The Louisville Institute

Proposal Summary

The Spirit of Service: Integrating Faith and Service for Social Justice

Carolyn O'Grady
Gustavus Adolphus College

Summary

This project explores the challenges and promise of faith-based community service. Through site visits and interviews with individuals and institutions which are integrating faith-based service for social justice, we will examine how to engage students in this work in such a way that their own faith is examined while they work toward real justice for all. Too often faith-based service work is undertaken with little analysis of the socioeconomic factors which make service necessary in our society. We hope to forge a dialogue among educators, pastors, and other religious leaders on the ways in which faith arid spirituality contribute to service and to analyze the relationship with issues of social justice. We will examine applicable research, describe successful program models and compare practices for integrating faith or spiritual perspectives with community service. We will also provide strategies for enhancing service that is done from a faith and social justice perspective. The audience for our work will include those who work closely with young adults, including service learning program directors, leaders of mission trips, members of religiously affiliated institutions that have service as part of their mission, youth ministers and congregational leaders, and professors and other educators who work with students engaged in community service.

Report

No report available for this grant.

Related Publications