Barnabas File

I recently posted an article related to a resolution opposing social justice that a messenger planned to present at the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention.     I was surprised at the responses.     One person said that when he thought of social justice, “Communism” or “socialism” came to mind.     Another considered social justice a modern construct that had nothing to do with the Bible.     Someone else said, “Social justice is just about civil rights.” The church of the 2lst century is challenged to reclaim the term and make it part of its DNA. In fact, I believe that if the church fails to deal with social justice concerns such as sexuality, economic deprivation, care for the infirm, hospitality for the stranger, and creation care, it is not pursuing the mission of God. A quick search of the word “justice” on Bible Gateway identifies 130 citations including both the teachings of Old Testament prophets and those of Je...

Students enroll in seminary for many reasons.   One that I hear from time to time is, “I want to make a difference in the world.”   This does not always mean working in a church or doing traditional ministry.   Central Seminary, the institution with which I am associated, recognizes a responsibility to form Christian ministers who can serve in both traditional and non-traditional settings. I am part of a seminary team that is learning more about human-centered design (or design thinking) as a problem-solving or creative process.  As one of our exercises, we are addressing the question, “How might we enable more seminary students to become social entrepreneurs?” As part of our research we are interviewing past and present seminary students as well as people who might be described as social entrepreneurs.  In an interview this week, one of our current students expressed appreciation for being exposed to social entrepreneurs who exhibit ...

When I attended the CBF General Assembly at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Atlanta last week, I realized that the last time I had been in the hotel was December 1969 when I attended Mission 70, a program put together by six Southern Baptist Convention agencies that attracted 5000 college students and young adults. With music written especially for the event, original drama, and speakers like Coretta Scott King and NBC commentator John Chancellor, meeting planners sought to engage a young adult generation that included both those immersed in social activism and those who were just on the periphery.  We were challenged as Christians to take up the tasks of justice and reconciliation in order to make a difference in the world. As a Vietnam veteran and a student in his final year of seminary, I was a bit on the edge of the action.  I had a wife, one child and one on the way, and I was looking for a place to do collegiate ministry (what we called Baptist Student Union at tha...

Students working on neighborhood project How do you explain taxes to a three-year-old?  I was leaving the house one day last week to pick up the completed tax return from our preparer.  Cooper, our grandson, asked where I was going.  When I told him, I could tell that the idea ‘taxes” was not on his radar.  I started to tell him that taxes help pay for the fire fighters and police officers (but they are only indirectly funded by Federal tax money).  I did tell him that the money we paid to the government helps build our roads.  I suppose I could have told him that the money helped to pay for our military but really did not want to go down that road too far.  As I thought about this later, I could have explained that our taxes (at least for now) help people who are sick and do not have food.  This whole train of thought led me to think about the things that our tax money pays for that were provided in other ways in the past.  When peo...