- admin@remerge.org
We build communities of peace by accelerating belonging and flourishing.
We are created by God, through His Word, for community. Beneath community lies God’s deepest purpose: to unite all things in Himself (Eph. 1:10). We are made for this. To be created is to receive our life as a gift and to take our place in the world under God, as creatures among creatures rather than masters of our own making. The content of God’s creating Word is love, which weaves all that exists into a single tapestry, each thread bearing inherent worth and called to mutual service. When sin tears that oneness apart, God acts to restore it: in Christ, God is reconciling all things, mending what was broken so that, as Christ prayed, we might all be one (John 17:21). We join God, by following His active speaking through the Spirit, in the ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18–19); our action in the world is nothing other than participation in this work of making one. Because we are finite and created for the other, God moves us toward the other without condition, especially at the edges of death and wherever people are cast out of the belonging and flourishing of creation. Dignity, communion, and shalom are the names we give to lives caught up in God’s one, creating and reconciling love.
Everyone bears God’s image and therefore possesses unearned, inherent worth (Gen. 1:26–27). To affirm another’s dignity is to receive them as God receives us, imperfect yet beloved, and to treat them accordingly in speech, compassion and practice. Affirming another’s dignity also means accepting them as gifted by God with something meaningful to contribute to community. To deny the opportunity to participate and contribute is to deny dignity. To withhold your gift is to devalue your and my dignity. This pattern of worth and gift is not humanity’s alone: all of creation is called good by God (Gen. 1:31), and every part of it carries both inherent dignity and something meaningful to offer the rest of creation. To affirm dignity, then, is to honor not only our neighbors but the whole community of creation we are given to tend and to receive from. We give particular attention to those whose dignity is routinely denied by the world: the stranger, the vulnerable, and the marginalized.
God creates us for communion (with God, with one another, and with all creation), so relationships are never incidental to our work. Reconciliation names God’s healing of what sin has torn apart (Col. 1:19–20), and our participation in that healing through truth-telling, acts of justice, and renewed fellowship. Joining lives is never one-directional: as we enter the lives of others and welcome them into our own, we are all changed: our assumptions challenged, our hearts enlarged, our understanding deepened. So we make space for those who join with us, widening the table so that each person can belong, be known, and help shape the community in turn. Because culture, practices, and systems are always shifting, this work is complex, ongoing and often messy; yet as we join lives, God continues to form us into a more faithful and “beloved” community.
Scripture’s vision of shalom (Psalm 85:10-11; Isaiah 32:16-18) is more than the absence of harm; it is the presence of right relationship with God, neighbor, self, and all creation, the wholeness God intends for a world fractured by sin and suffering. So we care for the whole person (body, mind, and spirit) and for the broader conditions that shape life together: place, peace, connection, prosperity, beauty, freedom, and safety. Because every life is held within interconnected systems, any solution aimed at one part must account for the whole, including the flourishing of the creation we share. And because shalom is shared, well-being is never something we dispense from above; we receive it even as we tend it, trusting that God alone makes all things finally whole.
These convictions are not abstractions; they take shape in how we work. The practices that follow (collaboration, discovery, honor, and generosity) are dignity, communion, and shalom worked out in our daily labor together.
Because lives and systems are interconnected, community building is never solitary work. We partner humbly with those already laboring in a place and with the people and communities we serve. We share both successes and failures, practicing mutual accountability rather than competition. We operate as a “team of teams” across programs and roles, investing in one another, challenging one another, and celebrating together (I Cor. 12:7,11-12). We avoid choices that shift undue burdens onto teammates, partners, or those we serve.
We pursue solutions that strengthen belonging and flourishing (for people and for the creation we share) as we contribute toward building communities marked by peace (Jer. 29:7). We begin by listening deeply to understand the true challenges before us, then we direct our energy toward wise, workable responses. We trust that God is not absent from stubborn problems and that faithful creativity is possible. We therefore use a human-centered, systems-aware approach that includes many perspectives, especially those most directly affected and most vulnerable, along with leaders across the sectors that shape (and are shaped by) the issue.
Our words and our commitments alike are powerful and accountable before God. We aim for integrity, so that our speech, our actions, and our promises agree: no cutting corners, no deception, no manipulation. We speak truthfully, compassionately, and directly, seeking both clarity and love (Eph. 4:15); we keep our word, and we honor what is entrusted to us (others’ time, work, and trust), stewarding it faithfully. When we recognize that we have caused harm, acted from bias, or that our practices are no longer faithful or effective, we take responsibility and pursue repair and change with urgency.
Because God gives generously (James 1:5), we practice generosity with our time, attention, resources, and knowledge. We invest in teammates, partners, and those we serve so that others are strengthened and able to succeed in work and in life. As we grow, we share what we are learning, knowing that doing so helps others flourish and also deepens our own understanding as we remain open to being taught.
We seek to mature spiritually, growing in love, wisdom, faith and hope even as we sharpen our skills and understanding. We embrace experimentation and receive failures as teachers, trusting that God forms us through both success and refinement. Because the world is dynamic, today’s solution can become tomorrow’s obstacle; so we cultivate a posture of continual learning, repentance, and renewal (Proverbs 1:5). And because lasting growth is spiritual before it is strategic, we pursue it at a sustainable pace, attending to our formation as carefully as to our impact.
Rather than making work an idol or the measure of our worth, we practice regular rhythms of rest and reflection (Exod. 20:8–11; Matthew 6:33) to re-center our lives on the worship of God and the fullness of life. Sabbath reminds us who we are and why we serve; it slows us enough to notice God, neighbor, and the present moment. With this orientation, our work becomes a form of faithful play, done with seriousness and devotion yet without self-importance. Sabbath also reaffirms that the world, and our work within it, belongs to God, not to us; so our rest extends outward, to one another as we refuse to shift our burdens onto others, and to creation itself, which we release from relentless use (Lev. 25:4). Resting in this way loosens our grip of control and unhealthy attachment, prevents both burnout and apathy, and frees us to work diligently, rest truly, and keep healthy relationships, boundaries, and priorities.
In 1999, Kurt Salierno founded a ministry serving the homeless called “Church on the Street.” Using the parking lot of SafeHouse, the ministry hosted a meal and worship service each Thursday. Though the services provided a regular structure, the foundation of the ministry was spending time building relationships and doing life with those experiencing homelessness. Over the next decade, the ministry received broad ecumenical support; invited volunteers and interns to support and run programming; and hosted numerous student mission teams.
In 2008, the financial crisis wreaked havoc on the global economy. Church on the Street was experiencing its own organizational crisis. A transition in leadership ensued, and Andy Odle was brought in as executive director in July 2008. Andy was a former staff member with Church on the Street who had recently completed his Ph.D. in Scotland. Andy accepted the position under the auspices of working out the application of his doctoral studies which examined homelessness and poverty from a theological perspective and offered a critique of the response of both the church and public policy. The organizational focus shifted towards community building, exploring what creates poverty and division, and how to address it. This led to the emphasis on reconciliation, which continues to guide the organization today.
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