In our “field guide to transformation: taking seriously your congregation’s role to economic justice,” we describe a number of important roles in doing this work. One of the important and often misunderstood roles is that of the connected evangelist.
In the public policy for Design Lab at our recent Neighborhood Economics, lab co-leader Scott Shallet showed what that role looks like in an ecosystem. When Shallet and co-leader Rachel Johnson were planning the public policy for good Design Lab, they thought they’d try to find some innovative but replicable policies people could share; they were looking for practical things. But with a sizable number of Black people in the lab, the group got down to basics and defined the problem as the historical fact that all policy in this country is a colonial imposition; it was/is established by people who kept them enslaved and eliminated most indigenous populations.
Some white people in the room were uncomfortable with that problem statement. Some left. The statement stuck as the statement of the group.
But several of the people of color in the room told Shallet that his solidarity in the lab was appreciated, but they were more appreciative of the fact that, when Shallet met with a major banking client the next day, he would carry the voices of the people from the Design Lab into those board rooms.
That is, in essence, the role of the connected evangelist. It is someone comfortable and welcome in the corridors of money and power who will also carry the voice of the people on the edge into those rooms.
Then the connected evangelist gets the innovator, the entrepreneur, in the room with the people with the money and listens after making an introduction. Learning to stay in your lane and let the entrepreneur do her job can take time. Learning to follow as an advisor, when you are used to being a leader, also takes practice.
Shallet says the core group from their lab want to continue to meet. They found something powerful together that both sides really energized and moved. We definitely want to see that happen and will work with Johnson and Shallet to support that anyway we can.
This Design Lab gave us so many things to think about, as you can see from the interview in our newsletter. One important takeaway is this illustration of what the connected evangelist does in the process. The evangelist creates an important bridge that can grow into something that causes catalytic capital to flow–the capital that’s needed for the folks who typically don’t get it. The people Jesus said to serve.