Our Theology 

Grace in Action is based in the radical love of Jesus Christ. Although we come from a variety of faith backgrounds, we are grounded in the belief that Jesus sought to radically transform the religious and political power structures of his time, giving all people free access to God's love and grace, as well as economic opportunity and integration into mainstream society for those who were marginalized. As Grace in Action, we model ourselves after the early church for whom faith was more about how you lived than what you believed. We strive to live life as Jesus did and follow his teachings by transforming the power structures within our neighborhood of Southwest Detroit and the larger society.

We do this through the tools of community organizing. We bring together people from across our neighborhood to address the issues that we identify as needs in our community. We are a part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and practice core Lutheran beliefs: God's love is a free gift through Jesus Christ to all people,  no matter who they are.

The following are articles and books that have influenced our thinking as a community: 

• Covenant Ecomomics; A biblical Vision of Justice for All. By Richard Horsley
• Contexual Reading of the Bible by: Gerald West of The Ujama Institute in South Africa 
• The Lion Shall Dwell with the Lamb by Erik Law
• Martin Luther's Two Kingdoms and Freedom of a Christian
• Resisting Structural Evil: Love as Ecological-Economic vocation by Cynthia Moe Lobeda 
• The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander