Churches Seeking Justice: Educate
The first step on the justice journey is education – discovering God’s call to justice and what it may mean for your congregation. As Christian leaders, we must come under the biblical conviction that God is a God of justice, and we must learn about oppression in our world. We can begin with a few simple truths:
1. God hates injustice and he wants it to stop.
2. The Church is God’s plan for ending injustice in the world.
3. Injustice is a huge category of need in our world.
4. Seeking justice on behalf of the oppressed is doable.
For a more complete explanation of this material, please download The Justice Journey: A Handbook for Pastors and Other Christian Leaders.
Education, of course, is a process. Here are a few simple steps and resources to get you started:
Form a Justice Learning Community.
A Justice Learning Community is a multi-disciplinary group composed of church staff and volunteers meeting for the purpose of learning together about the Biblical call to seek justice in our world. Effective Justice Learning Communities can be led either by church staff or volunteers, but function best when both are involved.
Invite an IJM speaker to your church.
Nearly every weekend, there is a passionate and qualified IJM representative sharing the message of Biblical justice in a church somewhere in Canada. Write engage@ijm.ca to book a speaker.
Study a book together.
Begin with Good News About Injustice or Just Courage. Enhance your discussion by using the discussion questions at the back of each book.
Study scripture together.
As a place to start, reference Appendix 1 of the The Justice Journey for a list of passages.
Pray together.
Sign up to become an IJM Prayer Partner and receive a confidential weekly prayer e-mail detailing IJM’s current prayer requests from around the world. Pray for victims of injustice and for those who are working to provide relief and aftercare. Pray for the perpetrators. Pray as a community for clear leadership to emerge for the justice movement within your church.
Preach on biblical justice.
Download resources for creating a sermon using IJM casework illustrations.
Share this passion and vision with your youth pastor. Direct your youth pastor to the Youth/Students page of our website. Email this page to your youth pastor!
Video Resources for the Church
At the End of Slavery—Narrated by actor Danny Glover, At the End of Slavery: The Battle for Justice in our Time takes you inside the violent and ugly business of modern-day slavery — the buying and selling of human beings — from the brothels of the Philippines to the brick kilns of India. Undercover footage and first-person testimony from former slaves and respected experts expose the enormity of the crime — but a remarkable strategy and the courage of today's abolitionists offer hope for a final end to this brutal trade.
+ Order At the End of Slavery
IJM Media Montage — This 3-minute compilation of news clips and interview footage serves as an excellent introduction to the work of IJM. This short piece includes clips from “Dateline-NBC,” “60 Minutes,” “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” Fox News, BBC News, NPR, CNN and others.
+ Download IJM Media Montage