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Equipping faith leaders for the contentious 2024 election season

Bible on an American flag
Douglas Sacha/Getty Images
By Steve Lawler,
Steve Lawler
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F. Willis Johnson
F. Willis Johnson
Rev. Dr. F. Willis Johnson, Jr., serves as vice president of partnerships and programming with the Bridge Alliance. A third-generation educator, Rev. Dr. F. Willis Johnson is a spiritual entrepreneur, Senior Minister of Living Tree Church and adjunct faculty at Methodist Theological School of Ohio. Johnson formerly served as senior minister of Wellspring Church in Ferguson, Missouri, a predominately African-American intergenerational urban parachute church plant. Rev. Dr. Johnson is respected for his leadership and strategies around social and racial justice issues. Recognized as a scholar-practitioner, Johnson authored Holding Up Your Corner: Talking About Race in Your Community, and is a sought after thought-leader who empowers individuals and communities towards prophetic response—healing, justice and reconciliation. With some 19 years of professional ministry experience in Indiana, North Carolina, and Missouri, Johnson’s skills extend far beyond the pulpit. Trained in education and nonprofit management, he has served in volunteer and paid leadership positions for multiple nonprofit organizations. He counsels bishops, General Board agencies, annual conferences, and local churches across the country. Johnson in 2017 was the Vosburgh Visiting Professor of Ministry and Social Engagement at Drew University’s Theological School.
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Feb 22, 2024

Lawler is director of the Walker Leadership Institute at Eden Seminary. Johnson is a United Methodist pastor, the author of "Holding Up Your Corner: Talking About Race in Your Community" (Abingdon Press, 2017) and program director for the Bridge Alliance, which houses The Fulcrum.

The 2024 election season is underway, and the potential for increased polarization within our communities comes with it. As religious leaders, we hold a unique position of influence and trust. Our congregations and communities often look to us for guidance during times of uncertainty and conflict. However, the rapidly changing social and political landscape can leave even the most seasoned leaders unprepared.

That is why the Bridge Alliance, in collaboration with the Walker Leadership Institute at Eden Seminary, co-created the Praxis Cohort. This groundbreaking initiative supports and trains religious leaders in preparation for the challenging 2024 election season. The cohort recently held its inaugural virtual convening, drawing faith practitioners and others nationwide into a collaborative and educational forum.

Our vision is to create a network of faith leaders equipped with the knowledge, skills and spiritual grounding necessary to navigate the complexities of the modern political climate. Through this program, participants engage with theology, political science, conflict resolution and community organizing experts. The goal is not to dictate a political stance but to foster an environment where leaders can thoughtfully engage with contentious issues and guide their communities with compassion and wisdom.

The Jan. 27 convening of the cohort was a testament to the hunger for such learning and community. Faith practitioners from various denominations and backgrounds shared their experiences, concerns and hopes for the future. The event featured a series of workshops, keynotes, and discussions, all focusing on building resilience, fostering dialogue, contextualization, and understanding the intersection of faith and politics.

One of the highlights was the panel discussion on "A Spirituality to Sustain," where seasoned faith leaders shared their insights on maintaining faithfulness to spiritual precepts and practices amid differing political views within communities of faith. Another critical session was "Working in the Public Sphere," with the Rev. Ben Sander III, Denver’s chief equity officer, who shared theological imperatives and ethical considerations for faith-informed engagement in public space and discourse. The training provided was both practical and profound.

A vital training component emphasizes praxis – the intersection of theory and action. Therefore, participants are encouraged to implement what they learn within their communities through voter registration drives, hosting public forums, or simply fostering a more inclusive and understanding atmosphere within their congregations.

In the coming months, cohort participants will learn to harness the power of digital tools for community organizing, engage in role-playing exercises to prepare for difficult conversations, and develop strategies for self-care and spiritual resilience. The curriculum is dynamic and adapted to the needs of the cohort members and the unfolding political context.

The electoral season ahead is undoubtedly fraught with uncertainties, but the Praxis Cohort is an example of hope. Bridge Alliance and the Walker Leadership Institute believe investing in spiritual leaders is an investment towards healthy and more unified communities. As we expand the program and reach more faith leaders across the country, we are confident this will have a positive impact in the face of division and strife.

The 2024 election season may be contentious, but it also presents growth and transformation opportunities. Through the Praxis Cohort, we aim to empower faith leaders to be agents of peace and change, guiding their communities with a spirit of love and understanding that transcends political boundaries.

Interested faith leaders and social entrepreneurs desiring a cohort learning community are welcome to join Praxis. Together, with other diverse leaders committed to navigating the challenges ahead with courage and faith, you will not be alone in endeavoring to bring about a more just and representative democratic exercise this election season and beyond.

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This Isn’t My Story. But It’s One I’ll Never Forget.

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Picture provided by The Dignity Index

This Isn’t My Story. But It’s One I’ll Never Forget.

My colleague, Meghan Monroe, a former teacher and trainer in the Dignity Index, went out to lunch with a friend on the 4th of July. Her friend was late and Meghan found herself waiting outside the restaurant where, to her surprise, a protest march approached. It wasn’t big and it wasn’t immediately clear what the protest was about. There were families and children marching—some flags, and some signs about America being free.

One group of children caught Meghan’s eye as they tugged at their mother while marching down the street. The mom paused and crouched down to speak to the children. Somehow, Meghan could read the situation and realized that the mom was explaining to the children about America—about what it is, about all the different people who make up America, about freedom, about dignity.

“I could just tell that the Mom wanted her children to understand something important, something big. I couldn’t tell anything about her politics. I could just tell that she wanted her children to understand what America can be. I could tell she wanted dignity for her children and for people in this country. It was beautiful.”

As Meghan told me this story, I realized something: that Mom at the protest is a role model for me. The 4th may be over now, but the need to explain to each other what we want for ourselves and our country isn’t.

My wife, Linda, and I celebrated America at the wedding of my godson, Alexander, and his new wife, Hannah. They want America to be a place of love. Dozens of my cousins, siblings, and children celebrated America on Cape Cod.

For them and our extended family, America is a place where families create an enduring link from one generation to the next despite loss and pain.

Thousands of Americans in central Texas confronted the most unimaginable horrors on July 4th. For them, I hope and pray America is a place where we hold on to each other in the face of unbearable pain and inexplicable loss.

Yes. It’s complicated. There were celebrations of all kinds on July 4th—celebrations of gratitude to our military, celebrations of gratitude for nature and her blessings, and sadly, celebrations of hatred too. There are a million more examples of our hopes and fears and visions, and they’re not all happy.

I bet that’s one of the lessons that mom was explaining to her children. I imagine her saying, “America is a place where everyone matters equally. No one’s dignity matters more than anyone else’s. Sometimes we get it wrong. But in our country, we always keep trying and we never give up.”

For the next 12 months as we lead up to the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, we’re going to be hearing a lot about what we want America to be. But maybe the more important question is what we the people are willing to do to fulfill our vision of what we can be. The answer to that question is hiding in plain sight and is as old as the country itself: join with others and do your part, and no part is too small to matter.

At our best, our country is a country of people who serve one another. Some may say that’s out of fashion, but not me. Someone is waiting for each of us—to talk, to share, to join, to care, to lead, to love. And in our time, the superpower we need is the capacity to treat each other with dignity, even when we disagree. Differences of opinion aren’t the problem; in fact, they’re the solution. As we love to say, “There’s no America without democracy and there’s no democracy without healthy debate and there’s no healthy debate without dignity.”

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Beyond Party Lines
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The American Experiment tested whether groups with diverse interests could unite under a declaration of common principles. In this moment, we face a critical juncture that tests whether distrust and political fervor could drive Americans to abandon or deny everything that unites us.

Henry Bolingbroke contends that party spirit inspires “Animosity and breeds Rancor.” Talking of his countrymen, he wrote, “We likewise derive, not our Privileges (for they were always ours) but a more full and explicit Declaration”; Whigs and Tories can unite on this alone. That Declaration of Ours was penned by Thomas Jefferson when his colonists repelled the redcoats at the Siege of Charleston and when Washington’s troops were awaiting battle in Manhattan. The American Declaration set out those principles, which united the diverse colonies. And the party system, as Bolingbroke said, brought animosity and weakened the Union. Critics disputed these claims. William Warburton attacked Bolingbroke as an evil-speaker with “dog-eloquence”—claimed his calls for party reform were an aristocratic conspiracy to cement the power of elites. An anonymous critic argued that the government is a union of unrelated people where laws supplant the natural bonds between families. Then, the government of the United States would not exist, or would not exist long.

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Social entrepreneur John Marks developed a set of eleven working principles that have become his modus operandi and provide the basic framework for his new book, “From Vision to Action: Remaking the World Through Social Entrepreneurship," from which a series of three articles is adapted. While Marks applied these principles in nonprofit work, he says they are also applicable to social enterprises—and to life, in general.

PART TWO

PRINCIPLE #4: KEEP SHOWING UP. It has been said that 80 percent of success in life is showing up. For social entrepreneurs, this means continuing to stay engaged without dabbling or parachuting. Like a child’s toy windup truck that moves forward until it hits an obstacle and then backs off and finds another way forward, social entrepreneurs should be persistent—and adept at finding work-arounds. They must be willing to commit for the long term. I found that this was particularly important when working with Iranians, who tend to view the world in terms of centuries and millennia.

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Similarity Hub Shows >700 Instances of Cross-Partisan Common Ground

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It is a common refrain to say that Americans need to find common ground across the political spectrum.

Over the past year, AllSides and More Like US found >700 instances of common ground on political topics, revealed in Similarity Hub. It highlights public opinion data from Gallup, Pew Research, YouGov, and many other reputable polling firms.

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