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WHEN WE SPEAK of becoming a more Just Church, we speak of God’s Justice. In our actions, we endeavour to imitate God’s ways and to reflect—insofar as it is possible for us as created beings—God’s essential Being as Love. We then strive to follow God’s loving and merciful way of thinking so as to acknowledge and honour the Reign of God in our lives and in our world. This is a merciful, gracious, and active response. It is doing justice and loving kindness. Together.
How do we become a more Just Church?
Pray! Then, by emptying ourselves of the desire to BE right, and renouncing our desire to turn everything to our own advantage. Then, by turning to God to see what kind of justice God desires… and acting on it (“Living Hope: Our Identity and Mission in Christ,” Bishop’s Charge To Synod, 2020.)
GOD'S JUSTICE is an all-encompassing justice that is driven by reconciliation, care, and love. It enfolds and transforms all other kinds of justice, all causes, all movements—from concerns about environmental degradation, inequality, and sustainability to how we engage with non-Christian religions in interfaith activities. It should inform how we allocate our material resources, including property. It shapes how we engage with one another to ensure that we have Safe and Healthy Churches. It propels us to be attentive to future generations in the Church by endeavouring to ensure that future generations inherit a viable and thriving Church, just as we ourselves did—although one that will doubtless look very different. The idea that the relationships between generations is a justice issue is what is termed “intergenerational equity.”
The College of Deacons has an important role in the fostering of a more Just Church through their individual parish ministries as well as the collective project undertaken at each Diocesan Synod.