About the Presentation

JustFaith is an intensive and successful model of justice education and spiritual formation. Sarah Hartzell will speak about how it asks participants to go beyond the limits of personal faith to experience and address the social, political and economic wounds of our communities and our world. It calls for Christians of the developed world to reflect on, and to address the root causes of poverty, racism, globalization, consumerism and environmentalism. The intersection of the Christian tradition and the complex challenges of our times give us all abundant food for thought. This interactive discussion will ask participants to draw on their spirituality, no matter what their religion, to begin to consider a few of the compelling questions of this profound spiritual journey.

About the Presenter

Sarah Hartzell introduces herself as a peacemaker and global citizen.

Sarah became interested in the JustFaith program in 2008 when she was searching for a way to deepen her faith and to build on her understanding of peace and social justice.  She discovered that JustFaith does both.  Convinced of the value of the JustFaith program, she co-facilitated the course the following year.  Now a strong advocate of both JustFaith and what is being called the “emerging church”, Sarah seeks to build understanding among Christians about how they are called by their faith to respond to issues such as poverty, injustice, violence and oppression.

Sarah’s life work has been devoted to helping people develop from the inside out. In November 2001 she initiated Circles of Ten: Women for World Peace, as her response to the attacks of 9-11.   By helping women contribute to and take responsibility for personal, interpersonal and global peace from the inside-out  perspective she has seen and heard of thousands of acts of every day peacemaking, all accomplished by grassroots women.  In 2005 Sarah and a small group of women from her Boulder peace circle spent a month touring Kenya and conducting peace circles there.  When post-election violence broke out, the peace circles were used in the Internally Displaced Persons Camps to quell the unrest there.

Sarah is a graduate of Naropa University’s Master of Arts program in Contemplative psychology  and the Boulder-based Group Leadership Training (GLT). She has played leadership roles in various organizations, including a strengths-based mental health treatment team, an elder care program, and an operating foundation.  Sarah and her husband Bob Simmons were chosen as “couple of the year” for their mentorship of a teen-age girl through the Big Brother Big Sister Program. Together Sarah and Bob raise Ainu dogs to honor the native people of Japan.  .As founder of her own business,Medicine Tree Institute, Sarah offers coaching to individuals and groups who seek to lead the social and economic development of their communities.

Additional Resources

www.justfaith.org