Pursuing Shalom: Serving Our Neighbors Locally and Globally
Grounded in Genesis 1 and manifest in Matthew 25:31-end, this session explores the biblical concept of shalom and its implications for the social worker and the Christian as we engage the world with justice and compassion. Lisa Sharon Harper connects the biblical text with the challenges encountered by social workers on a daily basis: hunger, thirst, sickness, immigration, prison, and abject poverty. This presentation explores the implications of the call to "righteousness" on local and global engagement with those Jesus calls the "least of these."
Category(ies):
Research and Practice with Ethnically Diverse Populations
As a result of this training, participants will be able to:
Define the biblical concept of shalom
Describe the connection between Matthew 25 and the challenges encouraged by social workers every day
Articulate 2-3 examples of applying an understanding of the challenges faced by clients to advocacy for just public policy
Topics to be addressed and timeline within the 75 minute presentation.
I. The Biblical Concept of Shalom: Overview (15 min)
II. Matthew 25 Context (15 min) III. Matthew 25: 31-end (30 min)
Lisa Sharon Harper, MA is the Chief Church Engagement Officer for Sojourners based in Washington, DC. Ms. Harper previously served as founding executive director of New York Faith & Justice and earned her Masters degree in Human Rights from Columbia University in New York City.
Her writing has been featured on CNN Belief Blog, The National Civic Review, God's Politics blog, The Huffington Post, The Christian Post, Relevant Magazine, Patheos.com, Q Ideas Blog, and Prism where she has written extensively on tax reform, comprehensive immigration reform, health care reform, poverty, racial and gender justice, and transformational civic engagement
Ms. Harper's recent book, "Forgive Us: Confessions of a Compromised Faith" (Zondervan, September 2014), was co-authored with a team of 3 other authors. Previous books include "Left, Right and Christ: Evangelical Faith in Politics," coauthored with D.C. Innes (Elevate, October 2011); and her first book, Evangelical Does Not Equal Republic or Democrat (The New Press, October 2008), which offers a power-packed look at the roots of evangelical faith, how Evangelicals strayed so far from those roots, and what is bringing them back.
Ms. Harper co-founded and co-directed the Envision 2008: The Gospel, Politics, and the Future conference on the campus of Princeton University (June 2008) and co-chaired the Envision 2011 symposium in New York City (June 2011). Harper was named "#5 of the Top 13 Women to Watch in 2012" by the Center for American Progress, was awarded the 2013 Faith and Justice Leadership Award by the National Black Women's Roundtable, was awarded the National Council of La Raza Capital Award for Public Service for her participation as a core faster in the 2013 #Fast4Families initiative for immigration reform and was recently recognized as one of "50 Powerful Women Religious Leaders to Celebrate on International Women's Day" by the Huffington Post.