Mission
Building a United Interfaith Lexington through Direct-action (BUILD), is a growing network of faith-based congregations that are culturally, economically, geographically, and religiously diverse who come together to make Lexington a more just place to live, work, and do business.
Vision
Our vision is inspired by Micah 6:8, where we are reminded of three fundamental obligations before God: "Do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God."
- Walking Humbly: Congregations do a good job of fulfilling this requirement. We gather in worship at least 52 times a year. We have scriptural studies and retreats to guide us through this humble walk.
- Loving Mercy: We put love into action, exemplified by our involvement in endeavors like assisting in building homes with organizations like Habitat for Humanity. We do a good job of fulfilling this requirement, too.
- Doing Justice: Biblically, justice is about holding the King of Pharaoh accountable for the fair treatment of all people in the kingdom. Today, it means holding officials like our mayor, school superintendent, police chief, or county council accountable for fair practices.
Although we're required to do justice, as individuals and in individual congregations we don't do it as well because we can't do it alone. We need power to do justice—power in large numbers of organized people. So BUILD works with congregations across Lexington to organize a large annual Nehemiah Action. his Assembly is named after the prophet Nehemiah, who held a Great Assembly to win justice for the people in Jerusalem who were being exploited by moneylenders.
Our collective efforts have already achieved substantial victories, which you can explore in our "BUILD Wins!" section. However, our work is far from complete. Every one of our congregations shares the vision of turning out their average worship attendance to the Nehemiah Action. Because if we can bring thousands of people together 52 times a year to practice faithfulness, that same number can come out once a year for justice.
