The Relationship and Transformation blog discussed our relationship with God, with others and with ourselves. I discussed how we can strengthen each relationship. As our relationship with God and others continues to grow, we want to share this love. We want to include our community in our relationships and we want to share this overflowing love with it. I will now discuss social transformation and its part in the Christian life.
God has called us to help drive social transformation. What does this mean? It means a compassion for radical inclusiveness. It means a compassion for combatting social injustice. It means utilizing and leveraging the power of our church community to battle both oppression and social injustice in the community. Where do we start? We start with our local community.
Within our community, does our church welcome all? Does our church let the community know that whoever they are, they are accepted and welcome in our church? Do we state this on our web sites? Do we place this on our signs? Do we make all visitors feel welcome when they attend a church service or other church event? If anyone in the community reaches out to our church for assistance, do we help as best as we can and also direct them to community resources that can also help? Do we offer radical inclusiveness? Does our church believe we are all children of God, loved by God, without any division?
Within our community, do we fight social injustice? Everyone in our community is entitled to food, shelter and clothing. Everyone in our community deserves a fair wage to purchase food, shelter and clothing. Everyone in the community deserves affordable health insurance. Everyone in the community deserves a high school diploma and the opportunity to obtain affordable higher education. Does our church help provide community members with shelter, food, clothing? Does our church lobby for fair wages, affordable health insurance and educational opportunities for all? Does our church actively partner with organizations that can leverage their size to provide food, shelter, clothing, and educational assistance? Does our church partner with organizations that fight the root causes of social injustice so we are not just placing band aids on the ills of society?
Our churches are called to leverage the power and scale of the church community to battle oppression and social injustice in their local communities. If you feel your church is ignoring this call, challenge your church to join this battle.
Are you ready to do your part?
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