Mind-blown. Humbled. Energized. Motivated. Broken.
Those are just a few of the words that scratch the surface of the incredible two days I spent at the Justice Conference. Next year, I will be dragging my friends to it, even if I have to fund their way because I believe this conference is too important and too powerful to miss. After sitting for two days, listening to speaker after speaker share their heart for justice and the broken condition of our world, I cannot sit still. Granted, I have never really sat still, but this was the kick in the pants I needed to take the final plunge into the world of fighting for hope and justice.
I took pages and pages of notes and am filled to the brimm with information. I am going to condense it down and will probably use it for the next several posts! As overwhelming as it can be, don’t worry because in a few weeks I will be giving you all a chance to get involved on a very practical level. Because the statistics are disheartening, but we must all believe that one person can truly change the world. Oh, and even if you don’t want to get involved, if you live within driving distance, I will still be coming after you!:)
Enjoy a small sampling of the rich teaching and the passionate hearts of those on the front line of the justice movement.
If one family out of every three churches in the United States adopted a child, foster care roles would be cleared. -Michael Wear, U.S Department of Faith Based Partnerships
The church is God’s answer to injustice. Justice is not a fad and it never should be. It is long and tedious and tiring, not sexy. -Mike Hogan, IJM
Figure out what your loaves and fishes are and offer them to God. -Mike Hogan
Men created the problem. Better men have to solve it. -Tomas Perez, founder of Epik Project
Justice is a theological necessity. -Ken Wystma, founder of The Justice Conference
If you take love of enemy out of Christian faith, you have unchristianized the Christian faith. -Miroslav Volf, Yale
Followers of Jesus are a huge threat to status quo when acting out justice. -Walter Brueggemann, OT Scholar
Jesus was executed by those in power because they could not handle His transformative actions that invited the vulnerable back into the political economy. -Walter Brueggemann
Give yourself away for the neighborhood and you get yourself back enhanced. -Walter Brueggemann
The attitude in me that makes a property claim on a saved seat is the same attitude of someone who trafficks and makes a property claim on another human. -Rick McKinley, pastor of Imago Dei
The One who lives in me moved into the neighborhood. -Rick McKinley
To have a gospel apart from justice is to have no gospel at all. -John M Perkins, author
Grace is the most all-inclusive, redeptive word in the Bible. -John M. Perkins
In India, you can rape a child for the cost of a latte. -Mike Hogan, IJM
9 out of 10 women in the Congo have been raped. -Stephan Bauman, president of World Relief
What will you do in three years when the spotlight on human trafficking has moved on? -Rachel Lloyd, Founder of GEMS
Sometimes you just have to go it alone. -Rachel Lloyd, Founder of GEMS
We have created poverty because we have forgotten how to share. -Shane Claiborne
The more stuff we accumulate, the more clubs we have to have to protect it. -Shane Claiborne
Injustice wears skin. Its personal. -Stephan Bauman, president World Relief
The demands of justice and extravegence of love meet on a cross. -Stephan Bauman
If the church is not the hope, there is no hope. -Stephan Bauman
I was quiet for a while. I am done being quiet. -Francis Chan, author of Crazy Love
If you believe James 1:27, does your life make sense?– Francis Chan
As we grow in the Lord, shouldn’t we be doing crazier and crazier things?– Francis Chan
If we love our neighbors as ourselves, why don’t we spend on them what we spend on ourselves?-Francis Chan
For the most part the Bible is pretty clear. Read it and do what it says. -Francis Chan
