Prayer Team (part of the
Education & Prevention Team)
- Develop and solicit prayer support with
small groups;
- Develop Prayer Emails and Prayer Chains for mission
teams and specific victims of injustice;
- Utilize pastors and available resources to
encourage prayer for support of the victims of injustice.
Advocacy Team
- Provide small group teams “briefing sheets” on
possible injustice issues specific to area of mission
- Support the Investigation Team through research,
analysis and planning strategies for intervening in compelling injustice cases;
- Develop Justice Awareness Guide for use by the
small group mission teams, churches and other Justice Task Forces.
Investigation Team
- Educate departing small group mission teams in the eight steps to
“spy out” injustices in their respective people group areas;
- Assist returning small group mission teams in processing
information they obtained from their assessment of injustice issues;
- Work with police and government agencies to educate, train and
equip for prevention of further injustice and abuse;
- Ensure perpetrator accountability with police and government
agencies.
- Work with International Justice Mission in the potential
investigation of the most compelling injustice situations on a case-by-case
basis
Victim Care Team
- Coordinate victim relief needs with the Investigation Team;
- Identify aftercare and rehabilitation options for the victims
where appropriate;
- Provide Victim Team training program for other task forces and
small groups;
- Provide victim advocacy kits for specific
victim issues.
What is global injustice?
Global injustices include
abuses of power by police and other authorities in the
communities where they served
Examples of injustice:
- Abuses of Children
- Child abuse,
- Child abduction,
- Child slavery,
- Child exploitation
- Abuses of Women
- Domestic Violence
- Family Abuse
- Battered immigrant/refugees
- Abuses of Legal system
- Land stealing from widows
How does a small group identify
an injustice?
- Ask questions related to the specifics of the actions
- Identify if the injustice is currently illegal in
this location
- Define what is acceptable behavior verses
illegal behavior
- Identify the laws regarding the injustice
- Determine who is responsible to enforce such laws
- Determine how wide spread is this injustice
What is Social Justice?
Social Justice is upholding of what is just,
especially fair treatment and due reward in matters affecting
human welfare in accordance with honor, standards, or law.
An early twentieth century America German
Baptist minister, Walter Rauschenbush brought forward the
biblical concept of the Social Gospel. He believed it was the
responsibility of the Church to work out social reform while
waiting for the return of Christ.
Rauschenbush strived
for a continuation of Jesus’s ministry to the weak and oppressed
by bringing about the Kingdom of God on Earth through human
effort. This effort involved a proactive church body that took
on injustices and social problems.
How does Social Justice impact
where the Church is today?
-
Response provided by Pastor Tom
Halliday – Saddleback Church
“The truth is Evangelism and Christian Social
causes have not always been so separated as they are today. Back
near the beginning of the last century, American Christianity
"split" into two camps. One was the evangelical - stressing the
need to share the gospel. And the other was the social - meeting
people's physical and emotional needs. These two groups
polarized, to the extent that the evangelicals treated social
work as a waste of time, and the "social gospel" group really
had no gospel in it - feeling that meeting needs was enough to
lead people to Christ.
In our generation we're seeing those two come
back together again - and it is abundantly clear that they
SHOULD stand together! James is a clear as a bell when he tells
us that religion that doesn't care for the orphan and widow is
worthless, and Jesus is just as clear when he talks about
meeting the needs of the poor and the sick and the prisoner. As
these two come back together there will some, reacting to how
things have stood the last 100 years or so, who will feel that
Saddleback is becoming a social gospel church. Nothing could be
further from the truth! We're just trying to put back together
what should have always been together. Meeting a physical need
is often the first contact in reaching a person for Jesus.
Something that is clearer and clearer in our
generation is that God is bringing back into the church what
should have always been in the church.
One concern that those asking this question
will have is whether we can stay balanced. Their fear will be
that history will repeat itself, and that the church will drift
towards meeting physical needs while forgetting about spiritual
needs. That is a danger - and the way to protect against that
danger is to hold to the truth of the Bible. But the greater
danger lies in the church ignoring those needs, expecting
outside agencies to do by themselves what God has commissioned
the church to do. If we do that, we are not only failing to meet
those needs, but we are failing to develop relationships with
people in Jesus' name - relationships that will result in tens
of thousands of new churches being planted and millions of
people being saved.”
~ Pastor Tom Halliday
What is Biblical Justice?
The foundation of biblical
justice is found in the Great commandment and the golden rule:
- “Teacher,
which is the greatest commandment in the law?”
- Jesus
replied “Love the Lord your God with all of your
heart and soul and with all of your mind.
- This the
first and greatest commandment.
- And the
second is like it. ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
- All of the
Law and Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Mt 22:34-40
[i]
“So
in everything, do to others what you would have them do to
you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”
Mt 7:12
The Great Commandment
requires that Christians love God and their neighbor, as
themselves. The Golden Rules teaches Christians how to
love our neighbors. The work of justice for Christians
begins with “loving your neighbor”. It continues with Jesus’
teaching relating to how to love our neighbor. The key question
that every Christian needs to continually ask, how would I want
to be treated in a similar situation?
What is Advocacy?
Advocacy is an integrated
approach that combines research, championing, prayer,
networking, increased public and media awareness that
facilitates a change with the major global issues that cause
poverty.
Advocacy:
- tackles root causes of poverty and injustice and
brings long-term change
- places people as agents of change in their own
communities
- can help to generate more resources for other
development work
- can change power structures and systems of
injustice.
Is Advocacy in the Bible?
Advocacy is firmly rooted in
the Bible, and is based on God's commitment to justice on behalf
of the oppressed.
‘Speak up for those who cannot speak for
themselves,
for the rights of all who are destitute.
Speak up and judge fairly;
defend the rights of the poor and needy.’
Proverbs 31:8-9
The biblical basis of
advocacy can be found in Philippians 2:4:
"Let each of you look not to your own
interests but to the interests of others." Philippians 2:4
And
in Proverbs:
"Speak up for those who cannot speak for
themselves ... Proverbs 31:8
How do Social Justice, Biblical
Justice and Advocacy fit with SJTF?
The combination of Social
Justice, Biblical Justice and Advocacy fit under the Justice
Task Force as it emphasizes the biblical commandment that was
the mission of Jesus’ life here on earth. Jesus is our guide
and inspiration. At the onset of his ministry, Jesus said:
The
Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to
bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release
to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the
oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
(Luke 4: 18-19)
Does the SJTF take casework?
The SJTF does not take on
casework but sets the criteria for case research, evaluation and
potential referral.
- Locally, SJTF works with alternative resources that
are available for victims of injustice.
- Globally, the SJTF works closely with the International Justice
Mission who focuses its resources on cases referred by overseas workers who
often witness injustices yet have no other options for legal advocacy.
What can I do to help with SJTF?
There are many
ways an individual with a servants’ heart for the victims of
injustice can assist with the Justice Task Force. Please send
inquiries to:
info@saddlebackjtf.org or phone (949) 609-8411 x7401
