“Restorative justice restores the oppressed as well as the oppressor.” -Shane Claiborne
I just got back from the Sustainable Faith Conference in St. Petersburg, Florida. This weekend was one of the most transforming times in my life. I am still unpacking most of what I heard and experienced at the conference, but I wanted to share with you about our trip to Immokalee.
On the first day, a small group of us headed to Immokalee, a town of migrant workers who live far below the poverty line. These migrant workers work 12 hour days and live on almost nothing. The reasons for their oppression are endless. Overpriced rent. Underpaid work. No benefits. No human rights. The competitive produce market in the United States. The list goes on.
We went to Immokalee to hear the story of the migrant worker, to give a voice to the voiceless. We met with Shane Claiborne and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and were educated on what they are currently doing to fight for justice and humane treatment in Florida and around the United States. The CIW’s main effort is the Campaign for Fair Food.
“In 2001, the CIW launched the Campaign for Fair Food with the first-ever farmworker boycott of a major fast-food company. The national boycott of Taco Bell called on the fast-food giant to take responsibility for human rights abuses in the fields where its produce is grown and picked.” (Read more about the CIW’s Campaign for Fair Food here.)
After 4 years of CIW’s boycotting, Taco Bell finally agreed to the demands and became the first of many companies to support the human rights of migrant workers. This agreement not only included a pay increase for the farm workers, it also included a zero-tolerance policy on all slave-labor practices. Redemptive justice had begun. The CIW still has a long way to go, and the migrant workers have only recently begun feeling the effects of the Campaign for Fair Food, but justice is taking place.
When you walk into the CIW, there is a sign above the door with the CIW logo and the Taco Bell logo that reads, “Working together for justice.”
So spread the word about the Campaign for Fair Food and buy a burrito from Taco Bell.
Photo: www.interfaithact.org
It's ridiculous that this kind of thing takes place in America. That abuse is the kind of thing the minimum wage was designed to correct — not simply to enable 18 y/os to afford video games. Despite the fact that it's the right thing to do, until minimum wage laws and OSHA laws are widely enforced in fields like these where they are needed most, or until more companies take a responsible stand to only purchase from specific, law-abiding companies, it might not be in anyone's best interest to pay their workers a living wage. They would simply be undercut and the owner and the worker would be out of business.
What has all this got to do with the mission of the Church of the Nazarene? Social work or social Justice ( as it is now termed) is not a bad thing, but rather a good thing. But doing good verses doing good in the Name of Jesus with a message of Salvation are two different things. Tell me where Jesus comes into play in this social justice event? The start of the Nazarene Church was to preach the gospel to the poor through the Mission in L.A. Jesus said the poor would always be among us and that such were the kingdom of God. Many organizations help people through compassion and humanitarian efforts, but if we are not preaching the gospel with it then we are off focus. Tell us more than just the human side. What is God doing through the Church and this justice story in FL?
Rachel,
In all the string of comments above I really did not see an answer to my question about "is the gospel" in social Justice being lived out in the through the churches in Immokalee? I read 40 churches getting involved, but besides peoples rights being represented socially or politically, are people hearing the message of salvation (The Gospel) and getting saved and discipled?
I’m concerned that our church is becoming more social oriented without the mission of preaching the gospel to restore souls. Is the preaching of the gospel happening among social Justice Expressions at all?
Social work/justice/ restoration or whatever term is liked or used is mis-aligned eternal effort unless we are FOCUSED on souls. Yes we feed the body, but we also preach to the spirit of man as well and not just end it with warm fuzziness of humanitarian efforts.
We will get lost in the work without presenting, proclaiming and preaching the GOOD NEWS OF THE GOSPEL. Shane Clairborne ( whom I am not familiar with at all yet) has some good comments I have picked up on recently, “It is easier to talk about the poor than to talk to the poor”. I agree with that, but better yet, let’s talk to them about the Love and grace of Jesus and the hope he offers when people repent and turn away from sin.
That is why we have Evangelist who God has given a boldness to proclaim to the lost. Just a few weeks ago I went into a home to pray with dying women at the invite of a family member new to our church. That first night I got right to business about her soul and asked her if she had been born again. She said no, but she trusted Jesus. Before I left we prayed clearly and then we moved ahead with love and compassion and even a baptism in the hospice home. In the social compassion of the moment what if I had not pressed the question about her soul in the midst of the physical pain of the moment?
Jesus did say GO and be among the jailed, poor and naked and do ministry. But ministry is spiritual accomplished through the deeds of humanitarian efforts when the Gospel stay center. Many Churches has gotten and are getting caught up in the human side of social work in the name of Christ without the power thereof.
Unless a clear message of salvation is woven into the intent of social efforts or justice or whatever term is the latest buzz word, it will not make an eternal difference if people are not getting presented with a clear message of the Gospel.
I thoroughly enjoy hands on ministry among the poor and mistreated and have been on mission trips and have feed the poor etc etc. We are surrounded now by a lot of poor in our area. We are struggling with how to accomplish the great commission without getting lost in load of social work that is increasing everywhere. If we are not Christ Centered with a message about KNOWING (salvation) we indeed do good works, but still we will miss the mark with LIFE CHANGING GRACE AND HOPE.
I realize that many come to trust the gospel through slow loving personal relationships. As well, many come to know Christ in the crowd when the Word of God is proclaimed and the foolishness of the Cross of Christ is presented.
Social Justice is a new term to me and as well I have not heard great things, but trying to weight it all with the gospel as I learn more.
Striving to Make a Difference in FL.
I think much confusion comes from the use of the misunderstood term “social justice” because of it’s historical context. Can we stop using it in our efforts to sound current, young and edgy? Can’t we just call it “charity” or “generosity” or “friendliness” or “practicing good works” or something like that?
I am alarmed by my beloved Church of the Nazarene’s growing attraction to these (often) political philosophies, or their lack of attention to the history/results of these endeavors. I am all for “Christian charity” on a voluntary individual level, but hope to hear more frequently from our churches leaders that we must not entangle ourselves with government agencies that seem to support this same goal, but with many unseen strings attached.
As a huge fan of the intentions of our founding fathers to separate from the oppressive governance of Europe, and an appreciative g-g-g-g-great grand-daughter of men who died painfully for this freedom, I have problems with the term “social justice” because it so closely aligns with the ideas of the socialism from which they fought to be free. The intentions of our founders were small government, and little interference into private business. (Yes, I know that there is evil in businesses sometimes, but there is a more dangerous evil in many that find power within political systems.) Therefore, our founders intended to keep government small for the safety and liberty of all.
I found this definition of Social Justice (which I shortened) on Wikipedia :
Social justice is defined as the concept of justice on a social scale. The term appeared before the 1800s, including in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.
It is one of the Four Pillars of the Green Party upheld by green parties worldwide. All tenets of “social justice” in the Global Green Movement have been adopted by many on the left of the political spectrum.
“Social justice” is also a concept that some use to describe the global governmental movement towards a socially just world. In this context, social justice involves a greater degree of forced economic egalitarianism through progressive taxation, income redistribution, or even property redistribution. These policies aim to manufacture equality of outcome in cases where incidental inequalities appear.
Many people accept some of the basic principles of social justice, such as the idea that all human beings have a basic level of value, but disagree with the elaborate conclusions and government enforced policies that may follow from this.
Many other people criticize the idea that there exists an objective standard of “social justice”. Some scholars reject the very idea of social justice as meaningless, self-contradictory, and ideological, believing that to realize any degree of social justice is unfeasible, and that the attempt to do so must destroy all liberty. The most complete rejection of the concept of social justice comes from Friedrich Hayek of the Austrian School of economics:
[Social justice] does not belong to the category of error but to that of nonsense, like the term `a moral stone'.