Here are just a few more answers to some of the questions we received after Gary’s message at the Leadership Summit.  Feel free to submit others as comments and we’ll be sure to respond over the next several days.

Q: How do you fight social injustice w/o law experience?

A: The work of bringing justice to the oppressed is critically advanced by lawyers who serve as legal advocates. However, at IJM this work is never done by lawyers alone.  Bringing justice requires a team effort, and the players must come from nearly every imaginable profession: photographers, accountants, journalists, fund raisers, theologians, marketing professionals, teachers, social workers, administrators, investigators, pastors, and others.  Even if one does not pursue a career in human rights advocacy, there are numerous ways to volunteer. By engaging in the conversation here as well as within your community, and through educating others about issues of injustice, you are participating in the work of justice.

Q: How do you know you’re driven by true ‘Bravery’ (complete reliance/trust in God) and not ‘Foolhardiness’ (reliance on self or something less than Bravery as just defined)?
Bravery involves our mind as well as our passion. For instance, we do a threat assessment on every case before moving forward to make sure we are fully aware of what we are up against.  We are also careful to deploy people with the right training and expertise to be successful – those who go undercover have years of experience in this type of investigative work.  We take risks, but they are calculated risks based on the best information available.  We also make decisions in community.  This avoids someone making a foolhardy decision because of a blind spot in his/her thinking.

Q: Since excellence is a huge value, how do untrained people in “the cul de sacs” actually do this dangerous mission without hurting (hindering, working against) the cause?
A: One of the ways that everyone can advance the work of justice is to identify injustice issues in areas where your church is already working.  IJM has developed a DVD training called As You Go that equips short term mission teams to identify injustice issues while they are in the field – whether they are there to build homes, work with orphanages, or share the faith, etc.  Once you identify injustice issues, it is important to share this with your church leadership so that a discussion can begin on what the church might do to pursue justice in these communities.  In this process, IJM can serve as a consultant to equip the church to respond in a way that helps rather than hinders the situation.  To learn more about this resource and to read stories about what several churches have done, visit http://www.ijm.org.  The short term mission training is located in the store and the church stories can be found in the Get Involved – For Churches section.