Recently someone asked me why we are leading a ‘justice DTS’ with YWAM and not an ‘evangelizing’ DTS. I was bothered by this question, but as I wrote back to my friend who asked, I was grateful for the opportunity to share what we do with YWAM and Steps of Justice. I thought it appropriate to share my response here so that you know as well.

People in the world are dying because they don’t have clean water (1 billion people), they don’t have food ( 25,000 a day), they are getting stung by mosquitos and get malaria (1 million die each year), they are in absolute grinding poverty and can’t survive under it (3 billion living on less than $2 a day) and millions don’t know the name of Jesus and are going to hell because they have never called upon his name. Jesus cares deeply about these issues. In Micah 6:8 God says that what is good and what is required of us is to Do Justice, Love Mercy and Walk Humbly before God. This is what a justice focus is. We care about the people Jesus cares about.

We do not only care about their physical needs, but their spiritual as well. I am a follower of Jesus and a missionary. I want people to come to a saving faith in Jesus Christ. I don’t want to see anyone going to Heaven hungry, but I also don’t want people going to hell with full bellies. I don’t help people with the condition that they follow Jesus (although I will pray they will choose him one day) but like Jesus’ example, I help people regardless.  I do present the good news of Jesus and the Bible to them, that he loves them, died for them to set them free and wants them not only to go to Heaven, but to have life here on earth as well.  The very reason we do justice is because it is on the heart of Jesus.

Here is how the DTS looks, not only the one I am running, but all of them.:

1. The motto is “to know God and to make Him known”.

2. We do this through teaching (lecture phase) on evangelism, mission, bible study, relationships, spiritual warfare, discipleship, world view, culture and more.

3. As part of the “Justice focus”, we have specific times of prayer and intercession focussed on global issues and statistics.  We have specific days to focus on issues (ex. lack of clean water- to remember this, we will challenge our group to ration their water usage and walk to one central location for all their drinking water for the day, forego showers or any extra water usage, etc.  We do this so we can understand what it may be like for the people we are praying for.

4. We grow as individuals and as a community of believers following Jesus together (one on one discipleship, small groups, etc).

5. We do local outreach (feeding the homeless and preaching message of Jesus through our words and actions) and an international outreach. Both of these are to show the love of Jesus through words and actions.

I hope this shows a bit more of our hearts and why we do the things we do.

I just finished reading Mae Cannon’s Just Spirituality- How Faith Practices Fuel Social Action. The book tells stories of such doers of justice like Mother Teresa, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Watchman Nee, Martin Luther King Jr. and more. I was excited as soon as I saw the cover of this book, as it tells stories of those who changed the world with love, conviction and non-violence. The other reason I was excited about the book was because of the author, Mae Cannon. Mae put out the Social Justice Handbook in 2009 and it has proved to be a great resource in my library.

I have read about many of the people Mae wrote about in her book, but to read about these men and women and their taking a stand agains injustice through non-violent ways in the name of Jesus was refreshing. This book was not only informative and inspiring, but it also challenged me to continue fighting for the things that I have deep convictions about, specifically in areas of injustice.

3 years ago I helped start a non-profit called Steps of Justice. The reason we started Steps was because we were sick of people getting all fired up about injustice and then doing nothing about it because they didn’t know what to do, or it was just to hard and inconvenient to do anything. So, we found ourselves being romanced by the idea of ‘doing justice’ but inconvenienced by the actual action it took to bring change to unjust situations like extreme global poverty, gender injustice, racial prejudice, slavery and more.

Reading Mae’s book brought me back to that place where I was when we started Steps of Justice. That place of inspiration that lead to action. That place of wanting to bring change and make a difference. Reading about these hero’s of the faith who stood up for their convictions brought on through their relationship with Christ moved and changed me to change the world. I pray that I will be someone worth writing a book about. That my life will be counted among the greats who heard God’s call and obeyed.

Today I was sitting in a meeting with my friend Morgan when all of a sudden and seemingly out of no where they were taking up an offering for the students still owing money on their tuition. At the YWAM campus I am a part of they are always taking up offerings, like at least once a week. When they announced the offering I decided in my mind, and possibly out loud that I wasn’t going to give this time. I mean, I gave last week, and we just gave to our good friend from another school and we tithe regularly, bla, bla, bla, bla, bla, bla. So, I guess what I am saying is that I wasn’t going to  give because I have given enough and felt exempt. disclaimer- I am not trying to show off at how much we give, just setting the stage.

So, as hundreds of students filed to the front to give I sat there with my buddy chatting it up. All of a sudden my friend asks God how much he should give and compels me to do the same. We both get a number and start walking to the front. As Im walking I hear God say “why wouldn’t you give? I mean, if there is an opportunity to give why wouldn’t you take it? There is a need, and I can use you to meet that need. Plus, do you trust me to meet your needs? Can you out give me? Let’s do this” (ok, He didn’t say lets do this, but it sounds good).

So, I walked up to the front, put in my pledge and returned to my seat. Something happened when I got off my butt and moseyed my way to the front, my attitude changed and my faith was increased. There is something beautiful about walking in faith and obedience to God our provider. There is something terrifying about it, but also exhilarating. This place of surrender and constantly being aware and engaged in what God is doing and asking you to do and not getting comfortable in your chair or faith.

Later on in the day we got our support check (we do not receive a salary, but live on support from friends and family as full time missionaries). The check was over double what we were expecting to come in. There were one time gifts and increased support. Am I saying that God provided out of our giving sacrificially, not necessarily. Im just saying that we gave and God took care of us.

The take home from this, give, give, give and give again. You can’t out give God and He is the one who provides for our needs anyway.

**this post is unedited and written from the heart, not from a place of making sure everything is spelled and worded correctly. 

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