More About WVFC
Before and during the pandemic, a handful of friends in West Virginia grew increasingly fed up with the way their Christian tradition prioritized keeping the peace over speaking truth to power.
These friends could see another way.
They knew there were people of faith across the state who care about what’s broadly termed “social justice”, but they also knew that those folx felt isolated and disempowered, especially in rural areas.
With people increasingly willing to connect virtually because of the pandemic, the friends dreamed up a way to resource and connect Christians in West Virginia who believe that their faith compels them to work with and for people who have been historically excluded by the Church and the State. A movement was born.
Justice & Jubilee is a liberation movement rooted in progressive Christianity that focuses on racial justice and LGBTQ+ justice. It began in Fall 2022 with a weekly “Message & Music” on YouTube, bringing music and sermons to people who wanted spiritual resources to live out their faith. In 2023, Justice & Jubilee convened in-person gatherings and online trainings in a number of areas: reproductive justice, indigenous justice, best practices for queer-affirming clergy, and anti-racism work.
Shortly after the launch of Justice & Jubilee, the friends got together with some other friends and formed the West Virginia Faith Leaders Network—an interfaith, multi-issue advocacy network of clergy that builds relationships across faith traditions and mobilizes faith leaders for action at local and state levels. This Network assists clergy with their own advocacy and draws on clergy for collective lobbying with state and local lawmakers.
They sensed that the Faith Collective would play a larger role in the landscape of faith-based community organizing in the state.
Not quite knowing what they were getting themselves into, the friends formed the West Virginia Faith Collective as an umbrella organization to support the work of those two fledgling founding partners and make space for future partners to come on board. They sensed that the Faith Collective would play a larger role in the landscape of faith-based community organizing in the state, but they didn’t quite know what that would look like. In 2024, what had been a coalfield justice initiative of Justice & Jubilee became its own entity and the third founding partner of the Faith Collective. From Below: Rising Together for Coalfield Justice began as an immersion event in Fall 2022 to introduce West Virginians to the history and present-day realities of the coalfields. With the help of one of our summer interns, it quickly grew into a movement that builds power among coalfield residents and provides direct service when necessary.
All three founding partners in the West Virginia Faith Collective are faith-based entities that engage in community organizing or advocacy. We’d love to connect you with one of them!
