Last week I attended The Justice Conference in Chicago with a couple of friends. This was my second year, and yet again, it provoked so many thoughts about social justice and pricked my heart for reconciliation in the hard places.

Here are a few of my favorite quotes. I hope you enjoy them too. May they lodge themselves in your mind, and propel you toward creating a better future for us all.

 

Cornel West

Scholar, Activist, Servant and Lover of Music

• May the God of justice bless you with discomfort.
• Have the audacity to make Jesus your choice.
• Look back before you move forward.
• Love your way through the darkness.
• If the Kingdom of God is in you, you should leave a little bit of heaven wherever you go.
• Following Jesus means you’re welcoming a proximity to pain.
• Quoting Samuel Beckett, “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.”

Eugene Cho

Pastor, Writer, Visionary

• Justice must be part of our worship of God.
• Everyone loves justice until there is a cost.
• John 4: Jesus HAD to go through Sumeria. He was compelled. He went to the hard places to make people’s lives better.
• Even good things can become idolatrous.
• Everything we do should be a response to God’s love.
• Justice must always be humble.
• Be careful that you don’t become self-righteous. Otherwise YOU may be the mountain God wants to move.
• Our hope is not in our Savior Complex.

Louis Dooley

Illinois Regional Director, Set Free Ministries

• Get out of the Christian bubble.
• Get your hands dirty.

Bob Goff

Best-Selling Author and Speaker

• Love everybody, always.
• God makes people. And people make issues. But people aren’t issues.
• Let people get justice because they know you.
• You’ll be known for your ideas, but remembered for your love.

Ken Wytsma

Teacher, Entrepreneur, Author

• Faith lives in a climate of doubt.
• It’s not the quality of faith that matters, but the presence.

Jenny Yang

Vice President of Advocacy and Policy at World Relief

• We are all called to be advocates.
• There is a limit on charity, but there is no limit to transformational relationships.

Ann Voskamp

Author, Blogger, Farmer’s Wife

• We need to become the Esther generation, advocating for those outside the gates.
• Accept the invitation to cross boundaries.
• When your heart breaks for justice, pray to stay broken.

Jonathan Merritt

Columnist and Author

• We should nurture bravery, humility, empathy and diversity.
• Learn how to disagree well. It usually involves more listening.

Rev. Traci Blackmon

Pastor, Member of the Fergusson Commission

• Many of us are blind to our privilege.
• Privilege is an “othering” of people.
• Look for God’s image in everyone.
• Nobody gives up privilege willingly. Are you ready to pay the cost?

Louie Giglio

Pastor of Passion City Church, Founder of the Passion Movement

• Be quietly worshipful and noisily grateful.
• Your core identity must be Jesus. Anything else, and heaven will be a disappointment.
• You’re a Jesus worshipper first, not a job or activist or anything else.
• Justice isn’t a career path. It’s a theological imperative. It’s rooted in everyone, woven in divinity and reconciliation.
• If you aren’t at peace, your going to be asking your mission to validate you.

Neichelle Guidry

Preacher and Worship Curator

• In the presence of Jesus, character is revealed.
• Jesus only spent 25% of His time in church throughout recorded scripture.
• Perhaps its not enough to just have a heart that’s in the right place.
• Growth always comes with growing pains.
• Your comfort comes at someone else’s discomfort.
• Grow up. Become Kingdom-minded. Choose.
• If you’re going to live in the Kingdom of God, you need to give up your addiction to convenience and comfort.

 

And here’s the highlight video for a peek inside the event.

The JUSTICE Conference 2015 Highlights from The JUSTICE CONFERENCE on Vimeo.