A Nod to Historical Revivals, Organizers Gathered to Build Power… and Joy
When’s the last time you began a community meeting with song?
Organizers around the South Puget Sound in Washington lifted their voices to open Common Good Tacoma’s first ever “Organizing Revival” August 23-24, 2024 bringing together community leaders who have found shared purpose and belonging in a reimagined church space.

Common Good Tacoma is a multiracial organizing hub that works in anti-racist coalition with neighbors. Their three aims include healing justice, cultural belonging and the abolition of poverty. This Organizing Revival kicked off a commitment to sustained organizing among neighbors in Tacoma.
“Our intention was to create an opportunity for neighbors to experience the joy and energy that comes from the intersections of community, labor, and faith organizing,” says Rev. Shalom Agtarap, Pastor of First United Methodist Church of Tacoma and steward of Common Good Tacoma, which also houses the congregation.

The word “revival” is a nod to the “camp meeting revivals” in the 19th and 20th centuries, where religious groups gathered for days of energizing preaching, teaching, and meetings, often asking for a commitment of some kind at the culmination of the experience.
Says Rev. Agtarap, “Revivals would evoke encouragement, Spirit-filled joy and a desire for transformation. And there's so much that needs to be transformed in our society from healthcare to childcare, and worker's rights.”
Through 1-1 dinner discussions over home-made pozole, small group skill-building workshops, and full-energy keynotes, participants found threads of relationship and inspiration with others attending.

Many who signed up reported a primary interest in making real connections with other organizers, and sharing resources. Some young organizers came because they felt isolated in their work, and felt passionate about the urgency of their organizing, like the crises of climate refugees and migrants.
“Common Good Tacoma put together an event that highlights leaders, mostly in Tacoma but from our wider connection as well, to call us to deeper organizing,” says Rev. Shalom. “Thoughts and prayers will not change these entrenched systems.”
Nora Hacker, a member of Common Good Tacoma and First United Methodist Church of Tacoma, describes the momentum from the event, and future vision:
“This was not a culmination of our work, but the start of things that we’ve been working on for 5 years. We wanted to be together with people that we’ve been learning from.”
As Hacker describes, Common Good Tacoma was birthed out of
the collective imagination and discernment of First United Methodist Church of Tacoma and its neighbors. For five years, they listened closely to their community for possible ways to faithfully steward a physical space that housed a small congregation, and had capacity to house even more. The building is now home to multiple community organizations such as Tacomaprobono Community Lawyers, Girasol Counseling, and Tahoma Indian Center.
The Revival gathered together seasoned organizing elders and those newly learning, to share encouragement, mentorship, and solidarity. The closing call to action of the revival challenged participants to commit to organizing work in the area.
“I keep seeing people burning out in this work because they’re doing it alone and they’re losing hope,” describes Hacker. “The Revival was important because when we work together we can do this work sustainably. People matter more than issues, and relationships are the key to sustainability. It starts with us making connections with people who want to build for the common good.”
And of course, it ended with song.
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Who Presented?
Brandon Wrencher is clergy from the North Carolina Annual Conference, Rev. Dr. Kelle Brown pastors at Plymouth UCC in downtown Seattle, and John Scearcy is a long time labor leader - formerly Teamsters 117, now with UFCW 367. Joey Ager (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America), Michael Williams (Tacoma Education Association), and Lynice Pinkard (spiritual director & trainer) led workshops that equip us for the soul work of building power.
