CLOUT’s vision is based on numerous scriptures, but particularly Micah 6:8 and Matthew 23:23-24, which state that God requires us to do three basic things: “do justice, love kindness (mercy), and walk humbly with God (faithfulness).” Our congregations do a good job of reminding us to be faithful and providing us opportunities to do so. For example, we gather weekly for worship, teaching, etc. Also, many of our congregations do a good job of showing mercy by providing services like tutoring and food pantries to assist the victims of injustice. Unfortunately, our congregations generally do a poor job of meeting the requirement to hold political and economic systems accountable for justice. 

As we understand it, to do justice requires having enough power to hold these systems accountable. We learn from the biblical leader Nehemiah’s calling of a great assembly of people to bring charges against the unfair nobles and officials (Neh. 5:1-13) that there is power in numbers. However, no single congregation has enough people power to hold systems accountable for justice. So, we build our power by bringing together congregations across the city, and together we exercise our power by engaging thousands of people in the process of holding these systems accountable, especially through our annual Nehemiah Action Assembly, which has become the largest gathering of citizens to deal with critical community problems in the Louisville community each year.