“Is social justice an essential part of the mission of the church?” This was the question posed last week to Jim Wallis, founder and President of Sojourners and R. Albert Mohler Jr., President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, at a debate hosted by Trinity Evangelical Divinity School’s Henry Center for Theological Understanding. The question has been batted around many times before but it appears that people are still having a hard time deciphering where we, as a corporate body, ought to land.
Most of my work and ministry experience would probably fall under the nebulous category that is social justice – evidence enough that I do believe the Christian – and the local church – has a role here. However, it does not mean that every social issue is every church’s responsibility. And, while I have not felt the angst associated with this question, I do believe it is fair and wise to hold our social action in tension, lest we find ourselves on a slippery slope where our social action eclipses knowing Christ and proclaiming his preeminence. Edited by the late Rev. John Stott, the Lausanne Occasional Paper 21, Evangelism and Social Responsibility may bring a sliver of clarity to those still in the throes of this odd wrestling match. Here is a taste:
Social activity not only follows evangelism as its consequence and aim, and precedes it as its bridge, but also accompanies it as its partner. They are like the two blades of a pair of scissors or the two wings of a bird. This partnership is clearly seen in the public ministry of Jesus, who not only preached the gospel but fed the hungry and healed the sick. In his ministry, kerygma (proclamation) and diakonia (service) went hand in hand. His words explained his works, and his works dramatized his words. Both were expressions of his compassion for people, and both should be of ours. Both also issue from the lordship of Jesus, for he sends us out into the world both to preach and to serve. If we proclaim the Good News of God’s love, we must manifest his love in caring for the needy. Indeed, so close is this link between proclaiming and serving, that they actually overlap.
Thus, evangelism and social responsibility, while distinct from one another, are integrally related in our proclamation of and obedience to the gospel. The partnership is, in reality, a marriage.
In the historical background of this marriage, as the Lausanne Paper states, “Christian people have often engaged in both activities quite unselfconsciously, without feeling any need to define what they were doing or why.” Hopefully we too can move into this unselfconscious realm and all land with both wings intact.
Here is a round up of the some of the discussion that has happened more recently around this topic:
Aaron Armstrong: The End of Poverty and the Hope of Glory
Matthew Lee Anderson: Mohler and Wallis Debate Justice and the Church
Michael Foust: Mohler, Wallis Debate Social Justice, Gospel
Skye Jethani: Love Justifies itself, Part 1 and 2
Russell Moore: Gospel or Justice, Which?