A whole lot of our churches have outsourced justice. If the gospel of reconciliation is going to interrupt the brokenness in society, our churches are going to have to rethink their vocation. When I read the Bible, I always bring the problems of my community to God and ask when in history God’s people have had to face a similar challenge. God is the same yesterday, today and forever. But God also chooses to walk with his people in history. That means we can’t know the will of God for us today unless we’re paying attention to what’s happening and how God wants to work in this situation. As I look at our situation today and the problems we face, I hear God speaking to the church in the words that he spoke through his prophets after the exile. Coming out of our cultural captivity, I hear God saying that this is a time for rebuilding the church and remembering what it really means to be Christ’s body in the world.
John Perkins in Charles Marsh and John M. Perkins, Welcoming Justice: God's Movement Toward Beloved Community (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2009), 108-109.
[Read the Introduction to 95 Theses for Christian Racial & Ethnic Unity here.]
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