Let's Talk: Faith & Justice

A home is more than just 4 walls and a roof. 

Tune into this special podcast episode with Kevin Nye, author of "Grace Can Lead Us Home: A Christian Call to End Homelessness". We learned so much by reading this book with our BFJN community last year and are so thankful to share this conversation with Kevin far and wide. We, as a culture, sometimes want to see homelessness as a personal failure ignoring the need to acknowledge the systems that are at work. In this conversation we discuss what "housing first" means and why it works, as well as the importance of trauma informed care, the ongoing realities of the impact of racism on housing and what it means to lead with generosity.

Sara Mitchell is a Community Chaplain with a focus on the South End and those who spend time in the Mass Ave and Melnea Cass Blvd area. What is a chaplain you might ask? An individual who ministers to the spiritual, practical and social needs of the community they serve. Sara shares her story in chaplaincy and journey doing ministry in the city for over 40 years. Through this episode Sara emphasizes that "Mass & Cass is people, not a place" and shares many ways people can engage with communities experiencing housing insecurity.

Tune in to this special podcast episode with Reverend June Cooper, who currently serves as the Theologian in the City at Old South Church in Copley Square, and is one of the founding members of Faith Leaders for Housing Justice (FL4HJ) which is a new collaborative partner of the Boston Faith & Justice Network. Rev. Cooper was formerly the Director of City Mission Boston, the second oldest not-for-profit organization in the county and was the first Executive Director of Boston Healthy Start a multi-million-dollar federal initiative that was credited with reducing Boston’s infant mortality rate in the 90’s. Rev. Cooper has a wonderful story of decades of ministry in the Boston area, serving vulnerable communities, and leading churches to a place of active compassion. This is an episode you do not want to miss!

Happy New Year friends! We are so thankful for all of the blessings the Lord has bestowed upon Boston Faith & Justice Network in 2023, and look forward to what He has in store for us in 2024! Tune into this episode to hear about Elizabeth, Ivy and Andrew's new year resolutions, or "radical resolutions" as Ivy likes to call them, their goals for the year and how they are expecting God to use them in the ministry!

Tune into this episode where Elizabeth Grady-Harper has the fortunate opportunity to connect with Pastor George Cladis of High Rock Church’s MetroWest campus. Pastor George has experience at a variety of churches in MA and beyond and talks candidly about his journey as a Christ follower and Pastor. Additionally, Pastor George gets into some specifics of the interesting communities and projects he has been a part of. This is an episode you do not want to miss!

Join us for this very special podcast episode featuring Kyle Meyaard-Schaap, author of "Following Jesus in a Warming World: A Christian Call to Climate Action" which BFJN read in community during the month of October.  As Kyle states plainly, climate change is real, it's us, it's bad, experts agree, however there is hope! Tune in to hear about Kyle's journey, his passion, expertise and what he is up to currently. 

“This is a long road. This is hard work… but one of the gifts of doing this work in the church and in community is that when I can’t hold hope, you can hold it for me; and when you can’t hold hope, I can hold it for you…hope is communal.”

This is an episode you do not want to miss!

Tune in to this episode featuring Peter Gyves, a Jesuit priest, founder and director of A Faith That Does Justice, Inc. Peter shares about his journey serving in El Salvador as a pediatrician, and how seeing their suffering drove him to faith. Also in this episode, Peter shares about his passion for Boston, understanding the needs of Spanish-speaking communities, helping to create mobility and opportunity. Tune in today and learn some practical ways that you can engage with A Faith That Does Justice!

Tune in to this special episode as Elizabeth has the fortunate opportunity to fellowship with Gary VanderPol, a longtime friend and supporter of BFJN. Having been a former board chair of BFJN many years ago, Gary was very thankful to be able to join BFJN's Fall 2023 Book Club which just wrapped up last week. Gary will share in this episode about his servant leadership as senior pastor of Church without Walls in Berkeley, California, experience in ministry, and passion to responding to God's call of justice - especially as it pertains to global warming and climate action.

Tune into this episode featuring Kelly Fassett, Executive Director for UniteBoston since 2012. Kelly has been the catalyst for UniteBoston’s bridge-building work throughout Christians in the region. Kelly considers it a joy to understand how God is working corporately throughout the city, to see the function and purpose of each part of the body of Christ coming together as one. She has a certificate in Christian Foundations from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. She also graduated with her Masters of Divinity in Global and Community Engagement at Boston University in 2019, with certificates in Religion and Conflict Transformation as well as International Mission and Ecumenism. In this episode, Kelly talks about the origins of UniteBoston, how it has grown and changed over the last 12 years and her vision for the future. 

As the summer nears an end and children around the world return to the classroom, what better time than to talk about education! Tune into this episode as our co-host Ivy has the opportunity to interview her husband Jonathan Long. Jonathan talks about his journey in the field of education, his passion, and how his faith informs the work that he does. In this episode we also touch upon the “school-to-prison pipeline”, culturally responsive practices and the importance of social emotional learning.