Social justice means life for the church and hope for the world

Conference Comments by the Rev. Mike Denton, conference minister

The Rev. Mike Denton

There are two paragraphs from two different pieces that, within the last month or so, have really stuck with me.  The first is from a report from Hartford Seminary and the Hartford Institute for Religion Research titled, “The Compassionate Congregation:”

“Congregations working for social justice with a broad array of social outreach ministries are more likely to express that their congregations are vital and alive.  A strong, positive correlation exists between having a wide breadth of social ministries and having a high vitality congregation.  Almost 90 percent of those with a high level of justice programs are vital, compared to only 46 percent who have little involvement in justice issues.  Almost 80 percent of those congregations with a great deal of involvement in outreach show high vitality, compared with 56 percent of those with low involvement and 46 percent of those with limited.”

By itself, this paragraph is an amazing affirmation for many churches and challenge for many others.  In the last year, there have been some who have tried to suggest that any faith-based social justice work is an expression of something in opposition to a faithful life. 

Many of us may have heard—from some of those we know and love in our churches—the fear that, if we become involved in social justice work, our church-life will some how fall apart. 

There are even the wagging fingers of some who suggest that the church or a pastor has no right to speak up around issues of injustice, inequality and violence.  This piece suggests that social justice work isn’t simply important but a vital part of a church’s health. 

The second paragraph is from an article by Joshua Goldstein in an article from Foreign Policy Magazine titled, “Think Again: War;”

“…the last decade has seen fewer war deaths than any decade in the past 100 years, based on data compiled by researchers Bethany Lacina and Nils Petter Gleditsch of the Peace Research Institute Oslo. Worldwide, deaths caused directly by war-related violence in the new century have averaged about 55,000 per year, just over half of what they were in the 1990s (100,000 a year), a third of what they were during the Cold War (180,000 a year from 1950 to 1989), and a hundredth of what they were in World War II. If you factor in the growing global population, which has nearly quadrupled in the last century, the decrease is even sharper. Far from being an age of killer anarchy, the 20 years since the Cold War ended have been an era of rapid progress toward peace.”

This article ends with these words:

“Similarly rapid shifts in norms preceded the ends of slavery and colonialism, two other scourges that were once also considered permanent features of civilization. So don’t be surprised if the end of war, too, becomes downright thinkable.”

Whereas the first piece names some logical reasons for churches to be involved in social justice work, this article names the moral imperative. 

I confess that there have been many days that I have gone home under a cloud of futility convinced that working for a better world was a quixotic, useless, hopeless effort.  This article has turned that on its head. 

I find myself more excited and willing to do this work, now, than I have for a long time. 

It ends up that it was never naïve to believe things could get better.  It was naïve to believe those who said things couldn’t get better. 

If churches don’t continue to be part of this good work, we are not just abandoning a “program,” we are denying God’s redemptive presence among us and God’s call to us to be part of that movement.

The church being involved in the work of social justice is no small, easily dismissed thing.  It is this faithful work that means life for the church and hope for the world.

 

Copyright Pacific Northwest Conference News © October 2011