As I mentioned a few days ago (see “The Justice Conference”) I attended the two-day event known as The Justice Conference wherein Christians explore the various ways in which they can be part of bringing justice, peace, mercy, love, and hope to others. It is a sign that evangelicalism is coming to a better understanding of the holistic Gospel proclaimed by people like John the Baptist, James the Just, the Apostle Paul, and Jesus Christ himself. It is a Gospel that isn’t about the “sweet by-and-by” alone, but one about a Kingdom that we can see appearing here and appearing there as a preview of the age to come. We see Christians learning to live faithfully in the present with anticipation for the future.

If we believe that there will one day be no more violence that we will oppose not only war, but domestic abuse, child abuse and abandonment, and the fair treatment of the created order. If we believe that all humans are created in the image of God we will fight to free those who are trafficked. If we affirm that in Christ there is “neither male nor female” we will seek equality among genders, aim to prevent the abuses suffered by young girls and women across the world because of their gender, and advocate for women to be seen as equal to men and given the same rights as men not only in society, but the church! If we imagine a day when Jesus Christ will be an eschatological Joseph in Egypt redistributing goods so that there are no hungary, no poor, no marginalized then we will ask what it means for us to be giving in such a way that we live this now.

Do we think we can “fix” the world: to some extent. This Gospel is different that the stereotypical “social Gospel” of liberal mainline Christianity. We do not deny the essential eschatological acts of God. We anticipate them. We do not remove the Triune God revealed through Jesus Christ, but we serve him. We do not think Christianity when demythologized is actually a nice socialist, Marxist program with a few first century Jewish figures as founders, but we remythologize singing “this is my Father’s world” and living in that confession.

This is the inspiration for this conference. We want to live the Kingdom of God as we see it proclaimed in Scripture. This is challenging, but it is worthwhile.

The Justice Conference (thejusticeconference.com) began at a small two-year AA Christian college called Kilns College in Bend, OR. There were about a thousand people for year one, which is impressive, especially considering the location. This year the conference moved to Portland aiming to grow a bit. To their surprise there were about four thousand two hundred in attendance! It quadrupled in one year. In 2013 they are headed east to Philadelphia! I hope you on the east coast attend this conference in masses since they are moving it over there.

As I said above this is a sign that a younger generation is not accepting the false dichotomy of saving souls or saving bodies. Neither did Hebrew prophets, or John the Baptist, or Jesus the Messiah, or the church that shared all things in the Book of Acts, or the leader of the Jerusalem church James the Just, or the Apostle Paul who brought this Gospel to us Gentiles! I think we are in good company. This doesn’t mean we won’t fail as we ask how to live the Kingdom, but failure is worth it if one seeks to be a disciple of Christ in a hurting world. I will say more about my time at the conference in a post tomorrow.