I’d love to share some more of my notes and thoughts from my Advocacy for Social Justice class. During the time, we had a guest lecturer, Doug McConnell, who is the Dean for the School of Intercultural Studies (SIS), which is my program at Fuller. Here’s some things he had to say with my thoughts spliced in:
We need people of faith and conscious to be spokespersons for injustices and by one not saying anything, we are voting on behalf of the problem. Advocacy isn’t about throwing your weight onto other people, but appeal for justice and a greater good.
Matthew 5:45-48 – Jesus kicks out from underneath them the idea of who is the neighbor. When it comes to being neighbors, don’t break it up between “us and them”. If you start thinking that, it becomes extremely problematic. Our theology says that God loves the perpetrators of justice, but our practice says he hates them. It doesn’t become a me against you, it’s me against injustice. If we are going to stand where Jesus is standing, its first and foremost against the oppression and injustice.
Ephesians 4:25 – We need to use these things to further what God is doing in our lives. On the one hand, we personify the enemy, and not get to the root of the injustice. On the other hand, folks get angry and restrict the impact and dialogue of the pushing that needs to happen. They’ve lost the respect for the other, in their anger.
If you are going to be involved in advocacy, it has to be an unbiased opinion. The way we put our publicity out there is targeted, even. We have to make a foundational commitment to tell the truth and keep telling the truth. Jesus is committed to the truth, even though sometimes that truth doesn’t fight on your side.
Developing the Issues and some things to thing about:
1. How does our purpose as a mission mirror God’s purpose for his creatures? His creation?
2. What role has Christ called us to play in the work of his Kingdom?
3. Are our motives ethical and do they glorify God?
4. Can we justify our practices within the mandate of Scripture including the great commission and the great commandment? (one of the difficulties we have today in this generation is that we are great commandment Christians – but there was a time in the great commandment and great commission split and that was an issue. The danger is that we are doing so much good, but we forget to tell people about why we are doing it. Are our actions provoking the question of why we are doing it? It is a very holistic engagement.)
5. How do we reflect our commitment to God’s will within our administrative structures?
6. How do our goals reflect the goals Christ has for the people he willingly died to redeem? (the neighbor goes beyond just our friends, and includes our enemies as well. If we are going to be in advocacy, we are going to be forced to sit across from the very people we are fighting against. And often times, we’re called to have a conversation with them…and we must learn to look past them and see it as a person! )