Tag: Social justice

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Christian Social Justice: Life-Changing Medical Debt Relief

Debt will tear us apart graffiti

Welcome to the fourth and final installment of my Christian Social Justice series! In case you’ve missed it, we’ve been exploring how churches can reform their mission work to meet the spiritual needs Millennials bring to the table.

In the past two weeks, we’ve looked at relevant, personal, and tangible approaches to natural disaster ministry and immigration justice. Today, we’re tackling medical debt relief in churches.

Person drowning under water
Photo by Ian Espinosa on Unsplash

Medical debt relief is not your grandmother’s church mission work. Debt in general is not a new problem. But in the last few decades, and especially in the last few years, it has been cropping up in new and more pernicious ways.

More and more, the news carries stories of debt-ridden Americans crippled by financial strain. And no generation more so than Millennials. What happened? And how is debt relief–specifically, medical debt relief–a social justice problem that churches can remedy?

How Did We Get Here?

Millennial needing medical debt relief

A few things have taken place. First of all, student loan costs have ballooned. The price of college, adjusted for inflation, has grown 161% since 1987. Meanwhile, salaries have stagnated. As a result, there’s no longer such a thing as being able to fully work yourself through college.

Second, housing prices are on the rise. Especially for young people.

Take Marin County. When my parents married and bought their first house in the early 1990s, real estate was only slightly more expensive here than the national average. Now, over the last thirty years, their house has skyrocketed in value, far outpacing the rest of the country.

Housing debt crisis
Photo by Alexander Andrews on Unsplash

For my friends and me, the story will be very different. We grew up here, formed communities and attachments here. Many of us can’t imagine raising our kids anywhere else.

But real estate here is now shockingly expensive. The salary needed to buy the median-priced home is over $230,000 a year. And let me tell you, none of us are making that much.

Which means, after grad school, we’ll be lucky if we can afford to rent a studio apartment in the town where we grew up. And if we do rent that apartment, and pay for the groceries and gas prices that come along with the area, we’ll have very little money left over for anything else.

That’s not unique to the San Francisco Bay Area–it’s happening all over. As a result, even middle-class Millennials aren’t even trying to invest in a house–it’s simply too expensive. So we tend to spend our money on other things. Things that don’t build equity. And thus we often accrue further debt.

The Worst Kind of Debt

Ambulance
Photo by Mark Boss on Unsplash

But there’s one more type of skyrocketing debt that hits the hardest—medical debt.

I have some personal experience with this. I was sick for about eighteen months in 2018 and 2019, at times needing constant care. I took two ambulance rides that weren’t really optional. Saw specialist after specialist. Wasn’t able to work. And on and on.

I was incredibly lucky. I had a family that could support me. I also had excellent insurance, which accepted my claims for everything. I didn’t have extended hospital stays, surgeries, or any of the most expensive kinds of medical needs. I got very, very lucky.

Medical debt relief in a hospital
Photo by Martha Dominguez de Gouveia on Unsplash

A few months later, the bills have started to come in. It’s been a tender time—I’m still recovering emotionally and physically. The stress of keeping on top of the bills and making endless calls to the health insurance company is exhausting.

And I’m lucky. We won’t go into debt.

I can’t even begin to imagine what it would be like for a healthy person—much less a sick or recovering one—to go through this process with the added strain of debt. Especially if that person is elderly. Or doesn’t have a support system.

I know that if I was in debt on top of everything else, it would absolutely hinder my recovery.

I’m one of the privileged ones. John Oliver did a piece in 2015 about medical debt and the people it affects. At the beginning, he points out that people go into this kind of debt “through no fault of their own.” This isn’t reckless spending. It’s spending to live.

Medical Debt Relief

Okay, so medical debt is a huge problem. But how can you actually help? And, more to the point, what does this have to do with church mission work?

What if I told you that churches could make a substantial dent? If I told you that, even with a limited budget, you could cheaply relieve hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars medical debt for hundreds or thousands of people in your community?

(Bear with me for a couple paragraphs of the nitty-gritty.)

Turns out, most debt is for sale. If you owe BlueShield $4,000, they can sell that debt to someone else. Usually, BlueShield would sell it to a debt buyer for a tiny fraction, like $50. Then, that debt buyer can try to collect on the full $4,000.

Medical debt relief in cash
Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash

If the debt buyer is unsuccessful in their collection, they may sell to another buyer for an even smaller amount, like $5. That buyer can then call you up and try to collect on the full price. And on and on. And eventually, that $4,000 is on sale for pennies.

The thing is, if you buy up that debt, you’re not legally obligated to collect it. It’s all yours. If you choose, you can forgive it. Voilà. Medical debt relief made cheap.

That’s the premise behind RIP Medical Debt, an organization founded by former collectors to promote medical debt relief. Through their organization, you can cheaply buy people’s medical debt and forgive it. (If you want to know more, you can click here to find out the details of how their charity operates).

And that’s what some churches are now deciding to do. In Chicago, a church worked with RIP to buy $5 million in medical debt relief for nearly 6,000 families in Chicago’s South Side. 

The cost to the church? $38,000. Some of which they raised and some of which they donated themselves.

This is a spectacular opportunity for churches, especially ones with low operating budgets. It can be frustrating to see wealthy churches rolling out large-scale mission programs that reach tons of people when you can’t afford to make that same kind of community impact.

Here’s your chance. Reach out to RIP Medical Debt and ask them to work with you. In addition to allocating some of your own funds, you can raise some money. Knock on some doors and become known as the congregation raising money for medical debt relief that will reach some of the poorest families in your town.

A dollar bill describes medical debt relief
Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash

In addition to being a wonderful opportunity to affect change, it’s a great way to redefine yourself as relevant in the community. Millennials care about debt, and with rising student loans, GenZ likely will, too. It’s an issue that hugely affects their lives, and it’s something we don’t want to affect others’. It’s timely and hugely tangible in terms of impact.

And, perhaps most importantly, it shows that you can accurately understand and address the needs of our time and culture.

I hope you enjoyed my Christian social justice series. Leave a comment below and tell me what you think—and how your own congregation is pioneering justice for the 21st century.

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Christian Social Justice: 5 Essential Steps to Church Immigration Work

Welcome back to Week 3 of the Christian Social Justice series! In case you missed it, we’ve been talking about how churches can create social justice programs that connect with Millennials–and create the biggest possible impact at the same time.

Last week, I went over how churches can respond to the increasing speight of natural disasters across the country. This week, with the DACA Supreme Court case in the news, I’m taking the opportunity to discuss church immigration work.

Border for immigrant at Tijuana
Image by Luis Ramírez from Pixabay 

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few months, you’ve been inundated with headlines about waves of Latin American immigrants and the U.S.’s various policies toward them. And that’s probably been stirring up a lot of feelings, wherever you are on the political spectrum.

If you hold any kind of leadership role in your church, you might be trying to figure out an appropriate way to respond on a congregational level. Easier said than done. It’s hard to take a crisis out of the headlines and create an effective and compassionate response in your congregation. 

Lots of pastors respond with activism, online and in the streets. On Twitter, I’ve seen posts from lots of white pastors reminding us of the Gospel verse, “I was a stranger and you welcomed me.” On my Facebook feed, I’ve seen pictures of clergy marching alongside DACA recipients outside the Supreme Court.

Church immigration work at a protest

None of this is bad, in and of itself.

But the fact remains that most mainline Protestant churches are painfully white, even in border states and cities with huge immigrant populations of color. Why? Because we often confuse activism–online and in the streets–for genuine welcome. 

I want to be clear: Twitter rants and marches have their place. Activism and protest are necessary parts of social justice. But righteous anger is not the same thing as actually welcoming the marginalized.

Mother and daughter

We’ve got a long way to go before we can claim that we are fully following Jesus’ call to include and connect with the foreigners in our land.

Why did Jesus ask us to look out for immigrants in the first place?

Perhaps it’s the sheer number of needs their vulnerability brings. Immigrants, especially poorer ones, need physical safety, nourishment, and shelter.

But they also, like the rest of us, long for community and connection, which is often in short supply after leaving home under duress. And those needs may be magnified by the traumatic experiences that sometimes take place on their journeys.

There are so many angles to caring for the stranger. So many opportunities to enact welcome.

So, in light of the depth and breadth of needs among our siblings, here are five steps to creating an effective, conscientious model for your church immigration work.

(If you don’t live in an area with many immigrants, you can expand this guide to connect with any underserved group in your community.)

1. Determine what group of immigrants needs to be welcomed.

There is no unified “immigrant community” in the United States. So what do the immigrant populations in your community look like?

Globe of the world

Are they predominantly from one region, country, culture, or ethnicity? Are they mostly documented or undocumented? What languages do they speak? Is it mostly single men or families with children? 

There may be more than one population you’d like to serve. For instance, if you live in Southern California, there may be busloads of Central American immigrants passing through. At the same time, you may also live in a community of Mexican day laborers who have been settled for years.

Each community will bring a specific set of needs.

2.  Ask immigrants in your congregation to participate in church immigration work.

Church immigration work with teenagers
Photo by tribesh kayastha on Unsplash

If you already have immigrants in your congregation, make sure to ask them for their thoughts and ideas. 

They may already be painfully conscious of being some of the only people from their ethnic or cultural group in the congregation. So make sure to be discreet about asking. Don’t assume or pressure them into giving you advice. Definitely, don’t put them on the spot.

But offer the opportunity to be involved in immigration ministry both inside and outside the church walls. They may also be able to connect you to community leaders, who already have their finger on the pulse of the needs of the population you’re serving.

3. Ask community leaders how you can be of service to them.

Swearing-in ceremony

The biggest potential pitfall of church immigration work is the white savior complex. The white savior complex is when white communities view themselves as heroes helping “less fortunate” people of color.

The best way to avoid the white savior complex is by coming alongside existing leaders in the immigrant community, rather than creating and leading new projects.

Find immigrant communities’ churches and talk to their pastors. Go to the offices of immigration lawyers in the area. Check in with the leaders of charities. Go to community meetings and call representatives.

Ask each of them: what does this community need? What role can we play in helping you meet their needs?

4.  Think about ALL kinds of needs—physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual.

Church immigration work with elders
Photo by Ban Yido on Unsplash

Most churches begin (and sometimes end) church immigration work by addressing physical needs, like food, jobs, and housing.

But only offering physical help without forming an emotional and spiritual connection puts up a barrier between helpers and recipients. (Not to mention, it implies that immigrants need physical help but aren’t worthy of real relationship. See white savior complex above.) 

So, in addition to physical needs, think about how to create a welcoming environment that goes beyond physical support.

Maybe the church can connect immigrants with a therapist who can see them for a subsidized rate. Perhaps you can pair up English and Spanish speakers for two-way language lessons.

Church immigration work in Bible study

Maybe your church can host a potluck. Or pair up Spanish and English-speaking families for a dinner once a month. Encourage parents with children to share babysitting duties or swap playdates.

If you’re feeling really bold, think about ways that the church service could shift.

How could your liturgy better accommodate a multi-racial, multi-cultural congregation? Could you invite someone to do the sermon in Spanish once a month, with translation on a screen? Or learn to say the Eucharistic Liturgy in another language?

What about staffing Sunday Schools and youth groups with bilingual volunteers?

5. Ask the community how you can be of service to them.

Church immigration work holding hands

After you’ve talked to community leaders, it’s time to reach out to the community itself. Find some volunteers who are fluent in the language of the immigrant group and set up shop at community events. 

Hopefully, you’ve already created a bond with community leaders. See if they’ll invite you to set up a booth at community meetings, church fellowship halls, or local food banks. 

Make it clear that this is about including and welcoming them—not about trying to boost your attendance numbers or intrude in their space. Remember that you are their guests in their community, not swooping in to save the day.

Statue of liberty

In the end, if you hold any kind of leadership role in your church, you know it’s hard to address justice issues in a timely manner. Truly living out Jesus’ commandment is difficult. It’s a lot harder than Facebook activism or “helping” a community without creating real relationships. 

But the work is worthwhile. Millennials and minorities are calling churches to pioneer effective, personal church immigration work. This is one way you can make a sizeable, relevant, and personal impact in your community. It’s the kind of social justice many Millennials are craving.

Come back next week for my final installment in the Christian Social Justice series on debt relief.

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Christian Social Justice: The Church Response to Natural Disasters

Church response to natural disaster via fire

Welcome to my Christian Social Justice series! In case you missed it: last week, we found out that Millennials are tired of intangible, remote approaches to social justice. Facebook activism and donation-heavy programs simply aren’t cutting it. But how can churches work for justice in a way young adults can understand, connect with, and want to join?

For the rest of the series, I’m going to be discussing examples of effective, tangible, and often personal approaches to social justice issues like immigration and poverty. This week, we’re tackling the Church response to natural disasters.

I’m writing this from a cold parking lot early in the morning, hunched over a dying laptop and a non-functional phone. A hundred of my neighbors and I are eagerly parked around the entrance of our local grocery store, waiting for one precious commodity—ice. Meanwhile, my other family members are at home. They’re filtering water, buying candles, waiting in gas lines, and charging solar-powered batteries.

Sound like a trip back to the Dark Ages? Nope. Just a five-day power outage. Which, in Northern California, is apparently our new reality.

I’m not too upset, honestly. It could be a lot worse. Two families we know personally were evacuated. One nearly lost their house. Thousands of firefighters are spending days breathing in smoke on very little sleep. So, as frustrated and uncomfortable as I am, I know I’m pretty lucky.

Church response to natural disaster via tornado

And I’m definitely not alone. Wherever you live in the United States, natural disasters have been on the rise. Some places have been beset by frequent tornadoes or monster hurricanes. Others have had several once-in-five-hundred-year floods just a few years apart. Or maybe you’re caught up in blizzards with unnatural ferocity.

Science has connected many of these extreme events to climate change. Which, incidentally, is a cause that Millennials care about in record numbers. Even the conservative ones among us. Creating a church response to natural disasters demonstrates that you are taking actionable steps to acknowledge and mitigate the effects of the climate crisis.

(And even if you don’t believe in climate change, hopefully, we can just agree that it’s important to help the victims of natural disasters.)

Past experiences have proven that extreme weather events disproportionately affect the least of these. Sometimes, it’s those who can’t afford to pay for rebuilding costs. Other times, it’s the elderly and disabled, who rely on power and heat to stay alive.

Church response to natural disasters

This means that creating a Church response to natural disasters is no less than a social justice opportunity.

So how do we respond? And how do churches with only a few people on staff provide havens to their communities in times of trouble?

First, a disclaimer:  The point of this article is to get your creative juices flowing and help facilitate a vision. This post is not meant to contradict or replace the advice of emergency services professionals. Any idea discussed here should be thoroughly vetted in conjunction with the laws of your city and state and with emergency services experts in your area. And, obviously, certain ideas are more appropriate for smaller churches, while others are feasible only at big ones.

We’ll begin with four different areas to consider when developing your church response to natural disasters. Afterward, we’ll consider how to prepare for your chosen ministry.

1. Church Response to Natural Disasters:  Social Media

First off, here’s an opportunity to use social media in the most helpful possible way:  turn your feeds into a consolidated source of information. 

During our blackout, we received confusing and often conflicting updates from our Sheriff’s Office, City Hall, City Police, and local utility. Each of these agencies also had text and social media alerts. Then there were the rumor mills by word of mouth, NextDoor, and Facebook. It was a veritable swamp of unreliable information.

You can combat this phenomenon by creating one volunteer as a point person. They can spend their time monitoring the information coming from websites and texts and then consolidate it into coordinated Facebook and Twitter feeds. Trust me, people will be grateful.

2.  Church Response to Natural Disasters:  Maximizing Your Space

Here’s the biggest resource you have to offer:  your building. Most church complexes include a sanctuary, fellowship hall, kitchen, Sunday school/classroom wing, church office, and perhaps a smaller chapel. This is a lot of space. Use it well.

Church response to natural disasters through food

To begin with, the Red Cross offers comprehensive disaster training courses, including one on how to run a shelter, if you want to do that. In the meantime, think through your spaces and how they can become useful.

The most obvious one is the kitchen. Make a cache of food and cooking supplies available so that you can cook for the hungry in the event of earthquake. Buy several industrial freezers filled with ice so you can hand it out and make more if others can’t. Think through how you will cook without gas or power.

Then, there’s the sanctuary. If you anticipate numerous people will be out of their homes, you can turn the sanctuary into a dormitory. Buy sleeping bags, futons, and blankets to put on the pews. String up curtains so people can have some privacy.

You can use classroom space to put up families with babies, disabled people or others who need their own space. If you anticipate people will be there for a long time, you can even have some washers and dryers ready to go.

People charging their phones

Maybe people have access to their homes, but the power is out. Turn your chapel or fellowship hall into a day lounge/work area. Buy up power strips and a generator. Make sure you’ve updated your electrical system to accommodate lights, heating, wifi and charging needs. You can even set up TVs or games for kids.

Or perhaps you anticipate that people will need information. Repurpose your church offices into information booths. If people from other parts of the country are concerned about the welfare of their elderly or disabled relatives, you can funnel their concerns to the police department. Or, you can call the loved ones of people who have made it safely to your shelter.

Both before and during natural disasters, you can establish yourself on social media as a rendezvous point for separated families. In case of the loss of cell phone signal and wifi, connect good old fashioned landlines so that people can check in with their loved ones.

Church complexes, for better or worse, are often equipped with lots of space that they don’t use anymore. Here is your chance to use it for good!

3. Church Response to Natural Disasters: Pastoral Care

Pastor with a congregant

Here is where you can provide a unique service. The emotional toll of a natural disaster is often as bad as, or worse than, the physical one. Make sure your pastoral staff arrives soon after an emergency happens. Invite other pastors, too. Wear a collar or stole so you’re easily visible.

If you’ve only got a small number of people in your building, wander around and offer support. If you’ve got larger numbers, you can section off the church office or other rooms to create a designated space. Online, you can post prayers, collects, and Bible verses.

Alternatively, it’s never a bad time to offer worship. Set aside a room or a corner for the Eucharist and other sacraments, a healing service, or compline for overnight guests. Nothing needs to be fancy or liturgically correct. It just needs to happen. 

Maybe you’re too emotionally exhausted. That’s okay. Reach out to your denomination’s disaster assistance program. Most likely, they will send chaplains to take care of you and the people you’re hosting.

Woman doing yoga

Allow your guests to provide pastoral care to each other, too. If your religious group prays the rosary, meditates, or uses other lay-led prayer practices, find someone willing to lead. If your music staff is around, they can lead those who wish in hymns, secular music, or sing-alongs for children. Even if your music staff isn’t around, chances are, someone will know how to play.

One note:  make sure that none of these are forced. Set up areas for these activities in such a way that everyone knows it’s happening, but people are not forced to participate. Otherwise, it may feel like you’re taking advantage of a disaster to evangelize.

This area is your opportunity to shine, to be a unique resource to your city. Go all-out.

4. Church Response to Natural Disasters: The Least of These

Kids playing

Finally, as you consider which services to provide, think about who will be the least of these in your community’s next disaster. For us this week, it was disabled people, who relied on power for medical devices or heat.

Think about what you can do for those most vulnerable groups. Create a list of your congregants who will need home visit check-ins, or who will need to be driven to the church shelter. Create a go-fund me page for low-income members of your community so that other congregations around the country can contribute.

Make sure the homeless know they can come to your church in case of extreme temperatures or rain. Think about how to support and entertain kids (their parents will probably be pretty grateful as well). Overall, just think ahead about how you can help those who will need it most.

Okay, feeling overwhelmed yet? Deep breath. That was a lot. Again, you definitely do not need to provide all of these services. Just talk to your staff and lay leaders to create the most feasible vision for your church response to natural disasters. Once you’ve got an idea of where you’re going, it’s time to think about getting prepared.

5. Before Disaster Hits: Get yourself prepared.

Put your own oxygen mask on first, people. You can’t help those in your community if your church building is barely functional itself. This often means thinking ahead, months before your “season” of bad weather starts.

The day before the power outage, as we just started to grasp the reality of what was coming, my family and I started to scramble for generators, ice, and other resources.

Too late. Everything was sold out—or behind huge, time-consuming lines. Don’t be like us.

Once you’ve figured out what you’ll need in a disaster, it’s time to get prepared with research and classes. In addition to the Red Cross, check out denominational resources for disaster preparedness and relief. Episcopal Relief & Development has a comprehensive guide on church preparedness here. As another example, United Methodist Insurance made a handy little book, which you can download for free.

If you’re near a disaster zone, visit government shelters or power stations and see what they’re doing. Send your volunteers to help out and get trained while they’re at it.

You can also try to reach out to the local Office of Emergency Services or other government agencies.

Then, bring a vision back to your congregation for your church response to natural disasters. This will often involve raising some money. Maybe you need to buy an industrial generator or re-do the insulation so that you’ll be more resilient against extreme temperatures. Perhaps you need to upgrade your electrical system. You may even need a large-scale remodel to make seismic upgrades.

6. Before Disaster Hits: Get others prepared.

Text alert system

Okay, so your church is weather-proofed. Now you’re ready to think about helping others. This is one way that social media, texting, and the Internet can come in.

Connect as many of your congregants as possible to emergency text alert systems, which will let them know that an emergency has occurred and that you need volunteers. Spend time training.

Shortly before your “season” starts, use social media to broadcast your plan. Share your address and the services you will provide. Forward this information to government officials.

You can use more traditional techniques also—staff a booth at your local farmer’s market. Put up flyers downtown. Go to community meetings.

In the days before an imminent weather event, re-hash your publicity campaign all over again. If you’ve got an especially wonderful group of volunteers, you can even try knocking on some doors.

Creating a church response to natural disasters is a huge undertaking. Heck, the people in charge of the government response to natural disasters are often overwhelmed. It’s not something most churches are doing on a large scale yet, except a few megachurches. But it’s what’s needed. Maybe you only do one thing mentioned above. Maybe you join forces with another church.

Or maybe you don’t do any of these services, but instead encourage congregants to volunteer in other shelters. But in the age of climate disasters, you have a huge opportunity to do something.

And, if you do, this is a chance to enlist Millennial participation. As I said, we’re pretty cognizant of climate change, and we care about its effects a lot. When disaster strikes, churches have the opportunity to serve in very clear, tangible, and relevant ways. Which is exactly what Millennials are craving.

Millennials working

As you work to envision your church response to natural disasters, you can use social media, NextDoor, and other platforms to ask Millennials to sign up to volunteer. You can even hire a few young adults to manage the online part of preparation and implementation.

Just don’t squander this opportunity to make young people central in your social justice outreach. And don’t squander the opportunity for social justice itself.

Come back next week for Week 3 in my Christian Social Justice series–we’re tackling immigration justice!

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Christian Social Justice for a New Generation

A few months ago, when immigration was particularly prevalent in the news, I went out to dinner with some friends. Everything was going great–until the topic of immigration came up. With a forkful of spaghetti halfway to my mouth, I suddenly realized my friend staring at me. Actually, glaring.

”I have a bone to pick with the Christians,” he said. “Why aren’t churches saying anything about immigration? Why aren’t they doing anything?”

Christian social justice at a rally

As the Designated Christian at the table, I was floored. I’d spent most of the day on Twitter and Facebook, looking for a Christian social justice perspective on current events. My feed had been nothing but livid Christians, hurling Bible verses and theological insults from opposite sides of the issue. My ears were practically ringing with Christian Twitter’s upheaval. 

Yet my friend (like most other people in the Bay Area) hadn’t seen any of that in his social media feeds. And, as he looked around at the undocumented community around us, he couldn’t see Christians making an impact there, either. As a result, he thought me and my religion clueless, unfeeling, lazy, and/or cowardly. Christian social justice, to him, was an oxymoron.

Obviously, I disagree with his assessment. The churches and pastors I know in California are incredibly passionate about justice work, especially on issues of immigration. I can name countless examples of Christians sharing their beliefs on Facebook or churches sponsoring fundraising drives for important organizations. 

Christian social justice at a march

The problem is, we’re not creating justice in a way Millennials can see, understand, or connect with. Especially the secular ones.

And that’s our problem.

Christian Social Justice Online

Facebook activism is a relatively recent trend. You know what I’m talking about. Maybe you post an article about the latest injustice with a witty caption. Or perhaps your differently-minded friend shared an article on their feed, and you take to the comments for a rebuttal.

Usually, it happens on Facebook, but it can take place on other social media platforms as well. All you need is a comments section, really. This type of activism isn’t part of a church’s organized ministry. Instead, it’s often undertaken by the pastor or congregants as a personal crusade. 

The problem is, it simply isn’t very efficient. 

Twitter feed

That’s for two reasons. First, Facebook and Twitter use algorithms to ensure that we see the content we want to see. If I’m liberal and Christian, I’m going to see your Facebook post on what Jesus would think about climate change. If I’m conservative and/or secular, I won’t. 

Which means Facebook activists are preaching to the choir. They aren’t reaching the secular people in their communities. And that’s why my friend at dinner had no idea about the Christian firestorm that had been all over my feeds.

But even if you do reach someone who disagrees with you, Facebook activism relies on changing minds one at a time. And, usually, those minds don’t want to be changed. 

That’s why most people in my generation don’t do much Facebook activism; in fact, many of us aren’t really on Facebook altogether. We know that diving into the comments section will probably just result in a virtual war no one will win.

But isn’t social media a huge part of Millennial activism? Yes, it is! Think Black Lives Matter and #MeToo. We just do it differently.

Christian social justice on Twitter

For us, it needs to come with tangible, sizable results, like laws being changed or a company reversing a policy. That’s why we like hashtags. They collect groups of people together to generate huge momentum. 

Later on in this series on Christian social justice, we’ll explore ways that social media can aid effective activism. You’ll learn how to add your church’s work to sweeping movements, so that you can help effect large-scale changes. For now, just pause the next time you think about investing your energy into one-on-one social media debates.

Donating time, not money

For much of the late twentieth century, with the dawn of credit cards and the Internet, donations were all the rage. People loved to give money to a cause—it was just such an easy way to affect change.

In response, churches implemented a donation-heavy approach to Christian social justice. Congregants were often asked to donate to specific projects, programs, or charities. Much of that money was passed on to other charitable organizations in the community or denomination.

The problem is, that’s not how Millennials like to change the world. For one thing, we don’t have very much money to give away. For another, we simply like to be more hands-on. 

Christian social justice at a meeting

Social justice for many Millennials is a lifestyle, having to do with the brands we purchase, the food we eat, and the way we spend our spare time. And just like we want tangible results from our social media activism, we want to see the changes we’re creating in our communities, too.

That’s why we like to get personally and often extensively involved with projects that have an obvious impact on our communities. And we like to attack it on multiple fronts, not just through occasional volunteering.

But why should we change?

Okay, so Millennials can’t connect with Christian social justice as it’s practiced right now. Why should you care? Your church has probably been working on crucial projects for many years, perhaps with much success. Is there really a need to change things up?

Yes, there is.

First of all, this is a crucial area to tackle if you want to see young people in your pews. My data shows Millennials searching for churches where they can practice their passion for social justice. For people like my friend at dinner, it is the litmus test for whether or not a church is worth existing. And evidence shows that GenZ is growing up with the same kinds of values.

So, Millennials need to know what you’re doing. They need to connect with it. And they need to feel compelled to join in.

Christian social justice between generations

But also, just maybe, a new generation could bring surprising insights. Many problems, like poverty, are timeless. But our postmodern era brings new justice issues, too–climate change, for instance. Millennials spent their 20s learning these issues and constructing frameworks for pushing the needle. Maybe it’s worth giving them a shot.

So what do we do next?

First of all, Christian social justice programs need to become central to your church. Not just something mentioned in the announcements or before the offering. Not buried in the bulletin. And definitely not just for a core group of your most committed members. Justice, in whatever area(s) you choose to focus on, needs to become a key part of your congregation’s identity.

With that in mind, this series will focus on practical ideas for giving Christian social justice programs a makeover. We’ll explore ways to make tangible, sizable differences in your community. We’ll discuss how to bring Millennials on board. And we’ll think about how these new ideas can link to your congregation’s past experience. Stay tuned for next week’s installment:  how to help your community when disaster strikes.