignty, and climate justice.
Sessions will include guided discussion, journaling, spiritual practices, one-on-one and small-group conversations, and the development of a personal action plan. Music and video will also support our exploration.
Participants will receive an extensive reading list, self-assessment tools, resources for de-escalation and group facilitation, and a framework for creating their social justice roadmap.
Who Should Attend?
Community Organizers, Activists, and Advocates
If you're already involved in organizing, mutual aid, advocacy, or direct service, you know that social justice work requires more than commitment. It also involves difficult decisions about strategy, leadership, collaboration, and how to respond when disagreements arise.
This workshop offers time to reflect on your current work, learn from faith leaders engaged in different movements, and explore practical approaches to navigating conflict and strengthening collaboration.
You'll also have an opportunity to assess your strengths, identify areas for growth, and consider how your work might evolve.
Ministers, Chaplains, and Spiritual Companions
Spiritual leaders are often called to respond to injustice, accompany people facing hardship, and help communities navigate difficult questions about faith, responsibility, and public action. Yet translating spiritual convictions into effective social justice work isn't always straightforward.
Through interspiritual perspectives and examples from contemporary movements, we'll explore how prophetic voice, witness, and action can inform ministry, advocacy, and community engagement.
This workshop is particularly relevant for One Spirit students and graduates who want to deepen the relationship between their spiritual formation and their work in the world.
Educators, Community Leaders, and Those Working Across Differences
If your work brings together people with different backgrounds, beliefs, or perspectives, you may be familiar with the challenges of building trust, sharing leadership, and addressing conflict.
We'll explore how power operates within groups and movements, including whose voices are heard, whose experiences are overlooked, and when collaboration requires stepping back rather than taking the lead.
You'll consider approaches to deep listening, de-escalation, boundary setting, and building relationships across differences.
If You're Curious About Getting Involved
You don't need to be an experienced organizer or activist to participate. Perhaps you care deeply about racial justice, immigrant rights, Indigenous sovereignty, climate justice, or the needs of your community, but haven't yet found a way to contribute.
This workshop offers an opportunity to hear from people doing the work, explore different forms of participation, and consider where your own interests and abilities might be useful.
All Are Welcome
You don't need to belong to a particular faith tradition, or any tradition at all, and All are welcome, including One Spirit students and graduates, ministers, spiritual practitioners, community organizers, advocates, and people joining our community for the first time. All that's needed is a willingness to learn, reflect, and consider your place in the work for justice.
About Your Facilitators
“My One Spirit training has transformed my work in the world. Practicing the power of presence, deep listening, followership, and seeking connection across difference has fueled my work in mutual aid for the undocumented community, fighting for racial justice through transformative arts, and collaborating on immigrant rights across faith traditions. I have encountered leaders--including the teachers in this workshop-- who are doing extraordinary work in the world; listening to them changed the way I see my own work.”
—Rev. Lisa
Rev. Lisa Holton (she/her), was ordained as an interfaith minister in 2024 and served for two years as a community minister at Judson Memorial Church.
As founding Board Chair of Judson Commons, she partners with artists and activists to raise resources and create welcoming, uncensored spaces for people working toward social change.
She supports Notes Towards, a programming platform centering Black, brown, Latinx, Asian, queer, nonbinary, and trans artists. She also works closely with Mi Tlalli, a collective of Indigenous queer immigrant and formerly incarcerated organizers supporting undocumented and asylum-seeking individuals and families.
Her work includes mutual aid, community organizing, artistic expression, and advocacy for social justice.
Rev. Laurene Williams (she/her) serves as Secretary of the One Spirit Learning Alliance Board of Trustees, as a community liaison for the educational team, and as a leader of One Spirit in Action.
An activist, counselor, innovator, and minister, she connects spiritual teachings with the experiences and responsibilities of everyday life.
Her work focuses on helping people express love, build relationships, take responsibility, and strengthen their communities.
She believes ministry is an opportunity to serve and empower others while helping people recognize their connection to one another.
Rev. Jordan Taylor Jones (he/him) serves as Associate Pastor at Metro Hope Church, where his ministry focuses on justice, liberation, and service to his community.
A writer, theologian, and faith-based community organizer, he draws inspiration from Howard Thurman's invitation to listen for "the sound of the genuine." His work brings contemplative spirituality into community organizing, pastoral care, and efforts to address injustice. He earned his Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary, where his scholarship examined contemplative spirituality and the formation of fugitive communities.
He also served as a clergy fellow with Fellowships at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics, examining ethical leadership during periods of moral and social crisis. Before entering seminary, he lived in Medellín, Colombia, where he taught English as a Fulbright scholar and worked in journalism. His writing has appeared in The Atlantic, AfroPop Worldwide, and other publications.
Rev. Barbara Becker (she/her) is an ordained interfaith minister, author, and human rights advocate who has spent more than 25 years working with activists and organizations around the world on peace, human rights, and interreligious understanding.
Her work has included collaborations with the United Nations, Human Rights First, the Ms. Foundation for Women, and the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh. She has also participated in a delegation with Zen Peacemakers and Lakota elders in South Dakota, an experience that informs her understanding of sacred witness and action across spiritual traditions.
Barbara taught communications for social change at Columbia University and The New School for more than a decade. Her spiritual care experience includes hospice volunteering at Bellevue Hospital and service with the American Red Cross disaster spiritual care team in the Greater New York area. Her work reflects a longstanding interest in human rights, compassionate presence, and collaboration across religious and cultural differences.
Registration Details
What Your Registration Includes
Three live interactive workshop sessions with four incredible thought leaders.
Workshop recordings for each week, accessible through June 30, 2027.
Guided reflection, discussion, and spiritual practices.
Practical tools for collaboration, de-escalation, and group facilitation.
Readings, self-assessment resources, and a personal action-plan framework.
Opportunities to connect with a community both inside and outside of the classroom
Registration Pricing
Public: $160 · OSLA Affiliated Alumni: $125
Taking more than one workshop? Buy 3, save 15%. Buy 4, save 20%!
Discount applied automatically at checkout.OSLA Alumni: Log in to your OSLA Portal to apply your affiliate discount.
Not affiliated yet? Learn More about Affiliation
After You Register
You'll receive instructions for accessing the workshop's Hylo Course Board, where you'll find the course Zoom link and workshop materials.
Can't attend live? The recording will be available within 72 hours of the workshop to the Hylo Course Board.
Questions? Contact help@1spirit.org.
