Partnership + Sacred Discernment
- Sep 10, 2025
- 2 min read
Updated: Apr 1
Each month, we’ll share a short exploration about a concept, principle, or lens that informs our work at Design for Peace, and a story of where dynamic, sustainable peace is emerging in our communities. This month, our Accompaniment Lead Shalom Agtarap shares about the counter-cultural approach of discernment. We also hear from leaders in Shelton, WA, about emerging partnerships between Faith Lutheran Church and local nonprofits and community organizations.
The Path of Sacred Discernment
By Rev. Shalom Agtarap
Discernment isn’t just decision-making, it is a core practice as followers of Jesus, but also in our work at Design for Peace. We organize communities to do their work together. One person begins to share what they're seeing in the world, then another shares their perspective based on who they've talked to, and slowly, a picture emerges for what a faith community is called to do, and where they might be called to go.
“You cannot discern from a distance. You have to get involved, to take the risk; only on that basis can you assess the feedback and make the adjustment. Discernment implies relationship.”
-Robert R. Marsh, “Looking at God looking at you: Ignatius’ Third Addition”
This excerpt is from a book on spiritual direction, but it’s not unlike what we do at Design for Peace.
One cannot discern from a distance. If we’re to seek the shalom of God in this time and place where Black and Brown neighbors are being disappeared, where more and more unhoused people are being swept in the cities and rural poverty is invisibilized, then we must get into relationships. We must discern what God is calling us to do by getting up close and personal. Taking risks will look like evolving worship, talking to people in the community in non-transactional ways, and showing up for vulnerable neighbors.
Faith-Community partnerships in Shelton, WA
Faith Lutheran Church and local community groups and nonprofits have been experimenting with shared use of space and partnership in Shelton, WA. Watch the video below to hear from these partners about how these relationships emerged through discernment, and what it looks like to come alongside and support each other to better serve their local community:
