Our Values

Feminism / Ecofeminism

We are made in the image and likeness of God/ess in all Their many forms, faces and facets.  We believe it is from the lived experiences of humanity and a deep listening to the rhythms of nature that revelation of Divine Life and Love is found. We vision a future where the feminine is brought back into harmony with the masculine. Sophia Rising is rooted in Feminist and Ecofeminist theAlogies, ways of understanding the Divine, rising from the reclamation and recentering of feminine ways of living, being, knowing and loving as inherently linked to the rhythms of the earth. Although feminism is our primary entry point for this ministry, we understand that single-issue feminism will not get us to liberation. We strive to be intersectional, acknowledging the ways that patriarchy intersects with other systems of oppression to create multiple layers of marginalization and harm to particular members of the Body of God/ess. 

Embodiment / Incarnation 

As Sophia Rising, we root into Incarnational Reality– that God/ess has a body and all of creation is the body of God/ess.  From this root, we rise in devotion to our bodies and all bodies, prioritizing self care and self love.  We bow at every threshold of ordinary life, syncing ourselves to the rhythms of every night, day, season and cycle.  We open in joy to the erotic life force and pulse of sexual pleasure, to sex as blessed sacrament.  We seek to weave and be woven– hearts, minds, bodies and souls– into the constantly evolving body of creation.  

Connection to Spirit

We believe and center an understanding of Spirit rooted in the great “both/and”. Sophia Spirit is both personal and beyond the personal; within our beings and vastly bigger than us; the ground on which we walk, the air we breathe as well as the farthest reaches of the cosmos.  We stand in the experience and practice of constant and consistent access to Spirit as helper, healer, lover and companion, tending our wounds and joys.  We take our place in the great web of life, communion of saints, lineage of ancestors, living and dead as a constant communion of support.  We practice prayer, song, dance, ritual, ancestor connection, animism, shamanism, mysticism and ordinary conversation as direct conduits to Sophia.  We believe in, practice and teach spirituality that is a potent resource for life.  

Integrity

We value integrity and hold a commitment to practicing and living what we teach and preach.  We are each on the path of our own soul’s call and the particularity of our soul’s healing work, trusting this personal work contributes to the collective wholeness.  We commit to living big, vibrant, well-boundaried, beautiful, ever-expanding lives. At Sophia Rising, we practice integrity in community through circle leadership, accountability, communal discernment and consensus decision making.  We honor the cycles of life and community, listening and responding to Sophia’s invitations into new life and death/letting go. 

Christian tradition / lineage 

Rooting ourselves within the Christian lineage, we commit to reclaiming, restoring and renewing the presence of Sophia, the Divine Feminine, and the stories and leadership of women within this tradition.  We view the person of Jesus of Nazareth as an Incarnation of Sophia Christ. We are conscious of the ways that the life and teachings of Jesus and the Christian tradition have been distorted to cause harm and support oppression. We seek to live and serve at the intersection of reconciliation and healing, excavating that which serves and saves (salvation= to make whole) while faithfully presiding over the dying and composting of what actively harms or is no longer of service.  

Liberation 

Sophia Rising centers the liberation of all beings, especially those most marginalized and oppressed.  We are committed to personal and organizational decolonization, antiracism, antisexism and unapologetic affirmation of trans-expansive and queer people.  We dedicate ourselves to the process of constant learning, healing and turning towards emergent edges of liberation.  (See statements Affirmation of Gender Statement – Sophia Rising and Our Commitment Towards Anti-Racism & Decolonization – Sophia Rising) 

Economics

Sophia Rising intentionally chooses to structure ourselves as a worker-owned cooperative to be part of creating new economies in our communities that value collaboration, cooperation, resource sharing, shared decision making, and the dignity of each person. 

• We value the balance of work and rest, seeking to create a work culture that respects the cycles of energy out / energy in. 
• We believe in fair and just compensation for all who share their gifts, time, labor and love and value making the spiritual resources provided by Sophia Rising accessible to everyone in the community, regardless of socioeconomic status. We seek to normalize conversations about class identity and privilege, acknowledging that we come to this ministry with different experiences of access to resources.
• We believe in solidarity and reparations, returning stolen resources to those targeted by historic and current oppression. 
• We trust in the abundance that manifests when we share what we have with one another and take responsibility for the wise and prudent stewarding of our resources.