ABOUT THE SPIRITUAL FORMATION AND TRAINING PROGRAM

In response to a world that needs change-makers to enact the biblical call toward justice, Life Together equips young leaders to work toward the thriving of all creation. Yet we recognize how much that broader impact depends on dismantling systems in which people of color, women, LGBTQ+ folks, and others are relegated to the margins of society. Through our Spiritual Formation and Training program, we seek to prepare leaders (personal transformation) to challenge these systems (dominant systems) and to build communities of liberation (alternative systems).

Following the work of Paulo Freire and others, we believe that learning is co-constructed. As such, our facilitators join fellows as co-learners in the training space, not as “experts” with knowledge to impart. We seek to learn not only with our heads, but also with our hearts and bodies. Story-telling and creative expression are seen as primary avenues for self-discovery and trust-building -- essential aspects of the learning process.

Through our partnership with The Mystic Soul Project, we are centering the voices and perspectives of people of color throughout our curriculum. By welcoming our alumni back as facilitators, we continue to invest in the formation and development of our ever-expanding community.

Current Facilitators

YANI BURGOS

Originally from the Bronx and after a lot of moving settling in New Jersey, Yani's (she/they) path has consistently been informed by a desire to see those around her thrive. After being introduced to community organizing as a teenager, Yani has committed her life to community-led social change. For the last 10 years, she has explored how might different communities work together to build power and shift from surviving to thriving, particularly among folks of color and LGBQTI+ communities. She is a Life Together alum (2014-2016) and has loved continuing to support the broader community as a trainer, a supervisor, a leadership team member, and as a prayer partner. She enjoys finding innovative ways to use a slow cooker, chanting on the beach at sunrise, and searching for the latest and greatest in sneaker fashion trends.

HAZEL MONAE

Hazel Monae (she/her/hers) moved to Boston in 2011 to participate in Life Together. During her two years in the program, Hazel worked as a Faith-Based Community Organizer, creating the first Youth Organizing Network in the Northshore of Massachusetts. Her work, in coalition with many state-wide groups, led to the approval of a $9.8 million Youth Summer Jobs budget through the Massachusetts Statehouse. Hazel continues to use her community organizing skills in her work and school. She received a Masters in Divinity from the Boston University School of Theology in 2019, and now works at the Missioner for Equity and Justice in the Episcopal Diocese of Washington.

YOOJIN LEE

Yoojin (she/her/hers) has been actively learning and practicing Nonviolent Communication on a personal basis for ten years and has attended trainings with Dr. Rosenberg. A trainer and consultant for leadership and social change, Yoojin has been training and supporting the development of young people and adults on justice-related topics for over fifteen years. Formerly, she was a Senior Trainer & Manager at Health Resources in Action and the Lead Organizer and Executive Director at the Boston-area Youth Organizing Project. Her enthusiasm for NVC comes from experiencing its transformative effects on her relationships at work, in her family, and with herself. Yoojin is a member of Cambridge Community Fellowship Church and worships regularly at Society of St. John the Evangelist, an Episcopal monastery in Cambridge. She has a BA in Government from Smith College and a Master's in Public Policy from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.

THE REVEREND EDWIN JOHNSON

Rev. Edwin Johnson (he/him/his), a self-proclaimed “smiling-dancing-Jesus-freak,” is currently serving as the Rector of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Dorchester, the largest neighborhood of Boston. A product of our Diocese and its youth programs, Edwin attended Tufts University and directed a non-profit before heading off to seminary in Berkeley California. Upon returning to the Diocese Edwin has immersed himself in urban parish ministry, social justice work, mission and faith formation for all ages. Edwin encountered Life Together for the first time while attending a training for site supervisors in 2010. Since then he has worked closely with several fellows while joining the Leadership Team and Life Together faculty. He has become an important part of the Life Together family. Edwin is passionate about bringing together communities of people to “be church” in ways that enrich their lives and the lives of everyone around them through ministries of love and justice. This passion fuels him as he gives himself fully to his parish, St. Mary’s, alongside a number of Diocesan and National Church responsibilities. In the midst of all this, Edwin finds plenty of time and energy for fun and fellowship. He’s a competitive weightlifter, a dance instructor/performer and is learning to enjoy nature thanks to his wife Susan. He and Susan, along with their sons Francisco and Santiago, team up to bring joy wherever they go.

NICHOLAS HAYES-MOTA

Nicholas Hayes-Mota (he/him/his), MDiv, is a PhD student in ethics at Boston College and a consultant to the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization. Nicholas's purpose is enabling the moral and spiritual agency of others, to build community and to do justice. This purpose ties together his work as a minister, community organizer, and academic. From 2015-16, he was Teaching and Research Fellow to Marshall Ganz at the Harvard Kennedy School. Prior to that, he served as Faith Community Partnerships Organizer at the New Economy Coalition; Engagement Manager at the Criterion Institute; and an organizing trainer with Marshall Ganz's Leading Change Network. He first learned community organizing as a Fellow in Life Together (2009-2011), through which he also began working with the Leadership Development Initiative (LDI). He currently serves on the Leadership Team of the Faith Matters Network. For fun, Nicholas loves, among other things, piano, quality fiction, Turbokick, and terrible 80s music.

ISAAC MARTINEZ

Isaac Martinez (he/him/his) received an M.Div. from Harvard Divinity School and was recently ordained a priest in the Episcopal Church. He currently serves as Curate at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Brookline, MA. He previously served as the Director of Programming at the Leadership Development Initiative (LDI) where he led and managed LDI’s flagship training program in the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts. From 2010-2014, he worked at Next Street, a multidisciplinary advisory and financial services firm that supported small businesses and non-profits with a particular focus on inner-city and minority and women-owned firms. He is a member of The Crossing. He graduated from Harvard College with a BA in Government.

LYDIA STRAND

Lydia Strand (she/her/hers) is a co-founder of Contemplative Action, a small team investigating the intersections of social movement organizing, Christian contemplative spirituality, and models of intentional community living. She has worked on projects iterating at that intersection including: the Contemplative Action Circle project in Boston, MA, which organized young people of faith into contemplative communities and leading to non-violent direct action; the Praxis Community, a network of clergy and organizers rooting in their stories and taking risks towards social justice in their leadership; and offering strategic planning coaching to the Center for Action and Contemplation as they support the emergence of a Christian contemplative renewal movement. She continues to live in intentional community in Boston, MA and is an alumna of Life Together from 2013-2015.

JOCELIN THOMAS

Jocelin Thomas (she/her/hers) is a recent alum of Life Together -- part of the 2017-2019 cohorts. She stayed on the following summer with Life Together as Bridge Training Coordinator. A succinct bio of her might read: reformed corporate accountant turned artist, spiritual leader, and faith-based organizer. Jocelin hails from a little town in northwest Pennsylvania, and considers Buffalo, NY a second home after attending the University at Buffalo. With a Master’s in Accounting and CPA certification in hand, Jocelin moved to Boston to work in public accounting at Ernst & Young. After a couple years, she wanted to pivot her career and Life Together emerged as an opportunity for discerning her next steps. It became a way to address her hunger for spiritual reconnection, self-reflection, and community. During her time at Life Together, Jocelin helped educate faith leaders on how to safely help domestic violence victims and survivors through her work with Safe Havens Interfaith Partnership Against Domestic Violence and Elder Abuse. Following this, she worked with Episcopal City Mission, coordinating leadership development programs for Episcopal adult and youth parishioners. Going forward she hopes to continue building her spiritual leadership, engaging in anti-racism work, spreading the good word of the Enneagram, and bringing the skills of organizing to every role she holds. In her spare time, Jocelin enjoys discovering new music and making killer playlists, writing poetry (find it on Instagram @flirtwithmysoul) making friends, consuming delicious food and beer, and finding a rhythm wherever she goes.

ANAYELSI VELASCO-SANCHEZ

Born in Venezuela, AnaYelsi Velasco-Sanchez (she/her/hers) is an IndoLatinx mujerista working to create and agitate her way through the Latin diaspora. With over a decade of non-profit and faith-based community organizing experience, she now works independently—pursuing justice in an intersectional and holistic way. She works as a consultant, educator, writer, and visual artist in both sacred and secular spaces. AnaYelsi is the founder of En Conjunto—a collective providing support, community, resources, and collaborative opportunities to people of color working independently at the intersection of justice and spirituality. She is the co-host for the Mystic Soul podcast with Teresa P. Mateus, a co-coordinator with Liberation School South, and her column, Brown Eyed Amazon, can be found at Patheos’ Progressive Christian channel. She serves on the board of the Festival Center in Washington, DC and is affiliated with the Mystic Soul Project and the Union of Affirming Christians. AnaYelsi loves disappearing for hours in an art museum, feeding people a homemade flan of which she is unabashedly proud, reading everything she can get her hands on, and watching an absurd number of problematic made-for-tv holiday romcoms. She lives in Washington, D.C. You can follow her on twitter at @brwneyedamzn and on Facebook (/browneyedamazon).

Past Facilitators

THE REVEREND CANON STEVEN C. BONSEY

The Rev. Canon Steven C. Bonsey (he/him/his) has served as a parish priest, campus minister and cathedral canon. He was born on Molokai, Hawaii, graduated from Harvard College and received an M. Div. and S.T.M. from Yale Divinity School. He studies contemplative practice in Wisdom Schools with Cynthia Bourgeault and others and served as Chaplain and Lead Trainer for the Leadership Development Initiative (diomassleads.org). He is currently the co-director of Wisdom & Money. He offers training in contemplative spiritual practice, especially centering prayer, lectio divina and sacred chant.

THE REVEREND JOHN DE BEER

John de Beer (he/him/his), D.Min. (Congregational Development), MA (Theology), B.Sc. (Mathematics and Physics) has for decades been a key player in pioneering adult faith formation programs, most notably the Education for Ministry Program at the University of the South where he was on staff for eight years and has been training mentors since 1977. He retired as Rector of St. Mark’s, Burlington, Massachusetts. He was active in the following Diocesan programs: Life Together- from 2009-2014 he was the lead designer and trainer in the 8 day orientation program for the 20 participants; Making Excellent Disciples- a mentoring program for new clergy, and from 2010-2015, he was on the team that designed and led the cohort groups for new clergy and their mentors; and Leadership Development Initiative- transforming parish teams through spiritual practice, organizational development, and local action. From 2009-2015, he was on the leadership team and sent two groups from St. Mark’s to participate in the training, which has transformed the connection between the parish and the local community. Rev. de Beer is the co-author, alongside Patricia O'Connell Killen, of The Art of Theological Reflection, Crossroad, New York, 1994.

DITRA EDWARDS

Ditra (she/her/hers) is the previous Director of Strategic Partnerships for the Praxis Project, an organization helping communities use media and policy advocacy to advance health justice. 

ISAAC EVERETT

Isaac Everett (he/him/his) is the director of the Charles River Episcopal Co-Housing Endeavor, a Life Together host site in 2019-2020. He has written The Emergent Psalter (Church Publishing), a musical translation of the book of Psalms, and has contributed to Psalms for All Seasons (Brazos Press), Worship and Song for United Methodists (Abingdon Press), Music by Heart: Paperless Songs for Evening Worship (Church Publishing), Rising From the Ashes: Rethinking Church (Seabury Books), and Liturgy: the Journal of the Liturgical Conference. He is a founding member of an intentional community in Jamaica Plain, where he lives with his wife, and spends his spare time playing musical instruments, lifting heavy weights, and playing nerdy games.

JERRY KOCH GONZALEZ

Jerry Koch-Gonzalez (he/him/his) is a certified trainer of Nonviolent Communication and of Sociocracy/Dynamic Governance. Jerry's passion and what these approaches have in common is support for the notion that everyone’s needs matter; we can organize any institution based on the inclusion of all members in decision making; and we can do it effectively, efficiently and with the joy of shared meaning and purpose. Jerry is a long-time social change activist and has worked with United for Fair Economy, Class Action Network, Spirit in Action, National Coalition Building Institute and the Institute for Peaceable Communities. Jerry is a founding resident of the 21-year old Pioneer Valley Cohousing Community in Amherst, MA. Some of Jerry’s leadership commitments include: EO, The Sociocracy Consulting Group; Certified Trainer, New England NVC Senior Trainer; Class Action; Member, Pioneer Valley Cohousing Community.

CICIA LEE

Cicia Lee is the National Coordinator of Momentum, a community dedicated to incubating, training, and launching decentralized popular movements in the United States. She is also a member of the core team for Contemplative Action Circles, which is organizing young people of faith committed to contemplative practice, storytelling, and noncooperation through direct action. She has also been dreaming about and organizing Queer House Church in Boston, which grew out of a class with Marshall Ganz and a deep need for spiritual spaces led by and for queer people of faith. She worked for several years as a designer, and is currently finding ways to integrate design process with movement-building work. Previously, Cicia worked through a Life Together fellowship for the Massachusetts Communities Action Network, a network of community organizations and congregations working for racial and economic justice - a part of the PICO National Network. She graduated from Wellesley College, where she spent her time reading radical Asian-American authors, and studying feminist economics and political philosophy.

LORI LOBENSTINE

Lori Lobenstine (she/her/hers) is a co-founder of the Design Studio for Social Intervention (DS4SI), a creativity lab for the nonprofit social justice sector. She is also an established consultant and experienced youth development and diversity trainer, including over 15 years experience as a certified trainer in the National BEST Youth Worker Training Initiative. Her recent writings include “Social / Justice / Practice: Exploring the Role of Artists in Creating a More Just and Social Public” (published by AnimatingDemocracy.org), and “Spatial Justice: A Frame for Reclaiming our Rights to Be, Thrive, Express and Connect.”

TERESA P. MATEUS

Teresa (she/her/hers) is a trauma specialist, contemplative practice teacher, author, speaker, professor and co-founder/Executive Director of The Mystic Soul Project. Her work converges at the intersections of healing, spirituality and justice - with a focus on people/communities of color. She speaks on these intersections with a focus on indigenous reclamation as a means of healing from intergenerational trauma, trauma in movements/activism, the intersection of contemplation and action - centering the margins, religious/spiritual trauma, and spirituality and healing with a POC-focus. Teresa is the author of Going Naked: The Camino de Santiago & Life as Pilgrimage, Mending Broken: A Journey Through the Stages of Trauma & Recovery, and Sacred Wounds: A Path to Healing from Spiritual Trauma. You can learn more about Teresa at teresapmateus.com and @teresapmateus.

SARAH MOORE

Sarah (she/her/hers) received her BA from UCLA, her JD from Harvard Law School, and her MTS from Harvard Divinity School in 2007. She was a Teaching Fellow for Harvard Kennedy School of Government in 2009, studying community organizing alongside Marshal Ganz. Sarah has been teaching Decision-Making from the Soul since 2004, and launched an online version of the practice in 2015.

JADE T. PERRY

Jade T. Perry (she/her/hers) is a multidisciplinary artist, Intuitive Wellness Coach & Consultant, Play-based Educator, and the Co-founder of the Mystic Soul Project 501c3 (which centers queer and trans people of color in healing, mysticism, and activism). She is the mind behind the Embodied Rituals project: an ongoing creative arts & intuitive wellness initiative meant to compassionately coach Black church(ed) women & Queer People of Color who are unlearning spiritualized & internalized sexual / sensual repression. She is a sex positive, spiritually fluid #churchymystic – (that is, one who walks in awareness of how Black folks’ mysticism, cosmology, & folklore is imbued in Black charismatic church culture). She is trained in Reiki Level 2, intuitive space-holding, and the creative / performing arts (namely theater, creative writing, vocal performance). The mission of her work, as a whole, is to contribute resources, art, narratives, and experiential learning opportunities that aid in the holistic healing processes of people of color (POC), queer people of color (QPOC), and disabled / chronically ill POC. Additionally, she seeks to creatively challenge secular and sacred systems toward greater levels of inclusion.

ADIEL POLLYDORE

Adiel (she/her/hers) spent two years as a Life Together fellow, where she led the worship team and lived at the magical house that is SLAM. Adiel recently completed work as the Communications Director at the I Have A Future, alongside young people who are organizing to end youth criminalization and win full youth employment. She enjoys contemplative spiritual practice and is a novice retreat leader. Eventually she wants to have her own spiritual retreat center in Upstate New York. She enjoys story telling, drinking bubble tea, and learning how to cook random veggies in the CSA. She hopes to spend the next years learning from and with other black folks who see their connection to the divine as connected to their connection to land and to each other–ask her about this side project! She's a 2015 graduate of Tufts University where she studied Chinese and Sociology.

THE REVEREND CRISTINA RATHBONE

Tina Rathbone (she/her/hers) is as priest to those on the margins, serving most recently the MANNA community through her position as Canon Missioner at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul. She worked with homeless men and women in the Downtown Boston area for more than eight years, and in partnership with this community brought to life a thriving faith community of prayer, service and action in the world. Tina continues to learn and grow both as a priest and a human-being as a result of her work with the men and women of MANNA and is filled with gratitude that such work remains possible for her. Prior to being ordained an Episcopal priest in 2009, Tina was an award winning journalist and author of two books: On the Outside Looking In: A year in an Inner City High School (Grove Atlantic Press, 1998) and A World Apart: Women, Prisons and Life Behind Bars (Random House, 2005). She lives in Roslindale with her two teenaged boys, Jack and Lucas.

THE REVEREND ALEXIA SALVATIERRA

Rev. Alexia Salvatierra (she/her/hers) is currently the Special Assistant to the Bishop for Welcoming Congregations for the Southwest California Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. She also serves as a consultant (training, facilitating, organizing and leading strategic planning) for a variety of national/international organizations, including World Vision USA/World Vision International/Women of Vision, Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, the Christian Community Development Association the Women’s Donor Network, Auburn Theological Seminary, Interfaith Worker Justice, PICO and Sojourner’s. She is adjunct faculty at the New York Theological Seminary and Biola University, and has lectured at Fuller Seminary, University of Southern California and UCLA. Her first book, Faith-Rooted Organizing was published by Intervarsity Press in January of 2014. She has been awarded the Changemaker award from the Liberty Hill Foundation, the Stanton Fellowship from the Durfee Foundation, the Amos Award from Sojourners, the Giants of Justice award from CLUE LA and the Prime Mover fellowship from the Hunt Alternatives Fund.

NATALIE THOMAS

Natalie (she/her/hers) was a Community Organizing fellow with Life Together in 2009 – 2010. It was through Life Together that Natalie witnessed how community organizing can achieve lasting change in the world while simultaneously developing in individuals an awareness of God’s love and power in us. This experience played a foundational role in developing Natalie’s sense of call that is rooted in a belief that the Church has the capacity to be a powerful force for individual and societal restoration in our world today. Since then Natalie has helped lead community organizing movements in Boston, Texas, New Zealand and most prominently Nairobi, Kenya, where she cofounded Tatua Kenya, an organization that addresses poverty through locally-led justice movements. Natalie served as the Interim Executive Director for the Leadership Development Initiative and the Director of Programs and Engagement for Episcopal City Mission. She now works as a Talent Consultant for Building for Mission. Natalie is also a Deacon in the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts.

MARIAMA WHITE-HAMMOND

The Rev. Mariama White-Hammond (she/her/hers) was born in Boston, MA in 1979. Mariama’s activism began in high school and continued at Stanford University, where Mariama was involved in campus politics, and in the arts where majored in International Relations focusing her studies in Latin America. In September 2001 Mariama became the Executive Director of Project HIP-HOP (Highways Into the Past – History, Organizing and Power), an organization she had been involved with since high school. Project HIP-HOP is a youth-led that engages young people in critical thinking, artistic production and community organizing. At PHH, Mariama used the arts as a tool to raise awareness about social issues and help young people to find their voice and share their ideas with the world. For her work in the non-profit sector Mariama has received numerous awards including the Barr Fellowship, the Celtics Heroes Among Us, The Roxbury Founders Day Award and the Boston NAACP Image award. In June 2014, Mariama stepped down as Executive Director to focus on her work within the church. Mariama is currently on the ministerial staff at Bethel AME Church and holds Masters of Divinity from Boston University School of Theology. Her hope is particularly to challenge the Christian church to embrace a more radical understanding of the life and mission of Jesus Christ. She believes that the church must be responsive to issues like street violence, mass incarceration climate change, AIDS, food security, war and human rights which threaten to destroy our planet and humankind.