An Introduction to
Social Justice
Steve and Charlie Davies
What does SOCIAL JUSTICE mean to you?
Insert: there is a very good video clip by the International
Labour Organization, which shows voxpops of famous people
explaining what Social Justice means to them – available on
Youtube and elsewhere
During the last thirty years there has been considerable disagreement amongst
Christians about the two responsibilities of ‘evangelism’ and ‘social action’ .
Often this disagreement has been drawn along the evangelical / liberal divide
with each side overreacting to the other’s position.
Evangelicals spiritualize the gospel and deny its social implications
Liberals politicize the gospel and deny its offer of salvation to sinners
This polarization has been a disaster!
NB If you want to use it, there is a very funny April Fools’ clip
made by the Sojourners – a Jim Wallis vs Glenn Beck debate,
dubbed over a well-known scene from Star Wars!
So what is the relationship between Evangelism and Social Action?
1. It’s a BOTH AND thing!
2. Evangelism is primary
‘The very fact of Christian social responsibility
responsible
Christians,
3.presupposes
Social activitysocially
is a consequence
of evangelism
and it can only be and
by evangelism
that they have become such.’
a bridge to evangelism
and
a partner
evangelism
- Manila Consultation
on the
Relationshipof
between
Evangelism and Social Action, 1982
4. The individual Christian should both witness and serve
5. And the local church should both witness and serve
Q. I
f we start calling everything mission, won’t that deflect missionaries
from their priority tasks of evangelising, discipling and church planting?
A. D
on’t deny that mission is broader than evangelism but rather insist that
each ‘missionary’ remain true to his or her particular calling.
The biblical basis for talking about a partnership between evangelism and social action
Part One
The Old Testament
I.
The Law
God’s people were to fear, love and serve him...
partly by worship and obedience,
‘walking in his ways’
and ‘obeying his commands’
↕
partly by philanthropy and justice –
following his example who ‘defends the cause
of the fatherless and the widow’.
↔
The biblical basis for talking about a partnership between evangelism and social action
Part One
The Old Testament
I.
The Law
II.
The Prophets
The prophets kept reminding people of the law and urging them to obey it.
They emphasized humility before God and justice and mercy to neighbour.
Micah 6:8
He has shown you, oh man…
Elijah
Two confrontations: 1 Kings 18 vs 1 Kings 21
Jeremiah & Ezekiel
Compare Jeremiah 19:4 with Ezekiel 22:3-4
The biblical basis for talking about a partnership between evangelism and social action
Part Two
The Ministry and Teaching of Jesus
↕ ↔
Jesus was a preacher; he announced
the coming of the kingdom of God.
He also demonstrated the kingdom of God
with works of compassion and power.
“He went about among the villages teaching” “He went about doing good and healing.”
(Mark 6:6) (Acts 10:38)
He told the story of the Prodigal Son.
He told the story of the Good Samaritan.
‘He was concerned not only with saving man from hell in the next world,
but with delivering him from the hellishness of this one.’
―Chuck Colson
The biblical basis for talking about a partnership between evangelism and social action
Part Three
Incarnational Ministry
‘For the gospel to be communicated, the word must
become flesh. We cannot announce God’s love
with credibility unless we also exhibit it in action.
So we cannot stand aloof from those to whom we
speak the gospel, or ignore their situation, their
context. We have to enter into their social reality
and share in their sufferings and their struggles.
At that point, our actions become preaching.’
―John Stott
Christian Objections to Social Justice
How would you answer the following objections?
1. Christians should stay out of politics
2. You’re just going back to the old ‘social gospel’
3. You are promoting dangerous ‘liberation theology’
4. You can’t expect social change unless people are first converted
5. Social action will distract us from evangelism
Learning from History
social justice pioneers
The Clapham Sect
a group of friends making a difference
“They were a network of friends and families in England, with William Wilberforce as its centre
of gravity, who were powerfully bound together by their shared moral and spiritual values,
by their Christian mission and social activism, by their love for each other, and by marriage”
―Stephen Tomkins, historian
The Clapham Sect
a group of friends making a difference
“William Wilberforce had a network of friends who used to meet at Henry Thornton’s
house in Battersea Rise, Clapham. It was the start of one of the most extraordinary and
influential coalitions British society had ever seen. Their discussions ultimately led to
one of the greatest varieties and volumes of charitable activity ever launched by any
group of people in any age.”
―William Hague
The Clapham Sect
a group of friends making a difference
Between 1792 and 1804 the Clapham sect
They founded
















the Society for 
Religious
Instructions
the West
promoted
charityto
schools
in Indies
Ireland
the London Missionary
Society
 founded
an asylum for deaf and mute children of the poor
the Society for Bettering the Condition and Increasing the Comforts of the Poor
 started soup kitchens in London
the Church Missionary Society
 launched education initiatives in Africa
the Religious Tract Society
createdthe
a refuge
forInstruction
orphan girls
the Society for 
Promoting
Religious
of Youth
prisons
and released
those in debt
the Society for 
thewent
Reliefinto
of the
Industrious
Poor
 campaigned
forthe
better
working
conditions
in factories
the British National
Endeavour for
Orphans
of Soldiers
and Sailors
the Naval Society
the Support
of the
and Children of British Sailors and Marines
 for
sponsored
small
poxOrphans
vaccinations
the Institution 
forestablished
the Protection
of Young
Girls
lending
libraries
the Society for 
theSent
Suppression
of Vice
Christian
missionaries to India
the Sunday School Union
the Society for Superseding the Necessity for Climbing-Boys in Cleansing Chimneys
the British and Foreign Bible Society
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
Friendly Female Society for the Relief of Poor, Infirm and Aged Widows
and Single Women of Good Character Who Have Seen Better Days
The Clapham Sect
a group of friends making a difference
But that wasn’t their main work.
The Clapham Sect
a group of friends making a difference
Their main work was inspired by two men, Thomas Clarkson
and Olaudah Equiano, who visited William Wilberforce at home,
bringing with them a very large bag...
The Clapham Sect
a group of friends making a difference
Insert here: clip from Amazing Grace of Equiano and Clarkson confronting
Wilberforce with the truth about slavery, and demonstrating the use of shackles
at the dinner table.
The Salvation Army
soup, soap and salvation
William Booth (1829 – 1912) was surrounded by poverty, unemployment,
homelessness, hunger, exploited labour, drunkenness, disease, slums and prostitution.
‘The blood boils with impotent rage at the sight of these enormities,’ he wrote in his book
In Darkest England. ‘What is the use of preaching the gospel to people whose whole
attention is concentrated upon a mad, desperate struggle to keep themselves alive?
In providing for the relief of temporary misery, I reckon that I am making it possible for
men and women to find their way to the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.’
Martin Luther King
A ‘drum major’ for justice, peace and righteousness
• Montgomery, Alabama, 1955
Rosa Parks refused to surrender her seat to a
white passenger and was arrested.
• Civil rights leaders decided to contest racial
segregation on the public buses.
• They chose a young Baptist pastor called
Martin Luther King as their leader.
• He was a skilful orator who inspired
non-violent resistance according to the
teaching of Jesus and the example of Ghandi.
Martin Luther King
A ‘drum major’ for justice, peace and righteousness
Like most people, I had heard of Gandhi, but I had never studied him
seriously. As I read I became deeply fascinated by his campaigns of
nonviolent resistance. I was particularly moved by his Salt March to
the Sea and his numerous fasts. The whole concept of Satyagraha
(Satya is truth which equals love, and agraha is force; Satyagraha,
therefore, means truth force or love force) was profoundly significant
to me. As I delved deeper into the philosophy of Gandhi, my scepticism
concerning the power of love gradually diminished, and I came to see
for the first time its potency in the area of social reform. ... It was in
this Gandhian emphasis on love and nonviolence that I discovered the
method for social reform that I had been seeking.
―Martin Luther King
The Emotions of God
‘There is a painful relationship between our world and the
God who embraces it. Through the ancient prophet Hosea,
God says: “My mind is turning over inside me. My
emotions are agitated altogether” (11:8, Anchor Bible).
Israel is found to be unfaithful. But God refuses to give her
up. The world is unfaithful. But God refuses to give it up.
God is caught in a dilemma. God is in distress, a distress
sharpened by love.’
―Kosuke Koyama, Japanese missiologist
The Emotions of Jesus
John 11:33-37
New King James Version (NKJV)
33
Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping,
He groaned
_______ in the spirit and was troubled. 34 And He said, “Where have you laid him?”
ἐνεβριμήσατο – eberimesato – expressive of violent displeasure,
derived from a word meaning ‘to snort like a horse’
They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.”
35
37
Jesus wept.
____ 36 Then the Jews said, “See how He loved him!”
ἐδάκρυσεν – edakrusen – he wept quietly
And some of them said, “Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind,
also have kept this man from dying?”
The Emotions of God’s people
What makes you snort like a horse?
Break my heart for what breaks Yours
Everything I am for Your Kingdom's cause
―Hillsongs
“Calcuttas are everywhere if only we have eyes to see. Find your Calcutta.”
―Mother Theresa
The End