The Center’s vision is to foster Loving Communities of hope, justice and wholeness in which all people can be healthy–able to live out their deepest calling and potential. We work toward this goal by building community, nurturing leaders and connecting with the unique spirit power of faith communities to promote social justice and abundant life for families, neighborhoods and communities. Our work is rooted in partnership and approaches that build on of the strengths and goodness that already reside in communities.
We work in three areas:
Building Loving Community
Science confirms what we know from experience–that when we have positive social relationships we are healthier–as individuals, families, faith communities and neighborhoods. Science calls this “social cohesion.” We call it love. Our core work is journeying with communities to reveal and strengthen the Loving Community that is already there.
Nurturing Leaders
Creating health equity takes a different kind of leadership. To create transformational change, we need leaders who are willing and able to pay attention to their “interior condition”–their own core, Source, capacity, gifts, anxieties, trip-wires. Our Leadership Development initiatives embrace the idea of the leader as “Host” rather than “Hero” and we create spaces where people who are leading in many different ways can pause, reflect, connect and learn how to prepare themselves for this very different style of leadership.
Convening and Connecting
The Center serves as a hub for the dynamic and diverse faith and health movement in northern Illinois. We offer opportunities for people to gather to learn, connect and renew so that we can align our efforts, share our expertise and questions, and be as effective as possible.