July is launch month for something new I’ve been dreaming up–THE JUSTICE MOVEMENT

It feels good to be “getting there”. It also feels a little bit like that moment right before you step onto the Tower of Terror at Disney’s Hollywood Studios–when your stomach tells your brain that you’re an idiot for wanting to go on a creepy elevator that drops you sporadically from way up high to way down low without warning, repeatedly.

But even with all of that, the anticipation still feels good.

Getting ready to do something is just as important as the part when you’re finally doing something.

So, what is it? What is the JUSTICE MOVEMENT?

I can’t tell you everything but I can tell you three things.

1. The movement is for YOU. (It is for youth and the adults who know them.)
2. The movement is for OTHERS. (It’s the Church stirred up to work for justice in the world.)
3. It’s because of Jesus.

We can continue to be a part of the reconciling and redemptive work of Jesus in the world. Because Jesus did it, does it, and will continue to give us what we need to do the same.

To keep it simple, we’re wanting one thing.

Justice.

It’s the same thing the prophet Amos wanted.

It’s the same thing Jesus came to communicate and embody. Justice and love.

So, it’s what we want. It’s what we’ll talk about, write about, create around, sing for, and long for…

 

Do you know what we want?

We want justice—oceans of it.

We want fairness—rivers of it. That is all we want.

– Amos 5:24, The Message

 

A teenage girl named Emily helped me dive in fully, she inspired me to do the heavy lifting because she was willing to. One day she came to me with a business plan to fund clean water projects in Zambia Africa.I supported her, but mostly watched her, as she and her family successfully met her goal and then met it again….and again…

I wondered.

Why aren’t there more Emily’s?

But then I started learning about more lives like hers, so willingly sacrificing for the needs of others. My questions changed.

Could the church do a better job partnering with the Emily’s?  Maybe we haven’t been giving them much to do? Maybe we haven’t been telling the stories that inspire dreams worth living and dying for.

I think people hear Emily’s story and stories of those like her and think, wow, what an exception!

There is no doubt that Emily is an exceptional human being. She is exceptional.

But her way of living shouldn’t be the exception.

This way of life should be the Christian rule.

We should expect our youngest to bring the most passionate and groundbreaking ideas. And we should resource them with everything we have.

 

I imagine what could be, youth around the world able to re imagine the Church as the primary place of justice work in the world.

 

This generation doesn’t need the church to tell them that here is injustice in the world. They see it, feel it, and experience it first hand. They are very aware of it. What they need is a Church willing to embrace it’s unique position to work for justice while holding out the love of Christ.

They need a church willing to make passion for the poor a priority.

They need a church who will not concede to outsourcing it’s greatest resource–the ability to set captives free. They should be given the power to heal and to pray. They should be afforded the ability to mobilize creative solutions to bring about social transformation through providing special care for the oppressed and voiceless.

The Justice Movement is the global Church collected in passion.

It isn’t a program.

It isn’t a trend.

It’s a movement of convergence.

It’s a movement of church engagement.

It’s a movement of parent involvement.

It’s a movement of specialized passion and purpose.

It’s a voice.

It’s an education.

It’s an event.

It’s worthy dreams multiplied.

 

The movement is already. But it will grow as we become advocates for the movers, for compassionate lives working for justice. It will thrive in celebrating the work of Jesus in the world. It will exist when we make room for spiritual practices and spiritual actions working together.

I can’t wait to offer a place where you can see the global church interacting like this more vividly.

A place where you can find justice education and events for youth and the adults who know them.

I see generations holding hands around the world through transcendeant languages of art, music, beauty, care, acts of mercy and compassion, justice works, and celebration.

We can do these things.

We can  PRACTICE COMPASSION

We can WORK FOR JUSTICE

We can CELEBRATE FREEDOM

I see us becoming well because we are willing to show up in the wounds, grief isn’t our end game. Our wounds are also the places of our greatest potential. The place where we leap in faith and ask for God to give us joy and solutions mid-jump.

I’m inviting you to pray with me as we develop the structure for the world to work together. Through the church, for the church, because of Jesus.

 

THE JUSTICE MOVEMENT

WORLDWIDE LAUNCH: July 2015

PLUS, LAUNCHES IN EVERY CONTINENT EXCEPT ANTARCTICA (2015-2017). Fun Fact: There were and are no native human Antarcticans. Only penguins.

Interested in knowing more? Follow @thejustmove on Twitter.

Facebook and IG accounts coming soon.