Justice & Faith Cohort
A framework for liberation
October 2026 through April 2027
The work of repair, resistance, and communal liberation has always been ours to do.
In a time of rising authoritarianism and oppression, that call is harder to ignore. We believe the biblical tradition has more to say about liberation than most of us have been handed.
“You can pray until you faint, but unless you get up and try to do something, God is not going to put it in your lap.”
Fannie Lou Hamer
For ten years, 40 Orchards has led cohorts as spaces for personal formation. This year, we're building something different. Operation Metro Surge, with the dramatic ICE agent presence in the Twin Cities, clarified something for us. Watching our immigrant neighbors face detentions and raids showed us that we had been building didn't feel like enough anymore. It was time to take the mutuality and reciprocity deeper.
The Justice & Faith Cohort is aimed not at individual flourishing but at collective liberation. It's not just about me, it's not even just about us. It’s about all of us. Everything.
“Blessed are those which do hunger and thirst after justice: for they shall be filled.”
Jesus
WHO THIS IS FOR:
friends & allies
artists & authors
neighbors & community members
leaders & organizers
pastors & chaplains
This cohort is for those who are looking for a justice framework that goes deeper and who want to do something with it.
This is open to people from any faith background. We will be using the Christian Bible as a primary sacred text, but with a primary rooting in the Hebrew Scripture. If you are from a different tradition, we invite you to learn with us, and bring your own sacred text into the conversation as well.
WHAT YOU’LL GET OUT OF THIS:
Increased understanding about the how the work of justice is never done, rooting in both Scripture and history.
The encouragement and support to do what is yours to do in the world, finding your way towards deeper participation in the justice movements that are meaningful to you.
A communal experience of learning and connection.
Greater rootedness for the justice work in your community, with a stronger connection between your theology and action.
Regular one-on-one meetings with Lisa (prison chaplain) and Steph (executive coach) to process your journey.
The experience of inner and outer liberation, as you lean into the truth expressed by Emma Lazarus that “Until we are all free, we are none of us free.”
WHY THIS PLACE:
The Twin Cities sits at a bdote, a Dakota word for where two waters meet. The confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers is a sacred site of creation. In 1862, that same land held the Dakota people prisoner after the U.S.-Dakota War, and kept Dred Scott a slave. Decades later, Rondo, a thriving Black neighborhood built by families shut out everywhere else, was destroyed to build a freeway straight through it. Here, what people built and what got taken from them have always shared the same address.
In 2020, George Floyd was killed at 38th and Chicago, sparking Black Lives Matter protests that reached cities across the world. The intersection is now George Floyd Square, a place the community claimed and still tends. In 2026, ICE agents killed both Renee Good and Alex Pretti only a few miles from that spot during Operation Metro Surge. The response of protests, organizing, and mutual aid here inspired many others to fight back against oppression.
We don't think this short and insufficient list of significant events make the Twin Cities exceptional. We think it makes this place instructive. Look closely enough at where you live, and you'll find your own version of this history, waiting to be reckoned with.
“What we must do is commit ourselves to some future that can include each other and to work toward that future with the particular strengths of our individual identities. And in order for us to do this, we must allow each other our differences at the same time as we recognize our sameness.”
Audre Lorde
DATES & DETAILS TO KNOW:
The Grounding Gathering: Morning of October 23 to Midday October 25, 2026, Twin Cities
We begin together in Minneapolis, a city that knows what resistance looks like. We will share meals, sit in circles, and visit sites that have important history here. *This gathering is a stay where you like weekend: camp, couch surf, or splurge. We will be together for meals, circles, and excursions.
Circles: twice a month, October 2026 to April 2027
We will have 14 Circles over seven months. These will be hybrid, in person for those in the Twin Cities and virtual for those who live elsewhere. The dates and times of these gatherings will be determined through an availability survey sent to interested participants.
The Releasing Gathering: Morning of April 23 to Midday April 25, 2027, Twin Cities
We end where we started, back in the Twin Cities. This time naming, in community, what has shifted and what we are carrying back into our lives. Meals, circles, and a witness to where seven months of formation has brought us. *This gathering is a stay where you like weekend: camp, couch surf, or splurge. We will be together for meals, circles, and excursions.
Steph and Lisa have spent years teaching inside congregations, not just alongside them. Partnerships with churches like Awaken, Genesis, Peace, New City, and others have shaped how we lead circles for pastors and their people. If you're exploring what this could look like for your own congregation, visit our page for clergy and communities.
"40 Orchards provides time and space for deep dives into scripture with fellow travelers..."
— Rev. Victoria Wilgocki, Pastor, St. Anthony Park United Church of Christ
YOUR GUIDES:
Lisa Adams and Stephanie Spencer are the co-directors of 40 Orchards. Both are former ministers at mega-churches who now live their callings bi-vocationally. Lisa is an abolitionist who serves as a prison chaplain, with an M.Div. from Luther Seminary and a B.S. in Criminal Justice. Stephanie is an executive coach specializing in the Enneagram, with an M.A. from Bethel Seminary and a B.S. in Social Work. Both are involved in justice work beyond their paid roles. They have ten years of leading circles and cohorts with 40 Orchards and decades of formation that started long before that. Together they create spaces for curiosity, honesty, and communal wisdom.
“One cannot be free alone. Freedom is collective.”
Angela Davis
YOUR COST:
The Justice & Faith Cohort is a sliding scale.
We believe finances should never be a barrier to participation. We use a sliding scale because access matters.
The cost is $1800.
Is your seat being paid by a church, employer, or organization? If so, we ask you to consider contributing $3600. That extra room funds a seat for someone paying out of pocket.
Is $1800 is out of reach for you personally? Tell us what works.
This is a donation, which makes it a target, not a fence. Wherever you fall, we can help you make a plan. For instance, you could donate $50 a month, fundraise part of your cost by inviting people in your community to invest, or tell us a lower total that is doable for you. When you apply, tell us what you need and we will do our best to make it work. We do not have hoops to jump through or judgment about what is and isn’t a fair request. We invite you to tell us what works.
INTERESTED?
Here are some next steps you can take:
Get together with Lisa or Steph for a Zoom, coffee, or walk.
This is the best way to get your questions answered and find out of this cohort is a fit. We place a high value on personal connection and would love to meet with you. Please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Apply as soon as you are ready.
Some people don’t need an info night or a coffee.They just know this is the program and this is the time. If that’s you, apply using the button below.
Applications close September 15, 2026.
Open nationally. Limited in size.
Want to read more about what led us here?
Read "I used to think the Bible said I was 'very good'" and "I read a quarter of the Bible and thought I knew it".
Want to hear more stories from 40 Orchards cohort participants?
Explore the stories of Claire, Meagan, Holly, Brooke, or Sarah.
“The masses of men live with their backs constantly against the wall. They are the poor, the disinherited, the dispossessed. What does our religion say to them?"
Howard Thurman