What a complex question! I find it hard to know where to start. Except to say that we could improve on all areas and I’m not sure if there is one that is more lacking than the others.
Many learned and deeply spiritual people have tried to help the church see its blind spots in the area of seeking the kind of justice God calls to. These are usually some of the most selfless and sacrificial people you will ever meet. Their voices are compelling and loaded with the fullness of the gospel.
Why is it, then, that it seems like they are some of the most difficult lessons to learn and actively live out as we receive them? This is why I often feel inadequate speaking to the church on where it needs improvement when my position has tended to be stranded in postures of learning than entrenched in devoted praxis. At the same time, I believe that when we learn what God is calling us to do, both individually and corporately, we have a responsibility to do it—if we love Jesus, we will obey his commands. Even if we do so a little bit at a time.
One such leader has been my long-distance mentor in this area. She will continue to mentor me for the rest of my life. Her advice on how we can improve in the area of justice goes without argument. She proved with her life that it’s possible to live out justice with the greatest of love and care for every human and creature God has created—one person, one moment, one opportunity at a time. The church would do well to seek justice in the same way, to see every program and gathering of worship as a chance to seek justice and show mercy. Her name is Mother Teresa—I’m sure you’ve heard of her.
There are a few things she has said over the years that the church would leap from mediocre meandering to fearless participation if we (and by “we” I mean we leaders) could get our heads, hearts, and hands around these biblical ideas. God help us all.
Most of what I’ve learned has come from one compilation of her works, titled No Greater Love.
A good foundation: “God has not created poverty; it is we who have created it. Before God, all of us are poor.”
The church needs to see itself through the lens of the Creator. We’ve all sinned. We all deserve the penalty. But we’ve been rescued. Sometimes we become so focused on those who have received the gift of life that we forget that they too were lost before. Some are lost in debt; some are lost in poverty; others are lost in lies and competition. Whatever it is, we all start in the same place. Knowing this can change the church’s outlook on where our responsibility exists—with all people.
Where to begin: “Strive to be the demonstration of God in the midst of your community. Sometimes we see how joy returns to the lives of the most destitute when they realize that many among us are concerned about them and show them our love. Even their health improves if they are sick. May we never forget that in the service to the poor we are offered a magnificent opportunity to do something beautiful for God…for He Himself said, ‘You did it for me.’”
The church doesn’t need to go far to learn how to actively alleviate injustice. There are days when I feel like our local radio station does more for our community than the churches in our community do. That shouldn’t be the case. We are rooted and built up in Christ. This knowledge should compel us to see those who live in oppression—whatever kind that may be—and to reach out with hands of love. Stay involved, stay informed, and respond when opportunities come. The culture will grow as we respond.
Where to rely: We have to model and teach the church to rely on God’s strength—we are human and subject to leaning on our own strength and ideas—lending ourselves to temptation and all sorts of evil. We must pray. And I confess, this is the hardest part for me.
“I don’t think there is anyone who needs God’s help and grace as much as I do.” (Brooklyn may have you on this one, Teresa.) “Sometimes I feel so helpless and weak. I think that is why God uses me. Because I cannot depend on my own strength…my secret is very simple: I pray. Through prayer I become one in love with Christ.”
What to remember: Jesus had to remind Paul of this important truth. “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9, RSV).
The church has a long way to go in our weakness in this area. May power be made perfect in it as we rely on his grace. May we respond to the daily invitations to respond to injustice, and may love, justice, and grace be seen in the children of God.
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Each time we limit our witness to handouts, we constrict justice. Each time we drive an hour to feed the hungry and ignore the racial profiling in our own neighborhoods, we ignore justice. Each time we treat a short-term mission trip as a way of building the faith of our youth with the hope that it will “stick,” as they help “those poor people” and discover how fortunate they themselves are, we thwart the possibility of seeking justice on behalf of the oppressed.
The thing is that much—though not all—of the church needs to open its eyes and heart to the God of justice that the Scripture portrays and understand justice as the Bible does. For too many congregants, justice is something associated only with the judicial system. The word in its broader biblical sense remains unknown. Yet when we read the Old Testament, it is clear that the absence of justice among God’s people is abhorrent to God and brings God’s wrath and judgment as Isaiah 1 makes clear.
On the contrary, Jesus, the suffering servant, proclaims and brings justice in Isaiah 42:1-4 and Matthew 12:18-21. Jesus’ justice puts people first. The healing and salvation of persons came before laws, institutions, and customs, which Jesus was quick to critique when human interpretation robbed these of compassion and the fair treatment of all. What is different now?
Frequently, like the scribes and Pharisees of Jesus’ day, we tithe and give to the church and are concerned with its upkeep and superficial efforts at outreach while neglecting “the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith” (Matthew 23:23). We fail to grasp how our existences and preferred lifestyles may affect others adversely, and frankly, we too often do not care. Relatedly, we don’t quite get why laws should protect the vulnerable in the land and get lost in our own agendas without grasping that God expects us to look out for the least in society’s eyes. This looking out is not simply a pat and a bowl of soup, as critical as those may be. It also entails engaging, critiquing, and changing the situations, laws, institutions, and customs that oppress, beginning at home in the church.
This broader view of justice calls for experiential teaching that is grounded in the good news of God’s reign. It requires teaching that is action/reflection based and centrally located in the reign of God. This is teaching that justice as an aspect of holy living that is personal and communal. It is simply educating from and living out the Bible.
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As a youth pastor working with adults and students, I have found that missions has been a wonderful way to promote justice, both locally and more broadly. Our youth group is a big proponent of all types of mission trips and service opportunities. Every summer, our youth group takes four short-term mission trips domestically and internationally, serving in various ways, such as building homes to running youth camps.
In general, I am a huge proponent of the short-term mission trip, even though I know there are pros and cons to these trips, especially for the participants and churches. To help combat these cons, our church has considered how we can improve these trips, which directly correlates to how our church wants to improve in the area of justice.
Overall, when it comes to these short-term mission trips and considering how we can more effectively serve in the area of justice, our church has really sought to think long term. It’s almost an oxymoron. Tangibly speaking, this means always asking the question of why things are the way they are in each context and then doing something about it. Subsequently, it then means seeking out solutions that will combat injustice for a “lifetime.” Ultimately, when it comes to this type of justice, we always remind ourselves to try to practice the justice Martin Luther King, Jr., talked about when he stated that “true compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars need restructuring.”
Hence, with our short-term trips, we have actually developed long-term relationships. This means teaming up and supporting the efforts of the local missionaries. Internationally, we continue to have and nurture partnerships with specific missionaries and churches so we can foster long-term change and development in the places where these churches are located and in step with the local missionaries.
Locally, when it comes to service projects, our youth group has partnered with three inner-city ministries in long-term relationship. It has meant teaming up and supporting the efforts of the local leadership, not just one time or once a year. Ultimately, this means that justice is not just a fad, but it is seeking long-term solutions even though we may be serving in short-term time periods.
I cherish this long-term philosophy. It is a vital way for churches to rethink and improve what it means to do justice. One benefit it has on our youth group students is that they see that doing justice is not just a summer or short-term-mission thing, but it is a lifetime thing. In fact, doing justice is a calling each believer has for a lifetime.
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