The Center for Faith and Justice offers programs in theological education and spiritual formation for individuals, congregations, and other faith communities. We do this work in partnership with higher ed institutions.
A cohort experience through our core curriculum in spiritual and public theology
Throughout the 2000s, leaders at City Church San Francisco began dreaming about ways to deepen spiritual and theological formation that brought the church and academy into vital partnership together. CCSF started Newbigin House of Studies out of this vision as a way to help members of their church community walk through a year of contemplative study. In 2011, a partnership with Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan began an exciting new venture into the world of formal theological education. This innovative relationship between the church and academy catalyzed programs for laity (the Newbigin Fellowship), students preparing for vocational ministry (the Newbigin Year), and pastors (the Ministry Fellowship). In 2020, during a time of pandemic and tumult (and many pivots!), all of these various programs became one under the Faith and Justice Fellowship. And in 2022, the Center for Faith and Justice was born. Today, we are building on over a decade of work in theological education to help people of Christian faith navigate a world of bewildering spiritual disorientation and fragmentation.
We’re doing this work by seeking faith and learning justice, weaving two efforts together that are often seen as distinct or, worse, separate. If Cornel West is right that “justice is what love looks like in public,” and Jesus told us the greatest commandment is love, the work of justice may be the greatest call of faith in the world.
We are a community of people seeking faith and learning justice, with participants from all over the world…
Our work together is rooted in historic world Christianity, which means we make space for the mystery of a faith that both transcends time and place and yet burrows deeply inside of life here and now.
The work of justice is inseparable from a life of faith in Jesus, who showed us that fullness of life is inextricably bound up with a love of neighbor that transgresses boundaries.
With participants from all over the world, our diverse community of people on many different, even divergent, paths reminds us of the primacy of relationships.
Thoughtful use of technology for online education makes our work possible. But these are mere tools and pathways for the irreplaceable richness of human connection.
Occasional face-to-face gatherings make our community deeper and more close-knit. We hope to see you at one of our conferences in San Francisco or another part of the world.
Even as we live in tumultuous times with many seemingly intractable divisions, a vision of God’s Beloved Community animates everything we do. We hope you’ll join us!
In the beginning, God made the world good. It’s a beautiful opening we have in the Bible, even if much of what follows is hard to understand. After all, none of us has the whole story. What we do know is that the way of Jesus and the work of justice are two prominent themes of scripture we can ill afford to ignore in this world of beauty and sorrows. And so together, we are seeking faith and learning justice, which is another way of saying we are pursuing a more beautiful, diverse, expansive, and liberating vision of Christian faith in the world.
Our core teaching team is made up of pastors, authors, activists, and scholars committed to the work of faith and justice: Peter Choi, Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Lisa Sharon Harper, Mihee Kim-Kort, Liz Lin, Riana Shaw Robinson, Julie Rodgers, Shirin Shafaie, and Devin Singh. They lead webinars, engage in community conversations, help craft the curriculum, and guide the overall direction of the network.
And become part of a vibrant community of mutual support for spiritual formation that spans across the world, tackling hard questions and seeking the common good…
