It starts in your community of faith.

Our work is made stronger by the diverse coalition of faiths and traditions that make up our network. While our members may have differing belief systems, we are united by a higher calling to see justice done in our community.

In both the Jewish and Christian traditions, we are told in Micah 6:8 that we’re required by God to do three basic things: “do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God.”

Faithfulness and walking humbly with our God includes the ministries that bring us closer to God. In our congregations, we hold weekly worship services, we sing together, we learn together.

Mercy ministries help individuals in need directly. Our congregations have feeding ministries, clothing drives, and work with organizations like Habitat for Humanity.

Justice ministry is something different. In religious texts, justice is holding Pharaoh or the King and nobles accountable for the fair treatment of all people - especially the poor, the widow and the orphan. For our ministry, justice means holding our mayors, councils, and school boards accountable for fair policies and practices.

Building people power.

Sometimes people confuse Mercy and Justice work. For example, there are great mercy ministries that build homes for families in immediate need. Justice is holding our officials accountable to provide affordable housing so that there are NO families in need. Both are necessary, but they are not the same kind of work.

Although we’re required to do justice, we don’t do it as well, because we can’t do it alone. We need power to do justice— power in large numbers of organized people. It is the power of the majority that put our elected officials into office, and it is that same people power that can hold them accountable to make real change in the Columbia area. YOU are that people power and we can wield that power together to make changes NOW. We do not have to wait for the ballot box to press for change.

So we work with congregations across the city through MORE Justice to organize an annual Nehemiah Action Assembly.

We have a vision to one day turn out the Average Worship Attendance of all our congregations to the Nehemiah Action. Because if we can bring all our people together 52 times a year to practice faithfulness, that same number can come out once a year for justice. If ALL MORE Justice congregations were to turn out their Average Worship Attendance to a Nehemiah Action, we would have over 15,000 people at our Nehemiah Action. So each congregation needs to do its part.

Become a Network Member.

We build Justice Ministry Networks in our congregations to make all of this happen.

If you’d like to become a Network Member, talk to the team leaders or clergy in your congregation, or a congregation in your neighborhood.

Network Members commit to do the following things.

• Bring 3+ people with you to the yearly Nehemiah Action.

• Come to 4 other major MORE Justice events throughout the coming year:

  • Community Problems Assembly

  • A winter Network Meeting in your congregation.

  • the yearly Rally, where each member will get an update on the research and prepare for the Nehemiah Action.

  • Justice Ministry Celebration , where we fellowship as a justice community and celebrate what we have accomplished over the year. At this meeting you will also be invited, but not required, to invest $200.

Many people in the justice ministry also go above and beyond by serving on research committees. Participating in the research process allows people to more deeply understand the work we do and work with other members to find solutions to the problems we are working on.