Thank you to everyone who helped bring our Community Problems Assembly together on October 25! With 480 people attending at Good Shepherd Catholic Church, this was our largest Community Problems Assembly yet!
We heard personal accounts of the pressures facing our neighbors and voted to add Safety and Stability for Immigrant Families to Good Faith Network’s campaign portfolio. That work will move forward alongside our continuing Housing Justice and Eldercare campaigns.
Who’s leading for the Woven Power Award?
Our new Woven Power Award will recognize the congregation whose network stays most consistently engaged throughout the year. Any congregation can win, regardless of size.
The first measure is the percentage of each congregation’s existing network members who attended the Community Problems Assembly. (Note – People who joined GFN at the assembly will count toward future measures.)
Here are our early frontrunners:
- First Baptist Church of Overland Park
- Salem Lutheran Church
- St. Paul Catholic Church
- Unity Church of Overland Park
- St. Pius X Catholic Church
- Shawnee United Methodist Church
Congratulations to these congregations for their consistency in organizing! This is our first checkpoint on this annual, with plenty of organizing still ahead before our Celebration in June!
CAMPAIGN KICKOFF
Tuesday, December 1 | 6 p.m. | Grace United Methodist Church
At the Campaign Kickoff, you’ll learn how our research process works and how to participate in the Immigrant Families, Housing Justice, or Eldercare campaigns. We’ll begin plotting the course from the stories we heard toward specific solutions and the public officials who can act on them.
No particular expertise is needed. Bring your curiosity! Research team members help prepare questions, interview people, take notes, and examine possible solutions, with preparation and coaching along the way.
The ongoing work includes monthly committee meetings and research interviews with people who have direct experience, service providers, experts, and public officials. People participate in research interviews as their schedules allow.
RSVP for the Campaign Kickoff here.
Can’t attend, but want to stay involved? Complete the same form and select “Can’t be there! Please reach out to me about other research activities.” We’ll follow up with you about other opportunities to participate.
You can also contact info@thegoodfaithnetwork.org. Team leaders, please share this invitation with your network members and others who may be interested.
Our leaders are heading to training!
Good Faith Network leaders will join leaders from sister organizations for Power Building and Negotiation Training on November 18–19 in Wichita.
They’ll explore how to build stronger justice networks in their congregations, invite people into the work, and prepare to negotiate with public officials. Small-group practice will give leaders an opportunity to try these conversations, receive feedback, and build confidence for the responsibilities ahead.
If you missed this training, there are more opportunities coming! Please put these dates on your calendar.
Looking ahead to 2027
- January 8, 9:30 a.m. | Curious Conversations: a Team Leader Brunch. Location to be announced.
- February 2–4 | DART Clergy Conference, Orlando. Drs. Emilce Cuda and Ray Pickett return as keynote speakers. Clergy – let organizers know of your interest by Dec 10.
- February 25 | Regional Clergy Retreat. Location and further details to come.
- March 18, 6 p.m. | Team Leader Assembly and Powerbuilding Launch, Zoom. Followed by a board meeting.
- May 12-13 | Investment Drive Training, Manhattan, Kansas.
- May 27, 6 p.m. | Team Leaders Investment Drive Kickoff. Location to be announced.
- July 20–23 | DART Justice Ministry Conference, Kansas City. A chance to learn alongside leaders from across DART, close to home!
Welcome, Heartland United!
Our newest sister organization is taking shape in Central Kansas. Heartland United brought together 678 people from eight counties for its Community Problems Assembly on October 31, choosing mental health and affordable healthcare as its first issue areas.
This is DART’s first effort to build a more rural organization, extending this work across communities with different distances and organizing challenges. Congratulations to Heartland United’s leaders and congregations as they begin moving from listening into action!
