Our move towards organizing seeks to do more than add another optional program to our church. This move aims to fulfill our church's mission statement more purposefully. "Disciples making disciples" has always been the descriptive measure of our church community, and we are creating opportunities to expand our capacity to include others.

Guides OCCCO to identify and develop resilient and committed leaders in low-income communities of color. Since joining OCCCO as a volunteer in 1993, Miguel has worked with the faith community in Anaheim, Costa Mesa, Fullerton, and Santa Ana. Miguel was born and raised in Santa Ana, where he currently resides with his wife and two daughters. 

I’m grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this committee. The super cool thing about this is that I get to apply what I’ve learned from my social work program and see how these ideas and practices are utilized in real life, particularly the aspect of integrating faith and social change. 

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Joining NUMA Church's first community organizing committee is exciting, as it will be my first time pursuing social justice initiatives in the context of my faith. I’m especially excited to engage the Asian American community who represent only 7% of these spaces. I’m proud to know that we are attempting to go where the efforts are truly needed.

I had the privilege of interacting with numerous community based organizations while working in civic government. Many of the legislation that we believed in could not be implemented without the CBO’s loud voices (literally). Their passionate action to be the voice for the voiceless resonated with me and I was really grateful for Numa’s  involvement with OCCCO. I love that I can now stand with the people, raising my voice in whatever issue we decide to pursue. 

As a previously undocumented immigrant, I've always been interested in social justice issues. I'm excited to be a part of the inaugural community organizing team. The fact that there's no template for faith-based community organizing can seem uncomfortable, but that's also what makes it exciting because we have the opportunity to create and experiment with God and one another.