The Just Church

"In the work of justice, God is beckoning us to experience his profound love for us and for the vulnerable of this world. The call to fight against injustice is therefore the call to intimacy with God and to deep discipleship."

I am privileged with the opportunity to read and review one of IJM's new books- The Just Church, by Jim Martin. This is a fantastic resource for individuals and churches to get involved in God's plan, for His people to be solution to the suffering of the world's vulnerable. This is needed now more than ever and the church should respond to God's call. Jim Martin does a profound job providing tools and making the connection how joining the fight of justice is fertile ground for discipleship.

Working with YouthHOPE, has opened up my eyes more to the injustices around the world, but more than that, it's showed me the opportunity for hope. Hope is vital because it is so easy, especially when focusing on statistics, to get caught in despair and burn-out quickly. Or jump in too quickly from emotion but realize good intentions will not last and is a shallow motivation.

Jim Martin starts the book off with failure and shares how our faith may reach failure points, which is almost inevitable in ministry to victims of oppression.  I personally have realized this failure point all too well and faced burn-out. I have realized though that weakness and opposition do not excuse our hiding in fear. This book provides good ways to prevent and recover from failure. Including spiritual disciplines, such as rest and sabbath, and role of community to ensure we don't go through a failure point alone. I appreciate this because community has played a vital role in my healing and growth. Relationships are not always easy but we cannot do this work alone. We are not designed to. 

We need to join together in the work of justice and I am thankful for this resource to better equip churches to do so. This book is an invitation, requiring courage and humility, to join the justice journey and be changed along the way. Each community will look different in the methods or way they respond but each of us can play a part and actually make a difference in bringing forth God's justice and love to the world. 

I am grateful for the work of International Justice Mission and for Jim Martin to provide this resource to better equip the Church. I have been encouraged and challenged reading it and better equipped in my role for responding to God's call. I hope it encourages others to join as well. 

 Check it out for yourself and let me know your thoughts. http://bit.ly/Qbe99G