Justice Encounters

Justice Encounter: An Invitation to Discipleship

Everything Begins With Encounter

Every action of God in our lives begins with an encounter. When The Message Bible says, “the Word became flesh & blood and moved into the neighborhood,” Christians can marvel that in Christ we encounter God in a human being, in our neighbors today, and in every neighborhood where we live or visit.

The Heart of Encounter

Justice Encounters are intensive immersions for learning, reflection, and spiritual formation within Christian community. All immersions are on-site experiences where travelers explore past and present injustices in a particular location, listen to stories of local people, and bear witness to signs of God’s goodness and justice alive today. On any given Encounter, a person may encounter Christ, a neighbor or neighborhood, Christian community, injustice and hope, and through these encounters, come away changed and perhaps even called.

Justice Encounters are designed to facilitate people coming together across difference, to learn about other people's realities, to educate ourselves, to think critically, to lament and to praise, and to nurture an understanding of discipleship that includes God’s love and justice within embodied Christian community.

There are one-day local Justice Encounters within the Great Plains and multi- day national Justice Encounters across the United States. Since 2023, we have hosted two local Justice Encounters (Kansas City + Topeka) and three national Justice Encounters focused on immigration (U.S.-Mexico border), the Civil Rights Movement (Montgomery, AL), and indigenous rights and racial justice (Tulsa and Oklahoma City, OK).

The Design

While each Justice Encounter is unique, the Great Plains Justice & Mercy Team designs our immersion experiences with the following purposes in mind:

• To create moments of encounter (including encounters with people, stories, the divine, education, and experiences) for United Methodists which move us toward seeing people in our own communities with new eyes and expanding our openness to people's lived experiences.
• To invite and inspire new leaders to engage in justice work in their local churches and communities, in particular those 35 and under, and from a variety of racial and ethnic communities.
• To build momentum for collaboration across the conference as we seek to ensure the human rights and affirm the dignity of all people.
   

Core Values

Justice Encounters center welcome, mutual respect, listening, storytelling, inclusion, and the God-given dignity of all human beings. All are welcome to participate, not in spite of, but because of, the richness that diversity of culture, race, ability, gender, sexuality, language, and age brings to God’s beloved community.
 

Upcoming Justice Encounter:

Upcoming Justice Encounters will be shared when applications become available.

If you have questions or want more information, contact team leader, Rev. Maddie Johnson, at [email protected].