A world where all can thrive
A world where all can thrive
19 February 2023
The Salvation Army aims to reflect God’s values by working towards social justice, helping struggling members of our communities at their point of need.
One of the Salvos’ four mission priorities is sharing the love of Jesus by working for social justice.* In the lead-up to World Day of Social Justice tomorrow (20 February), we delve deeper into what it means to ‘work for justice’ both as an organisation and as individuals.
What is social justice?
The concept of ‘social justice’ can be difficult to define, as the term evokes a variety of responses that differs from person to person. However, each of us can recognise when something in this world is just not right – it’s just not the way it’s meant to be.
Working for social justice is working to see the world become a better place – a place where all people, not just some, can thrive and experience equal, equitable and fair access to resources and opportunities.
In looking at the example of Jesus as portrayed in the Bible, we see a person who gives us insight into what the world could and should look like. We see Jesus consistently include the excluded, challenge harmful cultural practices, confront those in power when needed, and advocate for the oppressed. All these values today are recognised as social justice. Jesus’ life and the choices he made every day modelled what it means to live a life of social justice.
The role of the Salvos
The Salvos work towards social justice in all that we do. Every day, we aim to reflect God’s values locally through our services, which aim to help people experience fullness of life.
Through its Policy and Advocacy Team, The Salvation Army strategically advocates for social change on a whole range of issues, including many which are evident in our own community. Our team adopts a social policy approach to fighting for social justice. For us, this means tackling the social systems that harm creation and strip people of their dignity and joining with God in his work to build a fairer world where all can thrive.
Practically, this can involve identifying causes of injustice or disadvantage and their impact on communities, working towards solutions to these issues, and working to influence decision-makers and those in positions of power to implement changes.
Some of the issues of social justice our team actively works to rectify include discrimination, family and domestic violence, climate change, alcohol and drug misuse, social isolation and homelessness, to name a few.
The impact of individuals
As individuals, we can have a significant impact on the world through the way we live and through our everyday choices. Sometimes we also have the opportunity to challenge some of the greater systems that cause social justice issues to exist. As former world No.1 tennis player Arthur Ashe once said: “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.”
World Day of Social Justice is tomorrow. We urge you to start living every day in a way that makes the world better for all. We can all use the power that we have – both in our small, everyday choices and in our intentional, proactive efforts – to make the world look more like the Kingdom of God.
* The other three priorities are sharing the love of Jesus by caring for people, creating faith pathways and building healthy communities.
Keziah is a Policy and Advocacy Advisor, Policy Research and Social Justice, for The Salvation Army, Australia.
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