The Bridge:  Social Justice . . . Social Gospel

While growing up, Social Gospel was not looked kindly upon by many in my church.  These words were directly connected to the word "liberal," and when it came to the church, not many in mine were comfortable with the idea of the theologically liberal pastor.  This said, I went to a church that was overly involved in issues of helping the poor, the outcast, and the needy.  As I grew and started to study a bit of the Social Gospel movement, I realized there are many misunderstandings, and that the real need is to get the Gospel Movement back into the Social Justice Movement and get Social Justice back into the Gospel.

The Social Gospel movement started at the turn of the 20th century as people were moving more and more from rural areas to urban areas.  This high concentration of people, especially poor people, made many in the church begin to wonder what the responsibility was in caring for these people.  The movement grew in the mainline denominations and continued to grow until about World War I.  It is not clear if it was the war that shifted the focus or the rising evangelical movement emphasizing a more literal interpretation of scripture and insisting that the emphasis needed to be on the saving of people's souls.  This drastic contrast can be seen in the differences between a prominent Baptist Social Gospel preacher, Walter Rauschenbusch, who "rallied against what he regarded as the selfishness of capitalism and promoted a form of Christian Socialism that endorsed the creation of labor unions and cooperative economics", while the prominent evangelist Dwight Moody "claimed that concentrating on social aid distracted people from the life saving message of the Gospel."  Even Hopewell Reformed Church played a prominent role in this as our ninth pastor, Rev. Graham Taylor, became a leading Social Gospel reformer in response to his experience in Hopewell Junction, New York during his service from 1873-1880.  As time went on, except for an increase in the Social Gospel movement under Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Gospel fell out of much of the work of the Social Justice movement and the justice lost its place in the evangelical one.

For those who are still reading this history lesson, I am sure you are asking, "So what?"  It is my belief, even though there are still many you can read who oppose either evangelism or social Gospel, that for the 21st century we must embrace both, again.  We are reminded in James that our faith is dead if we don't live it.  This also applies to our evangelism.  I can talk all I want about the grace of Jesus, but if someone does not experience it, FROM ME, then they are not going to respond to Christ. 

Oswald Chambers in My Utmost for His Highest, my devotions for this morning, challenged me on both fronts (isn't it awesome how the Holy Spirit times that stuff!).  He reminds us that we are not called to be "holy men and women."  We are called to be proclaimers of the Gospel of God.  What is that Gospel?  To Oswald, it is the reality of the redemption found in our Lord Jesus Christ.  A redemption of the whole world.  A redemption of the whole person.   A redemption found in both WORD and DEED.

You are invited to join HRC's exploring what it might look like to put the Justice back in the Gospel as we strive to put the Gospel back into Social Justice.  On February 24 from 12-2, lunch provided, we are going to start exploring what this might all mean to you and what we as a church might do about it.

Stay Tuned!

Until Next Time . . . Mark