Overview

Poverty, abuse, violence, slavery, and gender inequality are just some of the alarming realities that people are waking up to every single day.

How can we raise our voice for the voiceless?
How can we further justice efforts as we engage in community struggles around us?
What is our role and responsibility to seek justice as children of God?
How can we engage with government as salt and light?
How do we pursue acts of justice on a global scale and not feel overwhelmed by the need in the world around us?

If you have ever wondered and struggled over these issues, we’d love to have you join us!

The School of Justice & Advocacy is to equip students to tackle injustices locally and globally by developing ministry programs and advocacy strategies. Our goal is to send out students empowered to confront injustice from the grassroots all the way to the policy and legislative level, and to support their efforts through ongoing training, workshops, and mentorships.

Overall Course Objective

The course objective is to provide students with a hands-on learning experience with lectures on advocacy planning, legislative drafting, policy development, and legislative assessment through the lens of Biblical justice to assist them in their field-based social change initiatives.

This course will run with the intent of leading students to better understand Biblical perspectives of law and social justice and then to put them into practice as Christ would have us – to live out our faith by pursuing acts of justice to demonstrate love and to further the Kingdom of God.

Click here to learn more about how you can get a degree with University of the Nations.

Successful completion of a Discipleship Training School is a prerequisite for SOJA.

This is a bilingual school – English and Spanish.

Course Summary

The SOJA is a 12-week course at the 300 Level designed to give students hands-on experience in developing a legislative advocacy or social change campaign for a social justice issue that they have worked on in the field.

It is designed to demystify the legislative process and make law and the legal process more accessible to those working in advocacy on justice campaigns, providing practical tool sets to influence policy and the legislative agenda.

Our class time will feature:

• Daily intercession and time in the Word trying to grasp God’s heart for justice – how to be “doers” of the Word

• Mornings of lectures presenting skills and practical information necessary to understand legislative work in the political sphere

• Afternoons of research time and group work

• A focus on “learning by doing” by developing a research report: assessing the problem, the actors involved, and assessing and drafting legislation (where relevant)

• A year of mentorship support from staff as students implement their work plan

Work Product

Each student will come away from the school with the following “real world” work product:

• Real world experience working alongside governmental institutions in Sinaloa, Mexico

• Research Report on the causes and possible advocacy and legislative solutions of a targeted social problem of the student’s choice

• Action Plan to support implemented the proposed advocacy solution

• Proposed legislative/policy project

Lecture Phase

The SOJA is a 12-week course at the 300 Level designed to give students hands-on experience in developing a legislative advocacy or social change campaign for a social justice issue that they have worked on in the field.

It is designed to demystify the legislative process and make law and the legal process more accessible to those working in advocacy on justice campaigns, providing practical tool sets to influence policy and the legislative agenda.

Class Times

• Daily intercession and time in the Word trying to grasp at God’s heart for justice – how to be “doers” of the Word.
• Mornings of lectures presenting skills and practical information necessary to understand legislative work in the political sphere.
• Afternoons of research time and group work.
• A focus on “learning by doing” by developing a research report: assessing the problem, the actors involved, and assessing and drafting legislation (where relevant).
• A year of mentorship support from staff as students implement their work plan.

Work Product

Each student will come away from the school with the following “real world” work product:

• Real world experience working alongside governmental institutions in Sinaloa, Mexico.
• Research Report on the causes and possible advocacy and legislative solutions of a targeted social problem of the student’s choice.
• Action Plan to support implemented the proposed advocacy solution.
• Proposed legislative/policy project.