Justice Revival! April 18, 2008
Posted by Zack in Ohio | 2 commentsWednesday night, I caught the first day of the Social Justice Revival at Vineyard Columbus, which continues through tonight. Here are some pictures:
Close to 100 churches participated, led jointly by Jim Wallis’ Sojourners and pastor Rich Nathan’s Columbus Vineyard church. Jim Wallis is an evangelical lefty progressive with a background in radical politics. Rich Nathan is an evangelical conservative who voted for Bush. The event is a tipping point in the decay of 20th century political categories.
As the church was filling up, a Vineyard church member sitting to my right told me: “They’ve been saying on the [Christian] radio that Jim Wallis is a communist.”
“What does that even mean?” I asked?
“I think…that he’s against…well…capitalism,” she said.
Then another Vineyard member sat down to my left. He’s away in grad school at a Christian university in Florida now.
“Why did you come all the way back for this?” I asked.
“The more I learn, the more I believe our economic system just isn’t sustainable,” he said, “I’ve really begun to question capitalism.”
He has been meeting with a group of other Christians to read about economics and environmentalism. They watch a lot of documentary films too—his favorite was The Corporation.
The vast majority of the audience attending this “Social Justice Revival” were conservative Republicans. Especially after the controversy raised in the local Christian media, people must have had some misgivings about participating. Nevertheless, the massive sanctuary was completely full, with the crowd pouring into two giant overflow spaces as well.
Asking these folks to listen to Jim Wallis with an open mind is a little bit like asking the lefty Take Back America conference to do the same for John Hagee.
But with a little help from Jesus, they did exactly that. Listen here how that works:
Rich Nathan would give Jesus all the credit, but he is doing something incredible with his church and this Justice Revival. He is saying (if I might translate): “Enough of these silly divisions. We stand for justice and there’s nothing wrong with that. Our faith calls us to act for justice in ways that we’re just not doing now. We’re doing a great job of helping people 1-on-1 in our city. Jesus calls us to do that, and it’s also what keeps us honest and in touch with reality. But we can only help so many people 1-on-1. Do we want to limit ourselves to be a little oasis in the desert for a few, or do we want to be leaders in our broader community who use our numbers and our love to change all of society?”
Over a year ago, the first time I talked to Jim Wallis, back when I was just starting to learn about all this stuff, he told me about Rich Nathan’s church. He said, “It’s absolutely incredible all the things they are doing for their community.”
And I asked, “But why won’t any of these amazing churches speak on policy when it comes to economic issues?”
He related the conversation he has about policy with many church leaders about that very question of whether the church is called to be an oasis, or force that salvages the whole desert. Apparently, some of those conversations are bearing fruit.
Here are four more short audio clips to give you a sense of the terms in which this is all unfolding:
- It’s not enough to be an oasis in a desert:
- We need to make three great commitments of Jesus:
- #1 Commit to Jesus:
- #2 Commit to each other
- #3 Commit to the cause of Christ…
I did an interview with one of the Vineyard pastors about the incredible service work they’re doing in Columbus. Hopefully I’ll have that edited down early next week for you to listen to.
Tags: Columbus Vineyard, Jim Wallis, Justice Revival, Rich NathanKristoff notices the “crazy Christians” February 3, 2008
Posted by Zack in New York | 6 commentsNew York Times columnist Nicholas Kristoff has been reading Jim Wallis’ new book and is impressed.
Tags: Jim Wallis, New York Times, Nicholas ChristoffBleeding-heart liberals could accomplish far more if they reached out to build common cause with bleeding-heart conservatives. And the Democratic presidential candidate (particularly if it’s Mr. Obama, to whom evangelicals have been startlingly receptive) has a real chance this year of winning large numbers of evangelical voters.
“Evangelicals are going to vote this year in part on climate change, on Darfur, on poverty,” said Jim Wallis, the author of a new book, “The Great Awakening,” which argues that the age of the religious right has passed and that issues of social justice are rising to the top of the agenda. Mr. Wallis says that about half of white evangelical votes will be in play this year.
A recent CBS News poll found that the single issue that white evangelicals most believed they should be involved in was fighting poverty…
In parts of Africa where bandits and warlords shoot or rape anything that moves, you often find that the only groups still operating are Doctors Without Borders and religious aid workers: crazy doctors and crazy Christians.
It’s official. Jim Wallis said it on Jon Stewart. January 23, 2008
Posted by Zack in New York | 4 commentsThere are these moments, in the progression of mass movements—or in mass changes to cultures—when someone says, “This is happening!” It has been happening for decades, but at a certain point a critical mass of people inside and outside of the movement have become aware of it, have talked about it, and then people start to declare it in mainstream public forums. Jim Wallis did that on Jon Stewart last night:
Tags: Jim Wallis, jon stewart, religious rightThe dominance of the religious right over our politics is finally finished…
But the even better news is that now a new generation has come of age and they’re applying their faith to the biggest issues each of us faces: the moral scandal of poverty, the degradation of the environment which we call God’s creation, climate change, Darfur, human rights…the exclusive use of war to fight evil and the cultural assault on your three year old and my four year old.
The country isn’t hungry for a religious left to replace the religious right. They don’t want to go left or right. They want to go deeper. They want to go to a moral center.
American politics upside down September 21, 2007
Posted by Elizabeth in Iowa | write a comment
Today, Christian magazine Relevant (required reading for secular progressives who want to get to know their Christian counterparts) republished online a story from their Nov/Dec 2006 print issue called “The New Face of Politics: How young Evangelicals are turning America upside down.”
Some religious voters are second-guessing their political commitments. In particular, twentysomething evangelicals are tuning in to issues related to social justice, fighting poverty and protecting the environment. And it’s starting to affect how they think about politics.
Don’t misunderstand. This isn’t about Christians switching political parties. The author says, “…our generation is hungry for something fuller and deeper. We are tired of the status quo. We want a better conversation,” and quotes Jim Wallis,
Tags: Jim Wallis, party politics, Relevant[Twentysomething evangelicals] are certainly turning away from the politics of conservative religion and the Religious Right,” Wallis says. “But they’re not necessarily becoming Political Left. They actually want a deeper kind of moral politics that doesn’t conform to left or right, but that challenges the selective moralities of both.
