Doing Justice Together - Print

Doing Justice Together
Fresh Expressions Pathways for Healing in Your Church

By Michael Adam Beck; Stephanie Moore Hand

[2 copies only in stock at this reduced price 1 July 2026
We will not be re-ordering this book when they have sold]

A practical, Scripture-grounded guide for helping congregations move with grace from harmful habits toward racial healing, justice, liberation, and renewed community life.

This book will help you:

• Lead your church through careful, grace-filled transformation.
• Recognise and address unjust patterns that can become embedded in congregational life.
• Use Scripture as a source of inspiration, conviction, and guidance for justice work.
• Move racial equity from a committee concern to a core part of discipleship, leadership, and mission.
• Honour longtime members while helping the church embrace necessary change.
• Create pathways for healing, reconciliation, and fresh expressions of ministry.
• Equip pastors and church leaders to build congregations where justice and liberation are lived out in practice.

Features

• A practical model for congregational transformation.
• Four pathways for discerning and correcting unjust patterns.
• Stories from church leaders and laypeople in varied ministry contexts.
• A Fresh Expressions approach to justice, healing, and renewal.
• Ideal for pastors, church leadership teams, ministry groups, and congregational study.

Soft cover 176pp
ISBN 9781791032791
Abingdon Press (2024)

Description

Churches often long to be places of welcome, healing, and hope, yet many congregations carry patterns, assumptions, and habits that quietly work against racial equity and justice.

This practical and deeply pastoral resource invites church leaders and members to take the work of transformation seriously—not as a passing program or isolated committee task, but as a shared spiritual journey rooted in Scripture, grace, repentance, and renewed imagination.

Written for pastors, church leaders, ministry teams, and congregations seeking faithful change, this book offers a process for re-envisioning church life so that racial harmony, justice, and liberation become intrinsic to the structure and witness of the congregation. Rather than offering quick fixes, it encourages patient, prayerful, and intentional transformation over time. Its approach is both honest and hopeful, naming the harmful patterns that can go unnoticed in church culture while also showing how communities can move toward healing with care.

The authors frame justice work as part of discipleship, leadership, evangelism, and public witness. They show how churches can examine their inherited practices, listen more deeply, create space for difficult but necessary conversations, and develop new ministries that embody God’s love for all people. The Fresh Expressions framework helps congregations imagine new ways of being church in their communities, especially among people who may have felt unseen, excluded, or wounded by traditional church structures.

Through practical pathways and real-life stories from pastors and lay leaders, this book equips congregations to pursue transformation without abandoning compassion. It is especially valuable for churches that want to address racism faithfully, build more equitable community, and become living signs of reconciliation, liberation, and hope.

About the Authors

Michael Adam Beck is a pastor, professor, author, and leader in the Fresh Expressions movement. He serves as Director of Fresh Expressions for The United Methodist Church and has been involved in innovative ministry settings including recovery communities, neighborhood gatherings, and new forms of church beyond traditional walls. His work focuses on discipleship, church renewal, evangelism, and helping congregations connect with people in fresh and transformative ways.

Stephanie Moore Hand is a justice advocate, clergy leader, consultant, and Vitality Strategist and Emerging Community Pastor in the Western North Carolina Conference of The United Methodist Church. Drawing on experience in ministry, nonprofit leadership, corporate leadership, politics, and public speaking, she equips churches and communities to pursue racial justice, equity, healing, and kingdom-centered transformation.

Contents

Togetheversity

Much More to be Done: Reverend Mother Geraldine McCellan

Growing Together: Jaidymar A Smith Laity

We Are All Equal: Jordan Shaw Laity

One Coffee One Conversation at a Time: Tracy Rose Laity

Finally Seen: Pastor Raimon Rai Jackson

We Don’t Have to Wait Till Heaven: Rev Woojin Kang