Ryan Dowell Baum

Beatitudes Society 2007 Fellow - PICO: Oakland Community Organizations; Beatitudes Society Chapter Member (GTU)

I recently completed my second year in the Masters of Divinity program at Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, where I'm a member of the GTU chapter of the Beatitudes Society. I'm dually affiliated with the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) and the United Church of Christ, a member of Johannesburg Monthly Meeting of Friends in South Africa and in care as a minister-in-formation with First Congregational UCC of Oakland, California.

I'm originally from Albany, New York, where I spent most of my childhood as an actor. When I was 15, I moved to Toronto, Canada, to spend three years acting on the Disney Channel television series, The Famous Jett Jackson. I earned my undergraduate degree in drama from New York University, during which time I studied abroad in Johannesburg, becoming actively involved in the ministry of the Jo'burg Quaker community, using theater to educate township youth about HIV and AIDS, and helping to operate a mobile soup kitchen in the inner city. It was here that I finally yielded to my call to professional ministry. Upon returning to the States, I began applying to seminaries, eventually choosing to attend PSR for its strong social justice curriculum and its urban location.

This summer, I am working as a Beatitudes Society Fellow at Oakland Community Organizations (OCO), Oakland's local affiliate of the PICO National Network. According to its website, "PICO is a national network of faith-based community organizations working to create innovative solutions to problems facing urban, suburban and rural communities." I'm working mostly on issues of affordable housing and violence and homicide reduction. As an aspiring urban pastor, the fellowship is helping me to gain a deeper understanding of local politics and economics and the internal dynamics of urban communities. I am learning much about the spiritual discipline of maintaining hope in face of crippling poverty, acute injustice, and overwhelming economic and racial segregation.

During the 2007-'08 academic year, I will be working jointly with First Congregational Church of Oakland and Pace e Bene Nonviolence Service to develop my skills in the areas of pastoral care and community nonviolence education. I will seek to reach out to and build relationships with Oakland residents, especially young people, who are caught up in and negatively affected by cycles of destruction and violence, in order to provide a listening ear and a compassionate pastoral presence. As a trained facilitator with Pace e Bene Nonviolence Service, I will provide members of the community with training workshops in the creative use of active nonviolence for the transformation of self and community.

Strengthening the progressive Christian network for justice, compassion, & peace