Freedom Rising: Love & Liberation NOW

Freedom Rising 2026: Love & Liberation, Now!
Online Tickets: $99

October 23–25, 2026 | Middle Church, New York City + Online

Eleven days before the midterms. Three days to rehearse the world we refuse to lose.

Early In-person tickets: $299 (ends Sept. 8th) | Standard Conference Rate $399 Sept. 9th - Oct. 23

Bring your people.
Coming with a congregation, nonprofit, organizing group, class, or community?

We’d love to coordinate group rates and help you make plans.

Email conference@middlechurch.org.

For twenty years, Freedom Rising has gathered artists, activists, authors, organizers, faith leaders, thinkers, and “good-trouble” agitators to wrestle with the urgent questions facing our communities and movements.

This year, we’re asking:

What does this moment require of us?

How do we sustain hope?
How do we build collective power?
How do we strengthen relationships across difference?
How do we resist the forces pulling us apart?
And what can we build together instead?

Freedom Rising: Love & Liberation, Now! is a three-day hybrid gathering for people who want to understand the world we’re living in, imagine the world we want, and practice the relationships, stories, strategies, and spiritual resources that can help us get there.

This is not a conference where you simply sit and listen.

Come ready to share, learn, connect, and reconnect, as we imagine what’s possible next, together.

Why Freedom Rising now?

We are living through a moment of deep political, economic, cultural, and spiritual uncertainty.

Why does change feel so difficult?
Who actually has power?
What can we build instead?
Why does everything feel so broken?

Come talk about it.

Friday, October 23

The Stories of Now

How did we get here?

Friday looks directly at the stories, systems, and histories shaping our present moment.

Expect conversations on:

• White Christian Nationalism
• racism and xenophobia
• democracy and political power
• class and economic inequality
• wealth and philanthropy
• how money fuels systemic harm
• the stories we inherit about who deserves freedom, safety, wealth, and power

Programming includes keynotes, panels, conversations, storytelling, and more.

And we end the day with dancing.

Saturday, October 24

Dreaming the World We Desire

If the stories we tell shape the worlds we build, what stories do we need now?

Saturday turns toward imagination, narrative change, art, organizing, and the future.

We’ll explore:

• how culture changes movements
• how art helps us imagine what doesn’t yet exist
• how our spiritual imagination shapes what we believe is possible
• how neighborhoods and communities organize for change
• what liberation might actually look and feel like

Expect interactive Dream Spaces, artistic experiences, conversations, and opportunities to participate rather than simply observe.

The day concludes with an evening Story Slam with The Moth.

Sunday, October 25

The Spiritual Practice of Revolution

How do we sustain ourselves—and one another—for the work ahead?

Sunday explores the spiritual practices, relationships, and communities that make long-term movement work possible.

We’ll talk about:

• Ubuntu and interrelatedness
• multiracial and multifaith community
• healing movements and institutions
• intergenerational organizing
• love as a public and collective practice
• fierce love of self and neighbor

The weekend culminates in a multi-faith worship celebration rooted in love, liberation, and collective possibility.

Featuring

Freedom Rising brings together an extraordinary group of artists, organizers, activists, authors, faith leaders, storytellers, and public thinkers, including:

Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis
Dr. Jemar Tisby
Rev. Dr. Kelly Brown Douglas
Linda Sarsour
Abby Disney
John Fugelsang
Edgar Villanueva
Tiq Milan
Rev. Traci Blackmon
Rev. Dr. Grace Ji-Sun Kim

…and dozens more presenters, artists, organizers, storytellers, and movement builders.

Who should come?

Freedom Rising is for people who care about justice and are asking what comes next.

You do not need to be an organizer.
You do not need to be a theologian.
You do not need to belong to a church.
You do not need to already have the vocabulary.

Come if you’re asking:

Why does everything feel so broken?
Why does change feel so difficult?
Who actually has power?
Why are so many of us struggling with the same things?
What can we build instead?

Freedom Rising welcomes people who are religious, spiritual, questioning, secular, organizing, learning, creating, or simply searching for ways to participate in building a more just world.

In person or online

Join us in person at Middle Church in New York City or participate through the online Freedom Rising experience.

Both options are designed to help participants engage with the ideas, speakers, and community of the conference.

October 23–25, 2026
Middle Church, New York City
In Person + Online

Make your plans now

In-person ticket prices increase September 9.

Labor Day weekend is a perfect opportunity to make your plans, coordinate travel, invite friends, and lock in the current in-person rate.

If you already know you want to be in the room, register now before prices rise.

Love doesn’t just comfort. It builds.

For twenty years, Freedom Rising has created space for people to gather around the questions that matter.

This October, we gather again.

To learn from one another.
To tell better stories.
To build stronger relationships.
To imagine beyond what we’ve been told is possible.
And to practice the kind of world we want to live in.

Come share. Come learn. Come connect. Come reconnect.

Freedom Rising 2026: Love & Liberation, Now!

October 23–25. New York City + Online.

Come talk about it.