Seeking Social Justice?

Problems like poverty, addiction, and homelessness are serious and complex.  Passion alone won’t solve them.  

Seek Social Justice is a six-lesson DVD small group study guide that provides a framework for understanding and engaging human need.

Rethinking Social Justice

What’s the best way to seek social justice?  It’s a popular idea, but often little understood.  That can lead to efforts that fail to help – and can even hurt – those in need.  What’s really going on here?  That’s the first question to ask when we meet people in need.  Understanding and identifying the real roots of poverty and social breakdown.

Cultivating Justice from the Ground Up
How can broken relationships be restored?  Better yet, how can we prevent brokenness in the first place?  To cultivate social justice, we must begin at the ground level.  Effective strategies must target brokenness in the foundational relationships that are essential for individuals and communities to succeed, especially marriage and family.

Serving the Whole Person
What happens when a need simply overwhelms a family?  Or when someone in need has no family to lean on?  Churches and ministries can offer a comprehensive set of resources to help cultivate and restore all the foundational relationships of human life.  They are well-equipped both to prevent and overcome human need.

Restoring Dignity and Purpose
What creates economic opportunity for those in need?  A key dimension of human well-being is the freedom and ability to work, earn, and give, and a just society encourages hard work and economic growth for job opportunities.  Treating people with justice means relating to them as beings created to work, with something to contribute to society.

Maintaining the Social Conditions for Justice

Government plays an important role in a just society, but it doesn’t bear sole – or even primary – responsibility for justice.  Relationships need secure conditions to flourish.  Government has a responsibility to sustain an environment of safety, freedom, order and peace.  By doing so, it ensures that healthy relationships can grow and thrive in the context of family, church, and community.

Breaking Ground
After exploring the roles of family, church, government and work, how do all these fit together?  And what’s our place in seeking social justice?  It begins with knowing the circumstances and opportunities around us and applying the right solutions to particular needs.

If you are interested in knowing more about Seek Social Justice please visit http://www.seeksocialjustice.com/ or contact the ANE Peace and Justice Team and one of our team members will be happy to discuss this program with you.