Repair Network
Join our Repair Congregations and Communities Network!
Ready to take the next steps toward repair beyond education and awareness about the Doctrine of Discovery?
We are a network of the Coalition that supports church communities in education, solidarity, and reparative action alongside Indigenous Peoples.
Map of Repair Network Communities
Above: Previous Organizer Katerina Gea meets with a Repair Network committee of Eighth Street Mennonite Church
What does joining the Repair Network involve?
- Commit to the action steps below as a congregation or community.
- Connect with our Repair Network organizer and other local Repair Network groups to foster opportunities for cross-pollination of ideas and resources
- Engage your congregation in the work of our Coalition’s national campaigns and in support of our Indigenous Repair Partners
- Connect with our Coalition through online offerings like our Decolonial Worship and online Trainings
- Connect with local Indigenous peoples’ work for justice when possible
Commit to the work of Structural and Cultural Change
Our model for change asserts that culture change and structural change are intertwined.
Structural change leads to culture change, and culture change generates support for structural change. In the Coalition, we devote energy to both.
We organize groups (congregations and communities) because we acknowledge that to participate in this important work we need support and accountability.
And, to change structures, we need transformation at the community level, not just in our individual hearts and lives.
The first step in joining with us is to commit to forming a committee or team. This team can then lead the congregation/community in reparative action.
The committee leads the following activities:
Education and Lament
This process includes learning about the Doctrine of Discovery, both in the national and international arenas as well as in the local context of history and current relations with Indigenous peoples. Education is a process of culture change that, once begun, goes on throughout the life of the community. This work is not linear, but as we learn to step into realities we have been unaware of, we must take action.
Truth Telling
What we learn from education activities must be shared at the congregational level and beyond. This truth telling is crucial, because it requires us to acknowledge a reality that has been hidden from most of us – a reality of unjust laws and policies that result in structural violence, or rules that are violent for Indigenous and vulnerable peoples.
Restitution in Budget
It is not enough to inform ourselves. We must act on the information that we learn. A crucial way we do this is to join communities across the nation and the world who are seeking justice and peace. We know that to achieve equity we have to change the rules that order society – in the United States, these rules are laws and policies. By committing to the Coalition financially, we are investing in staff capacity to engage in long-term structural (legislative) change. The Coalition staffs national and international campaigns, and supports volunteer organizers across our network. These campaigns work toward two goals: accompanying Indigenous movements for liberation, and organizing for substantive legislative change in the decades to come.
Respond to calls for solidarity with Indigenous Peoples
The Coalition’s campaigns are arranged regionally. We seek to train and accompany your congregation/community to participate in campaigns that join Indigenous movements for liberation. Your committee/team can identify folks in your community who are ready to participate in these campaigns for structural change.
Connect the work of creation care with Indigenous land recovery
We believe that the struggle for Indigenous Liberation is the struggle for creation; and the struggle for creation is the struggle for Indigenous Liberation. Restoring lands to Indigenous Peoples is a crucial component of repair. We seek to accompany your community as you discern how to participate in land recovery for Indigenous Peoples.
Commit to grassroots organizing
We believe that it is crucial for you to share your experiences with others – those within your community and natural networks, and those who may seem at first to be peripheral. Sharing your experiences working for liberation with folks in your workplace, in your families, community groups, and other places you go brings others into the movement. Who are passive allies in your life, and how might they be moved into partnership? We have found that relating to folks who share our values is a good place to start. Culture change begins with accompanying those who are sympathetic but inactive to move into getting active, and moving those who are neutral or curious into being sympathetic. We are moving the bar as we go! Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear! (Matthew 11:15)
Interested in joining the network?
- Fill out this form to express interest and schedule a call with an organizer to learn more.
- Reach out to us at admin@dismantlediscovery.org for more info.