Tag Archives: social justice

Part 1 – Intro to Breaking the Broken

September 18, 2017Breaking the BrokenBreaking the Broken, Church, social justiceRob Kendall

This blog will begin a series of posts outlining Breaking the Broken. You will see how the whole thing began: Our call into ministry, God’s plan for mankind to be self-sufficient, how we serve the poor depending on their unique situation, and the results of using God’s plan. Basically, I will cover all the major themes of the book over the next several posts.

The subtitle of the book is “Debunking the Myth of Social Justice.” Even though I discuss the downsides of social justice programs in the book, there is some new information I wanted to share before we get started. Let me make one thing clear: social justice began with a good heart. It was started by people who wanted to help their fellow man. They saw hurting people who were struggling, and they wanted to help meet their needs.

What became known as the United States war on poverty began as legislation introduced under President Lyndon B. Johnson during his State of the Union address on January 8, 1964. In President Johnson’s explanation of his legislation he said, “Our aim is not only to relieve the symptom of poverty, but to cure it and, above all, to prevent it”.

I have to ask, has it worked? Has the war on poverty helped? Let’s look at the numbers. When President Johnson began the war on poverty, the poverty rate was around 19%. As of 2016 the official poverty rate dropped to 12.7% which is a reduction of 6.3%. This sounds like a pretty good improvement, unless something has been changed. What changed? The way we count those in poverty.

Before 1964 and the war on poverty, those in poverty would not have received any government benefits because these benefits didn’t exist. What do you think the poverty rate would be if the current measuring model didn’t include dollars received from government assistance?

Columbia University did a study to find that out. They found that by using the pre 1964 model of counting poverty, the rate would not be anywhere near 12.7%. By using the same measures that were used in 1964, the current poverty rate would be 29%.

That is an increase of 10%. Many advocates of social justice programs have said this shows how many lives have been improved because of these programs, but we haven’t “improved their lives” by creating sustainable solutions, we’ve just paid them not to be in poverty. They are still stuck in a hopeless cycle and President Johnson’ dream has not become a reality. We haven’t cured it and we haven’t prevented it…we’ve made it worse.

Now this is a book that is written from a Christian worldview and many Christians believe social justice displays God’s love. They believe it benefits those who are served. They believe it is the example Jesus gave in His own life. But those are all misconceptions. Social justice does none of these things.

Social justice is demeaning. Social justice creates hierarchy. Social justice creates division. Social justice is transactional. Social justice is hopeless. Social justice does not work and is further breaking those who are broken.

We spend astronomical sums of money on social welfare programs, but what are the results? Is life getting better for those in poverty? Are the numbers decreasing? Are we making any significant progress? In the war on poverty, poverty has won. The benefits of social justice are a myth. The experiment has failed, but God has a plan.

God’s plan offers dignity. God’s plan creates equality. God’s plan creates unity. God’s plan is relational. God’s plan offers hope. God’s plan has worked in centuries past and will work again. God does not call us to social justice—He calls us to heal the broken.

Over these next few posts, you’ll learn about God’s plan. You’ll learn the what, who, why, where, how, and when. You’ll see His plan in action. You’ll see the hope God’s plan provides. Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to take God’s plan to the lost and hurting and heal what is broken.

FAQ 4 – What’s wrong with Social Justice?

November 21, 2016Breaking the BrokenBreaking the Broken, Church, homelessness, ministry, poverty, Restoration, Serve Like Jesus, social justiceRob Kendall

“The Bible is all about social justice…it’s talked about from the beginning to the end.” That was the comment the gentleman made. He had come by the booth several times, stood several feet away and read our info from a distance. He didn’t want to engage in conversation, but certainly wanted me to know his position.

His statement is similar to a question I have received from several people. What’s wrong with social justice? To find the answer, let’s turn to Page 78 in Breaking the Broken.

The subtitle of Breaking the Broken is “Debunking the Myth of Social Justice.” There are certain aspects of social justice that are good, but there are many that are not. The good part of social justice is found in the dignity of every human being. We are all created equal. Those who preach social justice believe we all have the right to gain the resources, opportunity, and instruction necessary to meet our basic needs, but these are not new teachings. They are straight out of Scripture and are laid as the groundwork for social justice. Unfortunately, as the theory of social justice has evolved, it has begun to go against God’s plan for humanity.

Today, social justice focuses more on giving and distributing than it does on gaining and creating. It seeks to provide preferential treatment for certain groups by forcing a “just” outcome, but who gets to decide what’s “just”? Social justice creates top-heavy systems run by distant, detached people who are more concerned with rules and regulations than what is best for those being served. Social justice is reduced to a transaction. The benefits of social justice are a myth and do not exist.

Now this may appear to have taken a political turn, but trust me, this isn’t political. It’s biblical. I don’t trust the government to have any answers for the poor. I look to God for real answers. God created things to work a certain way, and I am opposed to anything that goes against His plan and systems.

God says we should not deny justice to the poor, but we are also not to give preferential treatment to the poor, which often is the goal of social justice.

“You must not spread a false report. Do not join the wicked to be a malicious witness. You must not follow a crowd in wrongdoing. Do not testify in a lawsuit and go along with a crowd to pervert justice. Do not show favoritism to a poor person in his lawsuit. If you come across your enemy’s stray ox or donkey, you must return it to him. If you see the donkey of someone who hates you lying helpless under its load, and you want to refrain from helping it, you must help with it. You must not deny justice to a poor person among you in his lawsuit.”
(Exod. 23:1-6)

God calls for justice for everyone, but God wants more than social justice. God’s plan provides restorative justice. Restorative justice is always better than social justice. God’s plan provides what is best for every person involved: those who are rich and comfortable, and those who are poor and hurting.

The last point from this passage is the call for family members to care for their own and not have them be a burden on the church. Helping people who are able to help themselves takes vital resources that could be used for others who are truly in need. This hurts those served and those serving and creates frustration, distrust, and antagonism. God calls us to help the poor, but we are to help in the proper way. Click To Tweet God’s plan provides what is best for everyone involved. The antagonism and frustration that drives wedges between us can be eliminated. Now we need to learn the difference between those who are truly in need and those who should be caring for themselves.

Finding Purpose in the Poor

March 1, 2016Breaking the BrokenBreaking the Broken, Church, Church Planting, homelessness, Serve Like Jesus, social justiceRob Kendall

Several years ago, Rick Warren wrote a book which had a major impact on our society. People ran to stores to buy it. He was featured on news programs, talk shows and his face graced the cover of magazines. His book became the topic of Sunday School Classes, Life Groups, Men’s and Women’s small group studies, and retreats. His book is still in the top 50 list of all-time best-selling books.

Why did this book take the country by storm? Why did more than 30 million of us buy it? People put other books aside and even took days off of work to read this one. What did he share that was so important? Was it a fail-safe secret to financial success or a guaranteed method for raising our children?

No. He showed us that there is a reason we are here. He led us to find something bigger than ourselves, something that motivated us to get out of bed every morning. We found significance. We discovered we were put here for a reason. We learned our lives were not a series of random events; we were created with a purpose.

If finding our purpose is so important, why don’t we want to provide that same opportunity to those we serve? Isn’t it important for them to discover their purpose? Don’t they deserve the privilege of getting out of bed every morning knowing they were created in the image of God for a reason, or is that only for us? Either we don’t see they have purpose or we don’t care that they have one. It has to be one or the other. If we see their purpose, then we must help them work towards that purpose. Our service has to provide more. No one’s purpose is to stand in line for a box of food.

To read more, click here to order your copy of Breaking The Broken.

God Made Noah Work

February 19, 2016Breaking the BrokenBreaking the Broken, Church, Church Planting, ministry, poverty, Serve Like Jesus, Service, social justiceRob Kendall

Most of our Christian service to the poor is based on giving and not equipping. I’m not sure why we have taken this approach because that is not the example we see in Scripture. God always made man do everything that was within his abilities. God always required man to work to care for his own needs. There were no hand-outs in God’s Plan. Below is a short example of God’s requirement when a hand-out would have been much easier.

In Genesis 6, we read that mankind had grown wicked and all their schemes were evil all the time. God was fed up. He decided He was going to destroy all living things from the face of the earth. He was going to wipe the plate clean and start over, but not completely. There was one man that God would save.

But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. These are the family records of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among his contemporaries; Noah walked with God. (Gen. 6:8-9 HCSB)

God would start over with Noah, but how did God do this? He flooded the entire earth and destroyed every living thing, but saved Noah and his family. God could have made it easy on Noah. He could have had Noah go into the woods, where he would find a big boat that was filled with all the food and supplies he would need. The boat would have been completely ready to go. All Noah would need to do is load up and ride out the storm.

God could have had all the tools drop-shipped to Noah’s front porch. He could have had the materials delivered to the side yard. That’s the way it happened in the Hollywood movie, but that is not what God did. God worked within the Plan that He had established in the garden. Noah had to do the work himself.

If you are interested in learning more about God’s Plan to restore the hurting, click here to order your copy of Breaking the Broken today.

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Jesus Never Set Up a Food Pantry

February 5, 2016Breaking the BrokenBreaking the Broken, Church, Church Planting, ministry, poverty, social justiceRob Kendall

We live in a microwave society. We don’t like to wait. We want things fixed and we want them fixed quickly. We rarely spend the time investigating to discover the underlying reasons behind behaviors or situations. If a child’s behavior is not acceptable we want immediate change, so we give that child a pill.

Some friends of ours have tried a new approach to training their son. When he disobeys, talks back, or is rude, they stop; they calm the situation down and then ask, “Where is your heart right now?” They want to get to the reason behind his behavior.
They want to get to the cause. This question has led them to some incredible conversations about how we represent Christ in our everyday lives.

Our desire for the quick and easy fix has also infiltrated our service to the poor. Most of the time, energy and money spent is focused on the symptoms of the struggle. That’s not what Jesus did. Jesus always addressed the reasons and not the results of the struggle. Jesus didn’t give away clothes, set up food pantries or homeless shelters. He healed people, because if the cause is corrected, then the symptoms take care of themselves.

Before I am labeled a heretic and people are calling for my head, let’s set the record straight. Felt-need assistance must continue to be available. Scripture requires us to provide for people who are physically or mentally unable to provide for themselves. It’s necessary to deliver services to people who live in areas of the world where the land cannot produce enough food and water for those living there. We also need to offer assistance to those who are going through hard times, but this must only be available as a stop-gap measure.

I am not saying that providing these services to hurting people is a sin. They are necessary, but they must be done in the right way and with the right motives. Doing something poorly is often worse than doing nothing at all. The systematic, long-term provision for people who are physically and mentally capable of caring for themselves must stop. It must come to an end. These services have a detrimental effect on everyone and in no way display the love of Christ. If your service has a singular focus on the symptom, are you really meeting the need or are you adding to the problem?

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The Hypocrisy of Love

January 20, 2016Breaking the BrokenBreaking the Broken, Church, Church Planting, Love, ministry, Service, social justiceRob Kendall

I will never forget the day that Laura was born. Amanda (our oldest) was facing the challenge of being a single parent, but she was not going to face it alone. She had a support system around her and she asked Meredith, her two sisters and me to be in the delivery room with her. Amanda’s water broke at 7:30 in the morning on May 16, 2008. It was a very long and exhausting day and I wasn’t even the one in labor.

At 9:52 that night, through screams and tears, Laura made her appearance. They wrapped her in a blanket and handed her to Amanda. The rest of us pressed in to see our new family member. Much to my surprise, Amanda held her for only a few seconds and then handed her to me. I was going to be the man in Laura’s life and Amanda wanted me to spend some of those first few moments with Laura.

As I stared down at this incredible gift from God, I was overwhelmed. I felt an area of my heart, that I did not even know existed, jump to life. I felt it begin to fill with a love that I had never experienced before. It was nothing short of amazing. Is there anything more miraculous than the birth of a child?

This young life had been created in the image of God. I whispered a prayer in her ear. I prayed for her protection. I prayed for her future. I prayed she would grow into an incredible woman of God and live for Him.

I prayed for strength to be the man who would lead her. I prayed I would give her an example of how a Godly man treats a woman. I prayed I would know how to point her to Jesus. I committed to sacrifice my own desires, comfort and security so this young child would have every opportunity afforded to her. I promised to do everything within my power to help her become the women God had created her to be.

Today, as I look into the eyes of the men, women and children we serve, I wonder what their birth was like. Did someone hold them and appreciate the incredible miracle of that moment? Did someone find a new place in their heart they did not even know existed? Did that moment change someone else’s life forever as they prayed for that child?

Do we see this kind of value in those we serve? Meredith and I have a long history of serving, but I have to admit I did not always see those we served as unique creations made in God’s image. I often missed their value. I thought I was there to fix them. I had a Savior Mentality riding in on my white horse to relieve the suffering of the poor.

You may think this attitude doesn’t apply to you and you may be right. It may not, but you know this attitude is alive and well in churches and service organizations. We serve out of pity, not because we see value. We want a quick solution so we can feel like we’ve done our part and go back to our lives. We want to be able to check the box.

We hear of a single mom who can’t make her light bill, so we write the check because, “That’s what love would do.” We find out there are a group of men living under the bridge and we give them blankets when it’s cold. “You know, Jesus said when you give to the least of these you’ve given to Me.” Blindly providing for the needs of others is not a display of Godly love. In fact, I don’t think it is a display of any form of love.

If serving others by addressing the symptom is a display of love, then I owe my children a huge apology, because I obviously hated them. You see, I taught them to work hard. I pushed them to be the best they could be, to display character, integrity, and to succeed by living a Godly life. That’s what parents are supposed to do. That’s what love does.

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