Travis West is Assistant Professor of Hebrew and Old Testament at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan. He also serves as the President of Kairos West Michigan, a local movement dedicated to seeking understanding as to the sources of the hostilities between the Israeli and Palestinian people.
Lorilyn Wiering, a spiritual director, writer, and former middle school teacher, is the founder of Red Cord Community. Drawn to the edges of society, church-life, and self, she delights in exploring and facilitating the reciprocal and necessary relationship between edge and center. She lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan with her husband, Vernon, her daughter Maddy, and sons Basil and Reuben. They are members of First Christian Reformed Church.
Karen Wilk works with Resonate Global Mission and Forge Canada coaching and training leaders and faith communities to discover and join God at work in their neighbourhoods. She has been a vocational pastor for over 35 years in Edmonton, Alberta and is currently leading a movement of Christ-followers seeking to ‘live among and love their neighbours.’ Karen has a Doctorate in Missional Leadership from Northern Seminary (Chicago). She and her husband have three adult daughters and one son-in-law, and enjoy being neighbours, playing pickleball, riding their e-bikes and Alberta’s great outdoors!
Lea Wilkening is a member of ClearView CRC in Oakville, Ontario. She believes that the Bible was written first to communities and then to individuals and sees doing justice as following the biblical mandate to work together to share the gospel in word and deed. She previously served as Community Engagement Specialist at ClearView CRC in Oakville Ontario and is currently an mDiv student in the distance program at Calvin Theological Seminary. She received a BS in Accountancy from the University of Illinois-Urbana and worked as a public accountant in Illinois for 13 years before moving to Canada with her husband, John, and their two sons. Her experience in the public sector, along with her ministry work in community development has sparked a desire to tap into the power of communities, by the work of the Spirit, to promote reconciliation and healing as a witness for Christ in the public sphere.
Miranda is a fourth-year International Studies student at Trinity Western University in Langley, BC. She is passionate about learning from others and seeking justice. Although her home is in central Texas, Miranda is part of an extension program at TWU and is spending her semester at the Laurentian Leadership Centre in Ottawa. She spent five weeks interning full-time with the Centre for Public Dialogue.
Idella Winfield is the Administrative Coordinator for the CRC Office of Race Relations.
Karla Winham is a member of the Justice League at John Calvin Christian Reformed Church in Truro, NS. She serves as a Diaconal Coach with Diaconal Ministries Canada, helping deacons animate their congregations to show God’s love in their communities. She is currently finishing her MBA in Community Economic Development. After 20 years as a Speech-Language Pathologist, her experiences in church leadership and community development prompted her to return to school for more learning on the subject. She lives in Truro, NS with her husband and three teenage children.
Nicholas Wolterstorff is Noah Porter Professor Emeritus of Philosophical Theology at Yale University, and Senior Research Fellow in the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture, University of Virginia. Among his publications are Art in Action (Eerdmans, 1980), Works and Worlds of Art (Oxford, 1980), Justice: Rights and Wrongs (Princeton 2008), Justice in Love (Eerdmans 2011), and Hearing the Call: Liturgy, Justice, Church, and World (Eerdmans, 2011). Art Rethought is forthcoming from Oxford University Press (2015).
Neil (not his real name) is an employee of the Christian Reformed Church in North America, serving in the Middle East. Neil is a Do Justice columnist. (Learn more about our columnists here!)
Helen is a Canadian-born Chinese woman who was born to two immigrant parents and raised on Treaty 6 territory, amiskwacîwâskahikan | ᐊᒥᐢᑲᐧᒋᐋᐧᐢᑲᐦᐃᑲᐣ, also known as Edmonton, Alberta. She is a biologist by training, having earned her Masters of Biology with a focus on marine biology in Los Angeles. Helen currently works at a university where her focus is to increase equity, diversity and inclusion in science, engineering and technology fields. Helen previously interned at A Rocha Canada as a conservation science intern and lived in community with others at the Brooksdale campus. She strives to weave narratives of social and environmental justice into her life work.