Social Justice and Activism - How Does the World Change?

  • Reid Monaghan
  • Apr 5, 2007

Introduction 

If you look out upon our world for long enough you will quickly realize that it is a bit perplexing. On one hand, the world is filled with great good. Love of family and friends, the beauty of the created universe, the joy of children, a good story, lives changing, and people working together to help one another remind us that there is something good going on here. Yet on the other hand, one need only be awake just a bit to see that we live in a very broken world. Various injustices are perpetrating by one person towards another, wars split nations, tribes and families. Disease and poverty abound and we all will soon die. The majority of human beings, throughout all time find life at once worth living, yet filled with problems and pain. If you talk to anyone: black, white, democrat, republican, atheist, Buddhist, Christian, Muslim, indie rocker or hip hopper; all will tell you that the world needs to change. Of course everyone has their own path to the perfect world in their opinion, but then you can’t get people to agree. We realize something needs to be done, but collectively we are at a loss of just what we should do. In a world where injustice is everywhere and whole communities wracked by disease and poverty, people in parts of Western Culture wrestle with how we should respond in while living in the midst of all our comforts, conveniences and excesses. In this short paper I want to look at a few things. First, we’ll survey the biblical mandate in the Scriptures to care about the poor, the outcast, and the oppressed. I will do this by making a brief comment about the vocabulary I am using and how I am using it. I will then do a quick survey of the biblical teaching on the issues. Next I will look at the historical situation of evangelical churches in America related to issues of social justice and ministries of mercy. Finally, I will wrestle a bit with how we might move forward and actually make a difference in communities in need.

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