Never forget that justice is what love looks like in public.
—Cornel West
Crises of faith are sparked for many reasons. My friend Stefan’s was spurred on by a watershed moment. He was driving through his neighborhood and realized a glaring discrepancy between his own life and his growing understanding of Jesus. It dawned on him that he didn’t have any personal relationships with people who were considered poor or on the margins. As he drove through the streets, he could see people in need on his right and on his left. But he didn’t know them by name, and he certainly couldn’t have called any of them his friends.
In his walk of faith, Stefan focused on the person of Jesus—paying attention to how Jesus lived his life on earth, seeking a relationship with Jesus, and attempting to follow his example. Stefan didn’t see following Jesus as a list of rights and wrongs. Rather, he constantly tried to join in what Jesus was still doing in the world around him. He realized that day that to follow Jesus, he was going to have to take to the streets. Jesus ministered in the streets and in the homes of those on the margins—spending time with the “prostitutes, sinners and tax collectors (traitors).” Jesus disregarded the holier-than-thou approach of his accusers and showed a new way of crossing societal boundaries, motivated by love.
Stefan started by visiting the parts of his neighborhood where those on the margins often spent time. He went to them, with no illusion that they would come to him. Most of us approach those in poverty from a place of privilege, but it is important to recognize that those on the margins have important gifts to bring us as well—for Stefan, the poor in his community displayed a proximity to Jesus he was searching for.
Over time, Stefan developed some important relationships with the people he connected with on the streets. He now calls this his “Nicodemus experience.” I’ve mentioned Nicodemus, whose story is told in John 3. He was a Jewish religious leader who was drawn to Jesus and had to find a way to get to him. So he waited until nightfall when the crowds had left, and he approached Jesus to ask the questions burning in his heart. Jesus didn’t answer all of Nic’s questions. Instead, Nicodemus left with deeper questions than he came with in the first place. Typical for Jesus, the question man, not the answer man.
When Stefan discovered Jesus on the streets through his new friends, it changed the trajectory of his life. It’s been nearly two decades since his “Nicodemus experience,” and he has had more than his fair share of faith questions—but he hasn’t had another faith crisis. I think I know why. It is what’s possible when we recognize that complete certainty is not necessary for strong conviction.
Saturday Night Live aired a sketch a few years ago that has come to be known as “Thank You, Scott.” Scott is depicted as a man who spends most of his time at home watching TV and scrolling the internet. Every few seconds, Scott becomes agitated by something he sees on the news or web, so he takes to Facebook. He posts his outrage with the perfect hashtag to show what side of the activism he is on. The other actors from SNL sing a sarcastic song about how thankful they are to Scott. People called the song the “anthem for those who are fighting social injustices with their keyboards.”[1] Scott is shown reading an article about the refugee crisis and posting about it in his newsfeed as the actors sing, “You solved the problem, Scott! You brought the struggle to an end, Scott, by sharing that article with eighty-four Facebook friends!”
Slacktivist is the label used for the people parodied by the “Thank You, Scott” sketch. The deepest problem with slacktivism is that it gives a false sense of action. People who share articles online feel as though they have taken action against injustice, when they really haven’t. I think of taking action and participating in justice as soul food. It brings a sense of fullness to your life and is more than just temporary. Jesus promises this kind of soul nourishment in John 10:10 when he offers full life. We don’t want our lives to be busy, but we should desire for them to be full. Full of purpose, full of meaning, even a full schedule—not just busyness.
Slacktivism is like eating a candy bar for lunch. You feel full for a little while, but soon you are left feeling hungry again. It doesn’t lead to true fullness—or health for that matter! The temptation to give in to slacktivism is very real and can come in many forms, not just online. For example: buying merchandise from social entrepreneurs, wearing shirts that support marginalized groups without having friendships with those the shirt represents, or signing up for the email newsletter from an NGO that you admire. There is nothing wrong with any of these actions! They are only a danger to you when you believe that they are a substitute for actually working for change out in the world. The rubber meets the road when you start to hold back on luxuries in life in order to financially support the NGO or ministry that is caring for those in need. It’s true activism when you send those Christmas gifts to kids in need once a year but also decide to regularly mentor a child who needs a friend right in your city.
A pervasive idea—that mercy is something that only organizations, governments, and churches are responsible for and not also individuals and families—has infected the church in America. A recent Barna poll found that only 17 percent of American Christians believe that mercy is also a personal responsibility.[2] But I’m encouraged to see that mercy is still a big motivator for Jesus followers; 63 percent say that “mercy is something that often influences the words or actions that I choose.”[3]
Many of us have a desire to participate, but we are held back from personal activism and action because it’s hard and uncomfortable, and we tend to run away from both difficulty and discomfort. But even if we can overcome these obstacles, there is something else that can get in the way of action: the idea that we need certainty in order to have conviction. If you’ve made it this far into the book, you know that certainty is a myth that cannot be found no matter how hard we try. Of course, we can have faith that what we believe is true, but we can’t be 100 percent certain. When we think we are 100 percent certain, we may be worshipping certainty rather than an infinite God.
It’s absolutely possible to have conviction without having certainty. In fact, following your conviction can actually help you move through the wilderness and break through the walls. Acting on conviction is the kind of action that nourishes your soul, giving you the strength to keep moving forward. When you have convictions that God is calling you to act, step toward those convictions—not just by liking Facebook groups but by getting involved with your passion area in a tangible way on the ground. There have been so many times that I have followed the clickbait and felt like I had made a huge impact. “Thank You, Scott” could have easily been “Thank You, Steph!” But recently, I have had my own Nicodemus moment where I have stepped toward Jesus in a more direct way when something has broken my heart.
In the last few years, the worldwide refugee crisis has weighed heavily on me. Some people have been in exile for as long as I have been alive.[4] I have felt convicted to participate in some way with the restoration of this crisis and started with a time of learning—reading articles and books and watching documentaries. That is a good place to start because ignorance can lead to harm—both for yourself and others. Next, I realized that there are people in my own community who have been refugees. Minneapolis has a high population of resettled refugees from all around the world. I got to know some of these folks personally and have been able to hear their stories firsthand.
Next, I chose to financially support refugee resettlement organizations as well as financially sponsor a child who lives in a crisis-ravaged part of the world. Then, I encouraged and coached a group from my faith community who felt called to sponsor a family who was being resettled in Minneapolis. Their main goal was to offer hospitality and relationship to the family, who were coming to the United States for the first time.
None of this was easy; I am self-centered by nature (as are we all). It’s so difficult to be intentional about hearing stories that make me uncomfortable. It’s tempting to want to scale back the financial support when we have a hard month with unexpected expenses. I am sharing this example with you because I want you to know that I also wrestle with the temptation toward slacktivism. These steps haven’t been easy, but they have brought a fuller life!
My husband and I have been trying to take these steps together, and it has brought us closer as well. Our growing passion led us to take a humanitarian trip to visit Bidibidi Refugee Settlement, currently the second-largest refugee settlement in the world. Bidibidi is in Uganda, on the border of South Sudan. The experience was life changing to say the least. It was expensive, and we know that the money could have gone to ongoing water projects and other needs in that region. However, we traveled with a group of others who, like us, have experience in marketing and storytelling. Our trip gave us the opportunity to tell the story of the work being done in that region and is leading to more awareness of the refugee crisis. The marketing work we have been able to do is increasing overall funding for this important work. We decided to go because we have a conviction that there are just some things that we need to bear witness to because they will shape our lives, and we will never be the same. This trip has been so significant that it has changed the stories we tell and will continue to shape the future actions we take.
Of course, we—and you—don’t have to go across the world to bear witness to the convictions on our hearts. We’ve spent the night in homeless shelters, walked the streets and talked to women caught in sex-work, spent time with dancers at strip clubs and asked them about their dreams, mentored kids who only have a 50 percent chance of graduating high school, and welcomed refugees to our city with open arms—all within a five-mile radius of our house. At the end of the day, it’s not because we’re so great and have so much to offer (we aren’t, and we don’t). Every single one of those encounters has offered more to me than I was able to offer to the other person. It’s been life changing every time. What are the convictions on your heart? If you haven’t taken action on those convictions, what is holding you back?
You don’t have to know it all or have it all figured out to take action right where you are. Set down the phone and realize this: the statistical chance that someone is going to change their mind from your emotionally charged Facebook post is slim to none. Taking action will do so much more for your soul—giving you the fuel you need to stay curious in your life.
Stefan had tons of questions as he developed deep relationships with those on the margins. Each new relationship just sparked more questions! But in the midst of it all, he became convinced that one-on-one relationships with people different from you can lead to life change for both parties. So he began to work to connect urban youth with one-on-one mentors—someone who needed a relationship with a resilient student that became their little brother or sister over time. From there, a nonprofit was birthed called One2One,[5] whose goal is to see the students (and mentors!) grow. The students report if they have grown in their relationships and motivation in school, but they also report if they have seen their mentor grow in patience and ability to listen before giving advice.
There is no need to take a trip or start a nonprofit to move from slacktivism to action. Here are some experiments that others have tried that have opened up their hearts and gotten them involved even when they had questions and uncertainties.
This experiment is designed to help you see deeper into the world around you in your everyday spaces.
Take fifteen minutes and walk from your home or workplace around the neighborhood.
Using a smart phone or camera, take photos of what resonates with you—anything that seems to draw your attention.
Then, as you walk, pray and ask God if there is anything God wants to say to you.
When you arrive back at your original location, look back over your photos and wonder why it was the images you took resonated with you.
Ask again for God to reveal anything God might want to say to you.
Here is an example from someone who tried this experiment:
I walked around my neighborhood and took a few photos of what resonated with me. The one that stuck out to me at the end is of a stone Jesus near my house. I didn’t think that was going to be my photo I would choose at first, but then I got closer and saw that Jesus didn’t have thumbs! Someone had broken them off! As I was walking, I felt like God asked me to think about what that might represent. As I walked and prayed, I began to think about how opposable thumbs are what gives you the ability to grasp things and how useless our hands would be without them. I thought about the church as the body of Christ and what causes us as the “hands of Jesus” to not be as effective. An easy list came up in my mind: When the church is divided, when God’s people are overcome by fear and afraid to take Kingdom risks, when we are so distracted by life that we don’t hear God. So I have been praying about how I might contribute to all those things and what God has to say to me about that.
This is a great experiment to have others try with you; share your photos and what stuck out to you.
Depending on your personality, this could be a challenging experiment. However, it can also be very rewarding and teach you a lot! The hope for this experiment is that it will change your perspective on the way that you engage with technology but also bring your focus to the present physical spaces you are in.
Talk with the friend who came with you or find a conversation partner and talk through what you discovered in this experiment.
This is a way to make an experiment local to the things in need of restoration in your community. When we join God in the restoration of all things, doubt typically takes on a different role in our minds and hearts. It also causes us to begin to ask new and different questions than we have in the past.
This is a great experiment to have others try with you! Find a conversation partner to discuss the effect this action takes on your questions and doubts.