Am I a SJW?

Our ministry works to bring about respect, dignity, equality and justice for those who the world ignores or rejects, especially the disabled and elderly.  There have been times when I've been labeled as more of a Social Justice Warrior than a missionary, because our focus is on sharing the Good News of Jesus through our actions--to build a relationship with people before asking them to begin a relationship with our Jesus.  I have many reasons for this, which I believe are Biblically sound, but that's another post.

Living outside of the US, I have to admit I was unfamiliar with the term, and even had to look it up.  Wester's Dictionary defines a Social Justice Warrior (or SJW) as:  

Social justice warrior and SJW are typically used with sardonic [mocking, cynical] application, referring to a person who is seen as overly enthusiastic about issues of fairness in the treatment of matters of race, gender, or identity.

Though I am passionately concerned about economic equity and the dignity of all people, especially those with disabilities, my primary goal is to enable all people to know who Jesus truly is (not just as a religious icon), I don't think this term quite fits.  

While I am not involved in the struggle for the just treatment of the three groups named above, I see the just treatment of all people as a Biblical requirement not a social construct or a political position.  If I say each man is made in the Imago Dei, or the image of God, and I believe Jesus when He says, "Whenever you failed to do one of these things to someone who was being overlooked or ignored, that was me—you failed to do it to me." (Matt. 25:49.MSG) I am afraid to do otherwise.

Today I came across a devotion from the writings of Henri Nouwen which explains my heart better than I could:

It [Christian social action] is not an anxious human effort to create a better world. It is a confident expression of the truth that in Christ, death, evil, and destruction have been overcome. It is not a fearful attempt to restore a broken order. It is a joyful assertion that in Christ all order has already been restored. . . those acting within the house of God point through their action to the healing, restoring, redeeming, and re-creating presence of God.

I believe the view expressed by Henri is the basis of all Christian social action and the impetus for the human service activities of our ministry. It may lead us into the social and political sector, redeeming these under then authority of Jesus.  It takes us outside the walls of the conventional church,  In fact, sometimes it is the conventional church structure we must confront.

Has your disability or a family members disability

prevented you from attending church?

Wherever it takes us, it is our sincere attempt to make the Kingdom of God present and visible to all people.  May we be found faithful.     

An afterthought:

Why to those of us who claim to follow Christ feel the need to diminish the work of others who have a different approach to advancing the Kingdom of God? Have we forgotten that the same Spirit gives differing gifts according to our particular call?  We can do better.