AEA and Sojourners Host Virtual Global Gathering of Christian Justice Leaders

By the Association of Evangelicals in Africa
The Association of Evangelicals in Africa and Sojourners, a United States-based Christian justice organization, successfully hosted a virtual Global Gathering of Christian Justice Leaders on the 24^th of June 2020. The virtual gathering had about 45 leaders from 25 nations in attendance.
AEA was scheduled to host the in-person meeting in Nairobi Kenya at the AEA Plaza from June 23-26, 2020, but due to the rapidly developing COVID-19 pandemic, AEA and Sojourners made the difficult but prudential decision to postpone the Global Gathering. The meeting had prioritized having Christian leaders who are in their 20s, 30s, and 40s and who have already demonstrated a commitment to advancing justice either through their organization, church, and/or denomination.  Fortunately, many participants had already registered for the event and this presented the organizers with an opportunity to host a virtual gathering instead.
Executive Director of Sojourners, Rev. Adam Russell Taylor said, “ While we weren’t able to meet in person due to COVID-19, the pandemic made this Gathering even more imperative, providing an opportunity for intergenerational church and faith-based organization leaders to build relationships, share learnings, and deepen solidarity to protect the vulnerable and boldly seek justice.”
The virtual gathering aimed at building and deepening relationships and discussing the current COVID global pandemic, hearing from justice leaders around the globe about their national contexts and how to strengthen the witness of the church in these times.  There was an added focus to the core goals of the gathering as the pandemic revealed longstanding inequities in our world and presented an opportunity to reimagine and build a more just world.  The main objective of convening the Gathering  was to:

• strengthen connections between intergenerational Christian leaders across countries and existing networks;
• build the capacity and commitment of churches and Christian organizations to engage in nonpartisan, social and political change with an emphasis on challenging and transforming autocratic and authoritarian leaders/systems; and
• catalyze greater collaboration and learning across countries, including by developing an informal network of global church leaders focused on strengthening advocacy and public witness/activism.

To find out more about the global gathering of Christian Justice leaders please click here.]]>