Dear Friend of Renewed Heart Ministries,
Thank You for Your Support of Renewed Heart Ministries in 2025
As 2025 has come to a close, I want to personally thank you for your generous support of Renewed Heart Ministries this year. Your commitment and generosity make our work possible, and we are deeply grateful for the trust you place in this mission.
Because of you, Renewed Heart Ministries continues to challenge injustice, amplify voices too often ignored, and encourage people of faith to follow Jesus in ways that are courageous, compassionate, and transformative. Your support allows us to create resources, foster conversations, and nurture communities committed to love, dignity, and liberation for all, especially those pushed to the margins.
In a time when injustice can feel overwhelming and hope fragile, your partnership reminds us that meaningful change is built together. Every gift, large or small, is a tangible act of solidarity and a powerful statement that justice, mercy, and radical love still matter.
As we look ahead to the coming year, your support gives us the strength to continue this work with clarity and resolve. We are excited about what lies ahead and honored to walk this journey with you.
Thank you for standing with Renewed Heart Ministries in 2025. Your generosity truly makes a difference.
With gratitude and hope,
Herb Montgomery
Director
Renewed Heart Ministries
renewedheartministries.com
Recommended Reading for January
Pray We PrayFreedom: Liturgies and Rituals from the Freedom Church of the Poor
By Liz Theoharis (Editor), Charon Hribar (Editor)
A book of prayers, rituals, and liturgies that grows out of communities committed to abolishing poverty.
Prayer has long sustained movements for social change. Ritual gives shape to our desire for justice, and liturgy lends power to our work. In We Pray Freedom, we learn from activists and movement builders the songs, stories, and ritual practices that keep them going for the long haul. The Freedom Church of the Poor, called for by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., has existed in many forms; today it includes laborers, poor folks, pastors, organizers, and others bound together by a conviction: It does not have to be this way.
Edited by Liz Theoharis, theologian, pastor, anti-poverty activist, and editor of We Cry Justice, and Charon Hribar, song leader, cultural organizer, and social ethicist, this book guides readers through a journey of remembering, healing, mourning, action, and celebration. It is a collection of prayers, resources, and stories from the communities in which they arose, including:
A Prayer to Protect a Sacred Place
A Prayer for Burials
A Black Friday Prayer for Workers’ Justice
Passover Seder
Vigil for the Detained
Healthcare Vigil
A Shinnecock Song of Peace
Earth Liturgy
A Ramadan Ritual
A Poem in the Wake of Police Violence
A Revolutionary Advent Wreath
A Prayer for Diwali
Benediction for Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day
Join Chaplains on the Harbor on their Stations of the Cross, Iglesia del Pueblo for Día de los Muertos, Domestic Workers United in their community garden ritual, and an of encampment of unhoused residents in Alabama for their communion service. With more than fifty resources from eighty contributors, We Pray Freedom is useful for individual reflection, corporate worship, and protest and action. Through liturgies of liberation, join a movement that bears witness to the justice of God and to human faith, suffering, protest, and love.ublished in 1936. The Cost of Discipleship is an excellent addition to any Christian library.
Last Week’s Social Jesus Blog Posts
John’s Baptism as a Call for Justice
Part 1 of the series Jesus’ Baptism as Alignment with a Movement for Justice
As the social location of Christianity changed and became united with the empire the justice associated with John’s baptism became lost.
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/socialjesus/2026/01/johns-baptism-call-justice
Constantine and the Eclipse of Justice
Part 2 of the series Jesus’ Baptism as Alignment with a Movement for Justice
This union with empire under Constantinian continues to this day to shape Christian theology, ethics, and politics.
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/socialjesus/2026/01/constantine-eclipse-justice
Jesus’ Baptism and a Movement for Social Change
Part 2 of the series Jesus’ Baptism as Alignment with a Movement for Justice
John’s message also had explicit social and economic dimensions. John the Baptist called his listeners in Luke to social change.
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/socialjesus/2026/01/jesus-baptism-movement-social-change/
New Episode of The Social Jesus Podcast
A podcast where we talk about the intersection of faith and social justice and what a first century, prophet of the poor from Galilee might have to offer us today in our work of love, compassion and justice.
This week:
Season 3 Episode 2: Jesus’ Baptism as Alignment with a Movement for Justice
Matthew 3:13-17
Jesus’ baptism by John signifies his identification with John’s vision. Rather than distancing himself from John, Jesus begins his ministry proclaiming the same kingdom message as John did, and he gathers a community shaped by similar ethical demands. Jesus expands John’s work by centering it on the poor, the sick, and the socially excluded, and by intensifying its critiques of wealth, domination, and religious hypocrisy. Seen in this light, Jesus’ connection to John is not incidental but foundational. Jesus inherits and radicalizes John’s social justice movement, transforming prophetic protest into a sustained, embodied challenge to systems that dehumanize, exploit, and exclude. This challenge was an inheritance that ultimately led to Jesus, like John, being executed by the social power they both confronted. Following Jesus today cannot be separated from a commitment to social justice, because Jesus’ life and teachings, like John the Baptist’s, consistently confronted systems that harmed the vulnerable and concentrated power in the hands of a few. The Gospels portray Jesus not only as a spiritual teacher but as a public figure whose message of God’s reign challenged economic exploitation, social exclusion, and religious complicity with injustice. To follow Jesus, then, is to take seriously the ethical and political implications of his vision.
Available on all major podcast carriers and at:
Upcoming Events
Januray 17, 2025
Good News Fellowship (via Zoom)
Toronto, Ontario Canada
For info: 304.520.0030
Weekly HeartGroup on Zoom Every Wednesday Night!
Each Wednesday evening, Renewed Heart Ministries hosts a Zoom-HeartGroup led by Herb Montgomery. Our discussion each week will focus on the content in RHM’s weekly eSight articles and the Social Jesus podcast. The time of each Zoom session will be on Wednesdays at 7:00 p.m. Pacific/10:00 p.m. Eastern.
To receive the link for the Zoom meeting, email us at info@renewedheartministries.com.
Finding Jesus: A Fundamentalist Preacher Discovers the Socio-Political & Economic Teachings of the Gospels
by Herb Montgomery
Available now on Amazon!
In Finding Jesus, author Herb Montgomery delves into the profound and often overlooked political dimensions of the gospels. Through meticulous analysis of biblical texts, historical context, and social discourse, this thought-provoking book unveils the gospels’ socio-political, economic teachings as rooted in a profound concern for justice, compassion, and the well-being of the marginalized. The book navigates the intersections between faith and societal justice, presenting a compelling argument for a more socially engaged and transformative Christianity.
Finding Jesus is not just a scholarly exploration; it is a call to action. It challenges readers to reevaluate their understanding of Christianity’s role in public life and to consider how the radical teachings of the gospels can inspire a renewed commitment to justice, equality, and compassion. This book is a must-read for those seeking a deeper understanding of the social implications of Christian faith and a blueprint for building a more just and inclusive society.
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