MULTICULTURAL CHURCHES can still be white spaces. Communities can be inherently individualistic. And acts of “justice” can alienate the very people Christ calls us to serve.
In Becoming a Just Church: Cultivating Communities of God’s Shalom , Adam L. Gustine points out paradoxes that have dominated the church for centuries. His book casts a prophetic vision of what justice can look like when it is fully embodied in the church.
“I am a liability in the work of justice,” he admits in the opening lines, indicating his white male identity. Aware of his privilege even as he reckons with matters of power and oppression, Gustine offers an unapologetic wake-up call to white evangelicals who have ignored the biblical call to justice and those who already consider themselves “woke.”
“A significant part of our history in evangelicalism could be characterized by either full-frontal assault on society or distancing ourselves in a protectionist way,” he writes. Evangelicals reduce justice to something either done tangentially (for example, donations) or in a manner that echoes colonialism (such as mission trips to foreign countries, depriving local construction workers of their livelihoods).
Moreover, evangelical church models frequently commodify comfort, thrive on sameness, and rely on proximity to power. Churches that market themselves to the privileged by offering state-of-the-art worship experiences or free lattes are sidelining justice; when churches become franchises or strive to capture the aesthetics of cool, they systematically exclude folks on the margins, centering themselves rather than others or the gospel. The result is an individualistic, disengaged, privilege-permeated church where attendees have the luxury of choosing when, if ever, to engage in justice. As Gustine puts it, it’s “difficult to convince a consumptive community to embrace a costly way of life.”
Gustine fleshes out what it might look like for churches to become communities that are distinct from the world—modeling what shalom can look like—while engaging in the world, especially at the local level. He calls churches to cast off their “devotion to a privatized, individualistic kind of faith that is distinctly white and Western” and, instead, pursue a communal way of life that prioritizes mutual interdependence.
“For pastors, an important part of the role is blurring the lines between congregation and community.” Part of this line-blurring entails evangelizing and discipling in a way that takes social location into account. For instance, Gustine points out how unhelpful it is for those with privilege to ignore or reject privilege. He urges them to find ways to distribute their privilege to those who are disempowered.
Becoming a Just Church articulates a helpful framework for seeking justice but offers few practical steps. Still, Gustine asks readers to confront important, provocative questions such as: “Does an intentional vision for diversity work to reinforce whiteness by pressuring people of color to assimilate?” Each chapter also concludes with specific questions for church leaders to consider, trusting leaders to apply the book’s principles to their specific contexts.
Gustine strikes a chord when he writes that “the distance we allow between us and the community we are engaging is the extent to which we will fail to truly be for the place God has put us.” Too many churches are creating distance between their sanctuaries and their justice work. Ultimately, when we spurn sacrifice for the sake of comfort, we forget that we serve a God who relinquished comfort, power, and life itself for the sake of humanity.
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