These days when we hear Christianity in the news, it is often being abused in ways that fan hatred, violence, and the clamor for building walls. Public voices spew Scripture as a weapon against those most vulnerable. These voices share little in common with the words of the Gospel or the work of building the Beloved Community. The consequences of this religious abuse are deadly for the church, for our children, and for future generations on this planet.

With a love for this world and a commitment to its future, we have to ask how we care for our children and how we cultivate a Christianity that breathes life instead of death. Parenting then becomes ministry, discipleship, and an act of resistance. How do we raise the next generations to call upon a God of justice, mercy, and love? How do we cultivate a love of the earth, a cry for racial justice, and a commitment to nonviolence?

As a mother and faith-based activist, this question weaves through everything I do. In this place and moment, I am forced to ask, what does it mean to raise two white boys in a time of blatant white supremacy and patriarchy? How do we help them find their own liberation from these systems of oppression and encourage them in the struggle against injustice?

This project will gather up community wisdom in a published anthology on peace and justice practices for parenting. It will ask the questions, imagine possibilities, and tell stories of children, family, and community in these terrifying times. It will give concrete practices and rituals that address how we teach conflict resolution, racial justice, sabbath economics, etc. It will also draw on the wisdom of those who have gone before us as they struggled with the relationship between parenting and resistance. My hope is that it will be company along the road for all of us doing the exhausting, sacred, discipleship work of raising children.