Journey Justice Mission - Unconference topic

Unconference Topic - Journey Justice Mission
Idea Initiator / Facilitator - Carl Isaacson

We are taught from early on, that God is loving. I believe that’s true. However, Gary Haugen of the International Justice Mission teaches a message about a less familiar passion of God…. his hatred. That is, God hates injustice. God hates it when people in power abuse that power by taking something that rightfully belongs to someone else. It could be that a powerful person takes control of a girl’s body and forces her to be a prostitute against her will. Or a powerful moneylender takes a debtor’s freedom and enslaves the man to work in his brick kiln or rice mill. Maybe a corrupt police officer takes away a person’s ability to live and walk in his neighborhood by wrongfully arresting and charging him with a crime in order to exact a bribe. Injustice takes many forms, and they’re ugly. Not only that, God hates it, as far as I can tell. What do you think?

But I also believe that God hates it when people who claim to follow this loving God allow the injustice that occurs around them to continue. Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. pointed out that all that is required for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.

Several of us sat in a group on Sunday and discussed what it might mean for some people at the Journey to begin to be educated about some areas of injustice that we could impact. What would be some things that we could actually do? Part of carrying out social justice as a Christ-follower is to expose the injustice, educate people about what they can do, and then actually facilitate tangible help.

Education includes understanding that the Bible encourages us to help the powerless - widows, orphans, homeless, culturally alienated, poor, oppressed. Can we connect with any of these people and offer actual relief?

Here are notes from various people in the discussion

Ideas:
1. Juveniles in custody - monitoring conditions, exposing abuse by guards
2. Human slavery - commercial sex industry, labor (sweatshops), child soldiers
3. Abuse of women - education, offering safe haven, counseling resources, other assistance
4. Foster children - support when abused, monitoring conditions, expose improper treatment & neglect
5. Improper behavior by law enforcement - support of monitoring groups, assistance for victims
6. Convalescent homes - advocate for elder care, monitoring integrity for absentee voting
7. Senior Citizens - assist targets of fraud and scams, assist with prevention of or escape from abuse by family members

Weapons of the Oppressor
1. Lies
2. Coercion

Weapons of the Justice Advocate
1. Truth - expose what the oppressor is doing and tell the truth about what is just
2. Power properly used to intervene between oppressor and victim

How to Get Involved
1. Act locally AND Globally - tangible hands on projects locally, and support organizations internationally
2. Connecting with other organizations who are doing something similar in order to make our actions more powerful
3. Provide assistance to victims of sex trafficking and/or domestic violence
4. Create a community of people who wish to meet regularly to discuss what we can do to implement this effort within the Journey.

Other Thoughts
1. Is this group about political correctness, or actually helping people?
2. This group would overlap with, mix with, support, complement the International Impact Team and the Community Impact Team.