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Sojourners Magazine: July 2017

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“Seek the welfare of the city.” In recent years, Jeremiah 29:7 has been the mantra of urban church planters. Yet, as D.L. Mayfield points out in our cover story, these mostly white, missional-minded Christians rarely talk about how their church plants are contributing to the neighborhood's gentrification. “I can love my neighbors with my entire heart and soul, but what does that mean when every month more are driven away by increasing rents?” writes Mayfield. “How is our gospel good news for anyone but the gentrifiers themselves?” Her article is a challenge to Christians making new church homes in urban areas. As we know well, trying to walk humbly and do justice in the city is a long, often-difficult journey.

Cover Story

Are we seeking the "welfare of the city," or just our own?

Feature

The world hurts everywhere, including in our social media feeds. 
Despite challenges, faith-based groups continue the work of refugee resettlement in the U.S.
Photo by Ryan Rodrick Beiler
The blockade of Gaza has created a humanitarian crisis, and hopelessness. But the outside world has the power to offer a lifeline. 

Commentary

Attila JANDI / Shutterstock.com
Diplomatic options with North Korea are limited—but the alternatives are unthinkable. 
A Mennonite church joins the santuary movement—again—in the face of Trump's actions against immigrants. 

Culture Watch

Courtesy of www.facebook.com/ComeFromAway/
'Come From Away,' written by Irene Sankoff and David Hein; directed by Christopher Ashley. 
Katie Booth/Women in the World
She survived an attack with acid. Her revenge? Working against gender violence. 
Nearly sixty years before Ferguson, a mother took a sacred stand against white terrorism.
Churchill and Orwell: The Fight for Freedom, by Thomas E. Ricks. Penguin Press. 
Courtesy of facebook.com/OfficialJessiColter/
Jessi Colter and Lenny Kaye make a Spirit-driven musical odd couple. 
Courtesy of www.facebook.com/DonBryantMusic/
Four July cultural recommendations from our editors. 
A screening of 'The Color Purple' became a small act of resistance.

Departments

Mayfield’s article is a challenge to Christians making new church homes in urban areas.
Letters to the editor from Sojourners readers 
Reflections on the Revised Common Lectionary, Cycle A 

Columns

How do we face being precariously power-adjacent?
Joseph Sohm / Shutterstock.com
The 'cohesive sentiment' of civil religion cannot create cooperation in a diverse nation. 
Under Trump, the dangers to civil liberty and fair elections should not be underestimated.
It is not a far step from the tyranny of money to the tyranny of despots.