The Rev. Devon Anderson

Being a part of Organizing for Mission is about becoming part of the greater, living story of the Church and its mission in the world, says The Rev. Devon Anderson.

Anderson is Executive Director of Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation, an independent non-profit promoting mission work from the grassroots of the church. She was also a co-organizer and presenter at the Organizing for Mission (OFM) training workshop in January. OFM is the Spokane Diocese’s effort to train leaders within the church and address hunger both locally and globally.

Mission, says Anderson, is foundational to the on-going story of the Church. “The Church exists for mission — not the other way around! The definition of mission has its roots in the Book of Common Prayer. It’s embedded in the Catechism and Liturgy,” she says. “We join in God’s mission in the world. We are called as Christians to participate in God’s mission.”

She has been a key figure in teaching Public Narrative in the Episcopal Church. “It’s a leadership art that calls people to action around commonly held values,” says Anderson. It was developed by Marshall Ganz, lecturer in Public Policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, for whom Anderson was a teaching assistant.

Public Narrative teaches leaders to organize and inspire people by crafting a story that connects a personal experience with the church’s values and with an urgent need, such as hunger: the story of self, the story of us, and the story of now. Our traditions, she says, are part of the ongoing, living story of who we are as the Church, and that is what she and others in the Spokane Diocese will hear from parish teams.

“Jesus had a leadership team. He sent them into the world to renew, reform, and bring about justice,” says Anderson. “The story of Jesus’ disciples going out into the world is reflected in the Book of Acts” OFM, she says, is simply the Christian tradition of storytelling made relevant to our time.

Anderson says that the OFM teams in the Spokane Diocese will face challenges on the road ahead, as they embark on telling their stories and leading others to bring comfort and justice to a needy world. “When you’re learning a new thing, there’s exhilaration, there is fear, a whole range of emotions,” she says.

Debra Brown-Chorley, on the St. Stephen's OFM team, receives hands-on Public Narrative training from Josh Daneshforooz at the OFM training workshop

“I’m in awe of the Spokane parish teams’ capacity to step out in the name of action,” says Anderson. “The OFM campaign is a real act of faithfulness. It requires courage, hope, and faithfulness. It’s hard work. It’s challenging.”

She says, “I think that Spokane took a huge leap of faith in trying to connect their beliefs to action. The gap between faith and action can be a chasm. Spokane stepped out in faith to make that gap smaller.”

She says she believes that the steps of faith the parishes of the Spokane Diocese have taken will bring results. The power of Public Narrative in the church has been demonstrated before. In 2009, under Anderson’s guidance, the Diocese of Minnesota undertook a leadership-training project and Lenten campaign nearly identical to OFM.

Due to the organizing and Public Narrative work of the parish teams, 600 people pledged .7% of their incomes, says Anderson. “They raised over $144,000 for humanitarian causes. They came out on the other end with huge impact. They realized they could be effective if they organized.”

For more information about OFM, visit the Organizing for Mission page on SpokaneDiocese.org.