Social Justice Focus Month

For those who many not have received my newsletter, I want to give you the same information that has been passed on to others regarding things that are happening in the fall, namely, the social justice focus month. Beware; it is lengthy…
Disclaimer: None of this is what I would have planned as the way to spend my first few months back home, but I feel strongly that to not go through with this would be an act of direct disobedience to the voice of the Lord, so I prayerfully submit the following.
From September 28th to October 29th of 2010, a “ministry trip” opportunity will be open to students from sixth grade and up (all the way through college students!), as a chance to work and learn together about social justice issues and the ways that they impact our lives, or perhaps, ways that they ought to impact our lives.
The trip will take place almost exclusively within the greater Tri-Cities area, but we will be constantly on the move, staying in the buildings of different congregations who are willing to let us sleep on their floors for a night or longer, and it will be different from summer ministry trips in a number of other ways (the main one being that it will take place during the school year).
The main purpose is to grow in our understanding of God’s heart for social justice issues, as well as our knowledge of situations where there is a need for Christ followers to be a voice calling out for justice and hands acing to right wrongs.
Secondarily, the purpose is to awaken the Church in the Tri-Cities to the need to act and pray.
The “service project” portion of the trip will be entirely student led, ie Jessica is not sitting in her dorm room coming up with a list of things for us to do. Rather, we will approach God each day with the assumptions that He has a plan for us, is willing to tell us that plan if we are wiling to listen, and that He could just as easily tell that plan to a twelve year old as He could to a twenty-one year old.
There will also be a learning component, where I do my best to introduce a balanced view of any number of different issues and then provide a chance for individuals to come to their own conclusions and discover their own passions. God’s glory is made manifest in places where His justice is lived out, but, until we know what it means to seek justice, it is almost impossible to really live it out.
In order to escape some of the dangers of a short lived, mountain top experience, participants will be required to completely commit to the focus month (no outside jobs, extra curricular activities, etc). This is purely to sustain our intentional community for long enough that new habits are built and life change has a chance to take root.
I am currently neck deep in putting together a hands on curriculum that will tie day to day life within the community into school assignments (math, language arts, science, social studies, etc) that we will send back to parents to grade as they desire. Basically, we will become a month long homeschool co-op, and, therefore, avoid breaking any truancy laws, so long as all of the Intent to Homeschool forms are filled out and in their proper locations.
(Ha! Staying out of jail would be a good thing…)
We will do our best to live simply, justly, and sustainably in an intentional community, while still participating in the American context, in order to explore what it really means to live as Christ followers wherever He sends us.
I know that it all sounds crazy, so, for now, I am asking you to ask questions and pray about it. Pray that God would light a fire for justice in the hearts of those who He wants to participate, and…check with Him to see if He wants you to be somehow involved.
:)