Rebuilding a Just world doesn’t happen overnight. We often feel overwhelmed by the darkness of the world and the personal toll it takes on our mental, relational and physical health. Where do we go? What can we do? How do we continue? This masterclass series will help us to consider spiritual practices that make a lifestyle of justice sustainable. Learn from people who have been living justly and equipping others to do likewise. Listen to the wisdom of this multiethnic, multi generational faculty of leaders of color who have receipts and are still standing.

Rich Villodas is the Brooklyn-born lead pastor of New Life Fellowship, a large multiracial church with more than seventy-five countries represented in Elmhurst, Queens. Rich holds a Master of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary. He enjoys reading widely, preaching and writing on contemplative spirituality, justice-related matters, and the art of preaching. He is the author of the newly released The Deeply Formed Life. Learn more about Rich at https://www.richvillodas.com/

Marlena Graves is a writer, deep thinker, and speaker who is passionate about the eternal implications of our life in God. Marlena is a justice seeker—trying to overcome evil with good. She has worked to advocate for realities such as labor rights and immigration. Marlena deeply believes that spiritual formation and justice should never be separated. She is most concerned with those who profess to follow Jesus but speak and behave so unlike him. She is the author of the newly released The Way Up Is Down: Becoming Yourself by Forgetting Yourself. Learn more about Marlena at https://marlenagraves.com/

Cole Arthur Riley is a writer, speaker, and liturgist who serves as the Content and Spiritual Formation Manager for a Center for Christian Studies at Cornell University. In her work, she produces and curates content to guide others into deeper thought and embodiment of the faith. At the end of June of 2020, she launched Black Liturgies on Instagram, pairing words from Black thinkers, activists, and writers, with short written prayers centering around topics of dignity, lament, belonging, justice, rest, and liberation.

Follow our speakers on Instagram:

@chasingjustice_

@sandravanopstal

@richvillodas

@marlena.graves

@blackliturgies

This Masterclass is provided for free, but if you’d like to donate toward the work of Chasing Justice in centering the voices of people of color, click to donate here!