Faith-Based Land Justice Network 

A two-day summit of presentations and discussions

A Consultation on Expanding the Land Justice Network

hosted by William Carey International University

MA in Transformational Urban Leadership Advocacy and Urban Environment Class

The biggest pastoral issue the church faces may be the dispossession of half the world of their land.  First in the village, then for 1.4 billion as they migrate to a piece of land illegally in the city, just to have a place to lay their head.  Some years ago, we attempted to generate a Land Justice Network among our evangelical community, but could not find a long-term volunteer coordinator and consistent leadership team – not enough energy to make it all happen. As part of that, we identified the need for a course that trains leaders in the theology and practice of Land Justice issues.  This semester, a cluster of leaders in the Master of Arts in Transformational Urban Leadership at William Carey International University, as part of the course, is doing the grunt work to host a mini-consultation exploring the feasibility of this further. We would like to invite you to be part of the conversation!

Theme: Building a Global Movement among Christians for theology and practice of engagement in land justice struggles.

Goals for the consultation include answering:

1. Is there an ongoing need for a Christian network exploring theology and practice of engagement in land rights issues in the slums and tribal areas?

2. Are there common (macro-conceptual level) principles to such engagement? 

3. Are there common (2nd level) best practices, processes, progressions, pitfalls, critical turning points, or infrastructure in establishing/multiplying these various movements in cities?

4. Along with participating MATUL students (and attendees) I will seek to integrate these into a draft book (we may not be ready to move it to full publication).

Story-Telling Consultation Format: Consultations are not preaching fests, but face-to-face communication of up to 25 people around an issue seeking its resolution, creating new knowledge and solving old issues.  The dunamis is in the concentrated intensity of experiences shared and reflected upon.  In this case, we will be online for 4 hours each day for 2 days with other leaders.  8 will present their story for 15 minutes each with discussion (leaders are used to concentrated communication, right?), after an introduction, then time at the end seeking to integrate the themes.