Sojourners Magazine: November 2011

Forty years is a long time for any endeavor, but in the precarious world of small nonprofits, reaching that milestone is almost a miracle. And when you’re a magazine with a strong commitment to biblically based justice—that is, when you insist on talking about “religion and politics” in polite company—it’s no wonder that we’re convinced that grace, more than anything of our own doing, is why we’re still going strong four decades into the journey. From the beginning, as Jim Wallis explains in his cover feature, the magazine grew out of a community—both the physical community of people who came together at a Midwest seminary and the broader body of friends, supporters, and collaborators across the country and around the world. That continues to be true, and the strength of that wider community—which often looks a lot like a movement—is one of the greatest signs of hope in our troubled times.One of the key things we’ve offered in these pages over the past 40 years has simply been stories from that movement, highlighting people of faith and conscience living out their beliefs and seeking to be agents of change. These stories serve as models for all of us, but they’re also vivid reminders of the powerful force for good that is brought to bear every day, all over the world, by that broader circle of friends, aka the universal body of Christ. We look forward to continuing the sojourn with such good company over the years ahead.