Madison’s Question to Matthew: What are you thinking with respect to a Christian’s response to issues of justice?

When Madison speaks of justice, I know that the first verse that comes to her mind is Micah 6:8 “No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” She has a shirt with this on, as well as a sticker on her laptop. For me, as her father, it is encouraging that she has embraced what is so clearly outlined in scripture at an early age.

This was not the case for me. In fact, up until age 38, it was only an afterthought at best. If I did think about it, is was to excuse myself from not doing anything about it because it was inconvenient, or to think that those experiencing injustice perhaps deserved what they got. I was ignorant.

When I was 38, I was in a men’s group and one of the scriptures we memorized as part of our study was Isaiah 58:6-7 “No, this is the kind of fasting I want: Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you. Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people. Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help.”

For some reason, the verses dug in. I was moved to engage the topic of injustice and confess my ignorance and lack of action. But what to do? I began by engaging in conversations with leaders of non-profit organizations in our city. Asking them questions about what they did and why they did it? What were the issues that they were trying to address? I started volunteering in a few places – serving breakfast at a drop-in centre, joining the board of a non-profit apartment building with 22 units, repairing bikes to donate to those that couldn’t afford one.

All of these activities along with a new lens with which to read the bible began to change my mindset. I started to see that the next step for someone who was homeless wasn’t to simply tell them to get a job, it wasn’t even to find them a place to stay even if it was at a reduced rent that they could afford on government assistance. There were so many layers to their lives that included relationship breakdowns, abuse, mental health issues, family dysfunction, etc. It was very messy.

There was injustice due to deep sin, including trafficking girls and kids for sexual gratification in my city and around the world. There was injustice around nationality and culture which I was completely immune to because I am a white male and in my culture, I am never discriminated against.

And then I began to see injustice at different levels of society. Sports leagues and their societal demands. The NBA will bring in $8.5 billion in revenue in 2018 yet they, and other sports leagues, demand that cities and states/provinces pay for new arenas and stadiums even though the leagues have the money to pay for them – they just choose to keep it for themselves.

Injustice takes place in day to day conversations as we judge schools in our city based on information passed down over years that can’t even be validated. How many people do whatever they can to live in a different part of town so that their kids can avoid a certain school? Are the judgments of these areas of the city and their school an injustice? And in actuality, what should the response of Christians be? I can speak from experience in the school conversation. When we moved to London we were not aware of these discrepancies until we moved into an area that apparently didn’t have a good elementary school or high school. Yet here we were, the location of our house determined which school our kids would attend. And, our kids had an amazing experience. I joined the parent school council at each school to keep me aware of what was going on and to have some influence. The more we heard people talk about our kids’ schools and how bad they were supposed to be, and the more we, as a family, experienced these schools, I got more and more irritated. This was an injustice. People declaring things without truly getting into the middle of it.

We all like stories of people who choose to enter into the messiness of injustice. We cheer them on, we might even send some money their way. But for us to embrace injustice, to speak out when those we are with choose to speak unjustly, this is quite another thing altogether.

And yet, if you read the bible in its entirety, if you engage with all of its content, then you can’t avoid the fact that God calls his people to act justly. To enter into messy moments, messy relationships, embrace everyone no matter their circumstances. To speak out on behalf of those who can’t speak out for themselves. And to enter into situations to rescue those who need rescuing.

So what am I thinking about with respect to our call to be people of justice? All I can say is that I am on a continual path of learning and engaging. I am certain that there are significant gaps in my thinking and my acting – I don’t know what I don’t know.

I also know that the world will experience justice, not primarily in government laws and decisions handed out by courts (this is merely external compliance), but when each individual chooses to embrace acts of justice. When our hearts are truly moved to beat as God’s heart beats which will cause us to be people of justice. To speak about and act justly, as God requires of us.

For the kingdom.

Matthew’s question to Madison: What excites you about being on a team?

Growing up, I never played on sports teams. I much preferred the individual sports – there was way less pressure.

Let’s be real, I didn’t play any sports.

BUT if I did, I’d be the gymnast, or the swimmer, or playing any racket sports. I remember almost joining the badminton team at the end of high school, but since I had never been on a sports team before, I was way too scared – and unfortunately I regret it. I played squash in university for a bit, and though I was terrible at it, I enjoyed being on the court with one other player smashing the ball against the wall.

There’s something about competing on my own that I see as a challenge, and there’s no other personality to have to work with. It’s just me. I work within my own skills and abilities, I know all of my thoughts, and I can predict every step I take.

Yep, I like control.

And yes, I see the flaws in my own thinking.

I’m an independent to a fault.

I’ve been part of many teams, and some were amazing – others were awful. I had a group project in second year which was supposed to have five people in it, but it ended up being just my friend and I doing the entire project. It was a brutal experience.

Last summer, there were three interns that worked for us, and I was able to work closely with them. The four of us made a great team! Our personalities meshed well, and we all worked hard and trusted each other to get the job done. And while we worked, we had fun. It was an amazing team.

In my new role at North Park, I have a new team I get to work with. There are three of us on the lead team for the new church plant starting in September of this year. In the two months of being this team, we’ve worked through a lot, and I already know we’re going to make a great team. We’re figuring out how each of us functions, what our roles are, and our communication styles. There are some pretty significant differences between us, yet it works.

And I have complete confidence and trust in both of them.

That’s probably the main reason why I’m excited to work with them. As seen in my earlier experiences, I struggle being on teams that I can’t trust; I don’t like being on sports teams because I can’t predict the relationships or the outcomes of others actions. And I know I’m not the only one in this boat.

But I’m continually learning the beauty in the mess of working together.

Working on the new churches’ lead team isn’t the only team I’ll be working with. There are people who are stepping into leadership roles already as we prepare to roll out the red carpet for opening day, and I get to work closely with them as well.

Let me be the first to say – we have an AWESOME team so far.

I love the conversations around new ideas, inspiring one other with conversations we’ve had with neighbours in the area, and reminding each other of how God is working.

The excitement and dedication is real!

Here are a few things I’m specifically excited about being on this team:

1) It’s missionally focused

I love being on a team that strives to live beyond themselves. And though we’re all still selfish and want to have our own way of doing things, the main focus of our conversations is around what God is calling us to do specifically in the neighbourhood we’re in – and I LOVE that.

2) People’s passion pushes them to go above and beyond

There are people on our team who have done way more than we’ve asked of them already. That shows that they’re dedicated to the work, they’re faithfully pursuing what God has called them into, and they aren’t waiting for the lead team to tell them what to do – they see a need, and they fill it; they want to learn more, so they’ll go find the answer.

3) We speak truth, and aren’t afraid to challenge

With a diverse set of personalities, we see things differently; with our vast set of experiences, we bring a variety of perspectives. We need it all. So far the team has been amazing at voicing those thoughts in a respectful way, and because of it, we’re able to work through things even before the church opens. These conversations have built strong bonds of trust.

Yes, there’s mess when it comes to working with people – and I make my fair share of them. Oh do I ever. But this team is built of a shared faith, and that makes the world of a difference.

And that’s why I couldn’t be more excited to work on this team.