Organizing For Mission Network: Western Training

From August 27-29, the Church Council team attended the Organizing for Mission Network’s Western Training at First UMC in Tacoma. The three-day training connected organizers, faith leaders, and community members to learn and practice core organizing principles to build collective power in their own contexts and neighborhoods. Sessions explored how to form public relationships through one-on-one conversations, develop teams based on shared interests and values, and move from listening and learning into transformative action.  

This training was one of the first organizing opportunities staff have shared with members of Grupo de Solidaridad, along with the WAISN Membership Convening. As we continue to invest in the leadership of Grupo members, we’re equipping them with the same organizing tools our staff use so that as leaders closest to the problems, they are able to organize their communities toward tangible solutions.

Executive Director Tara Miller made a cameo appearance on the training team, which included former Co-Executive Director, Joey Lopez, and other longtime Church Council collaborators, including Brother Steve Jerbi, pastor shalom agtarap, Pastor Caleb Encinas Cortés, and Joey Ager, among many others. One of the highlights of the training included learning about First UMC’s creation of Common Good Tacoma, a multiracial organizing hub which collaborates with diverse organizations in the city, and hearing from some of the partners directly, including La Resistencia.