Our Mutual Mission of Love-Driven Justice

By Fraser Venter

Psalm 89:14 says, “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; steadfast love and faithfulness go before you.” Or as Eugene Peterson devotionally states, “The Right and Justice are the roots of your rule; Love and Truth are its fruits” (MSG).

And complementing this sentiment, Psalm 111:7–8 adds, “The works of his hands are faithful and just; all his precepts are trustworthy. They are established forever and ever, to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness.”

We continue to read, “For the Lord loves justice; he will not forsake his faithful ones” and “Mighty King, lover of justice, you have established equity; you have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob” (Psalm 37:28, 99:4).

As you see for the psalmist and us, it is not simply that God cares abstractly about justice; it is that God loves justice, does justice, is justice, and provides our trustworthy foundation through His precepts in how to act justly.

Peter Drucker’s “The Five Most Important Questions You Will Ever Ask About Your Nonprofit Organization” remains a relevant leadership resource and reminder. The five questions Drucker shares embody his core leadership principle: to serve is to live. One of those fundamental questions to identify that principle is “What is our mission?” We know that mission inspires, gives purpose, guides, builds legacy, and impacts, and should be evaluated and measured often.

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“For such a time as this, to accomplish this mission, we have been called to ignite a Spirit-fueled movement that embodies five values that we view as a whole.”

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The Free Methodist Church USA mission inspires, gives us purpose, and impacts the world by calling us to love God, love people, and make disciples. For such a time as this, to accomplish this mission, we have been called to ignite a Spirit-fueled movement that embodies five values that we view as a whole, each bringing balance and shape to our identity as we participate in making this mission known to the world.

One of those values is Love-Driven Justice! We define this part of our identity in mission by the following:

Love is the way we demonstrate God’s heart for justice by valuing the image of God in all women, men, and children, acting with compassion toward the oppressed, resisting oppression, and stewarding Creation. 

We devote ourselves to our founders’ deep convictions around matters of injustice as they took their stand against the evils of slavery, the oppression of the poor, the marginalization of women, and the abuse of power in the church.

Our heart for justice continues and expands today, fueled by God’s holy love for the unborn, the vulnerable, oppressed, marginalized, and people of all races and ethnicities.

The Free Methodist Way is not only to realize a better society, but that all may be reconciled to God and one another in ways that reflect God’s just character.

Our founders relentlessly pursued the mission by introducing people to the saving grace of Christ, promoting holiness both set apart and invasive, and transforming society for the sake of God’s character and definition of justice.

B.T. Roberts reminded us when talking about being an earnest Christian that truth and justice are recognizable attributes of God, and in whatever way they may be trampled in the dust, we as a people know we cannot be false to them and, at the same time, be true to God.

In other words, in the days we live where truth and justice are both trampled and misunderstood in both secular and sacred spaces, we, as Free Methodists, are called to pursue our lives in Christ in such a way that His truth guides us in our biblical practice and witness of justice in our churches, communities, nation, and world.

Our theological foundation as Wesleyans is steeped in love and relationship and, therefore, defines us as we “love God, love people, and make disciples.” This theological foundation has caused us to pursue freedom that takes the Methodism we inherited and expresses it in uniquely defining ways of how we treat one another.

Love-Driven Justice invites us to see our freedom not only as a gift of grace to be received but a gift of grace to be given persistently so that others may experience freedom in Christ, leading to a life that flourishes and thrives in our churches and communities.

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“Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.” – Martin Luther King

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Martin Luther King said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.”

As Free Methodists, we are joyfully caught in this mutuality, bringing our witness, practices, and theology to the world.

I am excited that as we gather for General Conference 2023, we will have an opportunity to meet in our breakouts (also known as focus groups) to strategically learn more about The Free Methodist Way and see how beautifully the values interact with each other. The Love-Driven Justice breakout will help better equip, empower, and inspire you toward the practice of Love-Driven Justice in your context.

For four days, we will be looking at Love-Driven Justice through the filter of our other FM Way values as we hear from some of our best justice practitioners from around the nation and globe:

Tuesday, July 25: “Cross-Cultural Collaboration and Love-Driven Justice” with Dr. Stella G. Bokare

We will learn together how powerful the connection of Cross-Cultural Collaboration with Love-Driven Justice can be, and we will be challenged in how we see the needs of those around us.

Dr. Stella desires to see generations being raised for Jesus, and she truly is a child advocate. She currently is the ICCM global program director and previously served as the South Asia regional coordinator for the past 10 years, a role that led her to avenues of justice in her work region.

Wednesday, July 26: “God-Given Revelation and Love-Driven Justice” with Rev. Dr. Ben Wayman, Rev. Dr. Helen Rhee, Rev. Ayebale Barigye, Superintendent Jon Sato, and Rev. Marissa Mattox Heffernan

This remarkable panel will unpack the inaugural sermon of Jesus in Luke 4 and how God-Given Revelation is foundational for a Love-Driven Justice message of the gospel.

Ben Wayman is the senior pastor at St. Paul’s Free Methodist Church in Greenville, Illinois. He also holds the James F. and Leona N. Andrews Chair for Christian Unity and serves as chair of the Bastian School of Theology, Philosophy, and Ministry at Greenville University.

Helen Rhee, an ordained elder at the Free Methodist Church of Santa Barbara, is a professor of church history at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California. She is the author of four books: “Early Christian Literature: Christ and Culture in the Second and Third Centuries,” “Loving the Poor, Saving the Rich: Wealth, Poverty, and Early Christian Formation,” “Wealth and Poverty in Early Christianity” and “Illness, Pain, and Health Care in Early Christianity.”

Ayebale Barigye serves as the pastor of congregational life at St. Paul’s Free Methodist Church. He’s also the teen programming director at the Simple Room, a nonprofit youth development center in Greenville, Illinois.

Rev. Jon Sato is the superintendent of the Free Methodist Church in Southern California. He previously served the FMCSC in various capacities including as the executive minister, the assistant superintendent, and interim superintendent.

For over 20 years, Rev. Marissa Mattox Heffernan has served in several different contexts of worship ministry. The unity experienced in worship has driven her to explore what the culture of Christianity would look like if all people were equally recognized as image-bearers of God. Marissa serves as co-chair/director of the Justice Network of the FMC, on the board of the FMC’s African Heritage Network, and as associate pastor of discipleship at New Hope Free Methodist Church in Rochester, New York.

Thursday, July 27: “Christ-Compelled Multiplication and Love-Driven Justice” with Pastors William and Marianne Peña and Pastors Chance and Dee Dee Galloway

We will hear from both U.S. and global church planters on the value of how justice is a vital part of multiplication.

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“They are passionate about discipleship and equipping believers to function as the priesthood of believers.”

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William and Marianne Peña are co-pastors/co-planters serving at Essential Life Church in Spring, Texas, just north of Houston. They are passionate about discipleship and equipping believers to function as the priesthood of believers. They are planting Essential Life Church as a church of house churches, where they train and empower called leaders to pastor others — discipling them and caring for their needs.

Chance and Dee Dee Galloway serve as missionaries in Bulgaria. They bought, renovated, and opened a safe house for women and children that is currently housing Ukrainian refugees. They also have a ministry called the Pure Farm, which trains the disenfranchised how to organically farm the land with the produce given to the less fortunate, and a Bible training discipleship center. They have planted 46 churches in three countries.

On Friday, July 28: “Life-Giving Holiness and Love-Driven Justice” with Superintendent Michael Traylor

As an ordained elder and superintendent of The River Conference, Dr. Traylor brings years of practical experiences on the topic of how holiness meets justice in the church, community-based ministries and the medical profession.

Along with these amazing presenters, you will hear more about the various networks in the Free Methodist Church including the AHN (African Heritage Network), AWL (Advocates for Women in Leadership), Conexiõn Latina Metodista Libre, Justice Network, and our Liturgical Network.

In addition, you will get updates and practical ways for you to participate with our FM global justice partners – Free Methodist World Missions, ICCM, ELI, Heavenly Treasures, Set Free, and Wunders.

Our time together will allow us to be equipped and learn from each other how to implement this important value of The FM Way, Love-Driven Justice, both in your church and community. Importantly, you will get an opportunity to connect with others who in their local and global contexts are doing great justice work.

My hope is that you will leave the breakout encouraged in not just knowledge but practical ways to demonstrate the kingdom value of justice in your context.

Kingdom People

I leave you with this encouragement and goal for our GC23 Love-Driven Justice breakout from our friend Rev. Dr. Howard Snyder:

Kingdom people seek first the Kingdom of God and its justice; church people often put church work above concerns of justice, mercy, and truth. Church people often think about how to get people into church; Kingdom people think about how to get the church into the world. Church people worry that the world might change the church; Kingdom people work to see the church change the world.

When Christians put the church ahead of the Kingdom they settle for the status quo and their own kind of people. When they catch a vision of the Kingdom of God their sights shift to the poor, the orphan, the widow, the refugee ‘the wretched of the earth’ and to God’s future.

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“If the church has one great need it is this: to be set free for the Kingdom of God, to be liberated from itself as it has become in order to be itself as God intends.” – Rev. Dr. Howard Snyder

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They see the life and work of the church from the perspective of the Kingdom. If the church has one great need it is this: to be set free for the Kingdom of God, to be liberated from itself as it has become in order to be itself as God intends (“Liberating the Church, The Ecology of Church and Kingdom”).

Our mission is clear to love God, love others, and make disciples. Now may we demonstrate it. May Love-Driven Justice be one of the ways we participate in integrating this mission to the glory of Jesus and the freedom of people.

I am serving with you and for you as the strategic catalyst for Love-Driven Justice to serve our national and global leaders, churches, conferences, schools, organizations, and denomination in pursuing biblical justice.

I look forward to meeting you at GC 23.

“Justice is not just a temporal problem seeking temporal solutions but a spiritually formed calling both individually and communally bringing a spiritual solution, Jesus.”

Scripture verses in this article are from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition unless otherwise noted.

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