FAIR Blog

FAIR is passionate about helping to alleviate human suffering and social injustice in the name of Christ. Since 2015, FAIR has had an official partnership with International Justice Mission (IJM) to enable us to work together to provide Fellowship churches greater opportunities and resources to educate and inform their congregations about God’s heart for justice and what life is like for the poor in Canada and around the world when justice is denied.

This is why we are excited to introduce to you our guest blogger, Joash Thomas.

Joash Thomas is IJM Canada’s National Director of Mobilization and Advocacy. Born and raised in Mumbai, India, Joash started his work with IJM India’s National Advocacy Team in 2015 and has worked for IJM in India, the United States, and Canada ever since. In his six years with IJM, Joash has mobilized thousands of advocates and hundreds of church leaders to pray, give, and advocate with IJM. Prior to joining IJM, Joash ran a political consulting and lobbying firm in the United States.

Joash has a Master’s degree in Political Management from The George Washington University and is currently pursuing a ThM in Systematic Theology from Dallas Theological Seminary. A public theologian at heart, Joash enjoys teaching about Biblical justice and political theology through his frequent preaching, podcast and writing engagements. He is also a guest lecturer at multiple American and Indian Bible Colleges and Seminaries. He lives in the greater Toronto area with his wife, Valentina.

 

“What do you mean by Justice?”

This is probably the most common question on justice that I’ve gotten from people I’ve done church with. As someone who works for International Justice Mission (IJM), specifically in mobilizing the Church to seek biblical justice, I always find this question to be an insightful one.

To be clear, I don’t think the issue lies with this lay brother or sister who is just trying to live faithfully as a Christian. To me, this question says more about the churches that have been historically responsible for discipling this fellow believer.

Make no mistake — if we’re serious about ‘whole life discipleship’ for our church members, we will seek to disciple our people in understanding and practicing biblical justice.

But why teach our members about justice? Here are three reasons why I would encourage you as a pastor or church leader to teach your people about justice:

 

1. Justice is Christian

Let’s address the elephant in the room – we live in a day and age wherein the political kingdoms of man (both the political left and the political right) have hijacked the words ‘justice’ and ‘injustice’ – for their political ends.

It’s time that the Church reclaimed and redeemed these words for the political ends of the Gospel — the proclamation of the Good News of Christ and His just Kingdom.

Here’s the definition of ‘justice’ that I share while preaching in churches across Canada (also Augustine’s definition of justice): “Justice is giving to each person their due.” In other words, justice is giving to each person the good things that God intended for them.

So if that’s justice, what is injustice? Injustice is taking away from someone the good things that God intended for them.

Growing up in church, I always thought of myself as the lonely oddball who cared about justice. I guarantee you that there are many young people in your church who feel this way too. They probably grow up in church thinking that the Gospel has nothing to say about justice; often failing to realize that their passion for justice comes from their Christian faith and identity. Imagine my utter shock when I discovered in seminary years later that justice is Christian to its core – a key Kingdom value that is deeply embedded in our historic, orthodox Christian faith and tradition.

Studying Historical Theology and Systematic Theology only confirmed this further. For instance, did you know that the early church adopted abandoned female babies from the streets of the Roman Empire? Did you know that Augustine’s church secured the purchase and freedom of people in slavery? Or that Charles Spurgeon, a Baptist icon, staunchly opposed the transatlantic slave trade and was a leader in the Abolitionist movement (one that was profoundly Christian in its origins)? Did you know that Nelson Mandela and Bishop Desmond Tutu believed that the Canadian Church was instrumental in the ending of Apartheid in South Africa?

The global, historic, orthodox Church has championed justice for the poor and the oppressed everywhere and always. So must we.

 

2. Teaching About Justice Can Be Unity-Building

The best part of my work at IJM Canada is getting to encourage Canadian pastors as a resource for biblical justice. I cannot begin to tell you the number of times I have sat across from a pastor who has lamented to me about how divided their congregation is on everything from masks, to vaccines, to opinions on other politicized issues.

If we, as church leaders, fail to disciple our people in the political theology of the Word, they’ll find themselves discipled by the political theologies of the world. Make no mistake – the Gospel is political. It’s about a good King (Jesus) and His just, peaceable Kingdom that is being established through his Body (the Church). And one of our core values as Kingdom citizens is seeking justice for our poor and oppressed neighbours (as seen in passages like Micah 6:8 and Isaiah 1:17).

One of the key injustices that we at IJM take on is ending modern slavery. There are 40 million people trapped in slavery right now – more people in slavery than at any other point in human history. Ending modern slavery is the one issue that everyone in our churches can get behind — regardless of political bent. If you’re looking for a justice issue to unite your members around while also discipling them on how to think about justice issues through a biblical lens, look no further.

 

3. Seeking Justice is a form of Gospel Proclamation

In Luke 4:18-19, Jesus declares that the Spirit of the Lord is upon him – to preach Good News to the poor, to proclaim freedom for the captives and to set the oppressed free. The Good News is not just that Jesus came to set us free spiritually (although He certainly came to do that); the Good News is also that Jesus came to set us free physically.

The Church has gotten really good at proclaiming the Gospel in word. But what about proclaiming the Gospel in deed? When we set the captive free, we’re proclaiming the Good News of Christ’s Kingdom in deed! When we set free the oppressed, we’re demonstrating to our fellow Canadians that there is a good God who sees and cares deeply about the sin of injustice. And he moves towards the oppressed through his Body, the local and global Church!

 

Freedom Sunday

What if I were to tell you that your church can teach about justice AND free people from slavery in 2022? Over the past many years, Fellowship churches all across Canada have partnered with IJM to fund dozens of rescue operations in the Philippines — where our IJM teams have partnered with local law enforcement to rescue hundreds of children from the Online Sexual Exploitation of Children (OSEC) since 2011. Furthermore, the FAIR-IJM Partnership has helped protect thousands of children from OSEC.

We at IJM and FAIR would love for your church to join this global movement of churches rising up to end slavery in our lifetime. Slavery will not end until the Church rises up to its full height and becomes the just body that Christ redeemed us to be.

Here’s one specific way we’d like your church to join the work of setting the captive free: Host a Freedom Sunday.

A Freedom Sunday is one Sunday a year dedicated to teaching your members about God’s heart for justice, exposing them to the injustice of modern day slavery and inviting them to partner with what God is already doing through the work of IJM. Everything about your Freedom Sunday – from your worship song selection, to your Scripture reading, to your sermon can be saturated with deep biblical truths on God’s heart for people who are oppressed — especially the people trapped in modern day slavery. In a day and age wherein Canadian culture cares deeply about justice, Freedom Sunday can help your church become synonymous with justice in your community.

Once your church picks a date and signs up for Freedom Sunday here, our IJM team will send you all the digital and physical resources you need – including a sermon guide, social media shareables, and prayer cards. If you’d like a speaker from IJM, just email us at churches@ijm.ca and we’d be honoured to send you one if available.

We can end slavery in our lifetime. But nothing will happen until the local and global church is fully awakened to this injustice. And all of that begins by teaching our people about biblical justice.

Let God’s justice flow like a river — from your church, to your city, to the nations.

 

Thank you Joash for the blog. You can learn more about FAIR’s partnership with IJM on FAIR’s website.