Christian justice and advocacy are hot topics for kids today. How can you help them harness their concerns in positive ways? Learn how teens can have an impact in their society and world.
The first time I engaged in a cause, I was in ninth grade. I was certain that my fellow female students and I faced discrimination at our large public high school. Of all horrors, we had to buy and wear district-approved gym suits. Male students, on the other hand, could wear their own shorts and tees. Fashion (or lack thereof) aside, it just wasn’t fair.
Slowly but surely, the word spread among the girls. “Don’t wear the gym suits! Bring your own shorts and tees.”
On gym day, we left at home the 1960s and ’70s throwbacks in favor of clothing like what the boys wore. We received zeroes for the day and had to sit silently on locker room benches. The boys got to play.
Then school authorities stepped in. The athletic director and principal confronted student-athletes. Neither person was impressed or amused. “There are reasons,” they said. “But they aren’t fair,” we countered. “You are leaders in this school and you should know better,” they replied. “And there are more effective ways to change things.”
The consequences for disobedience were potentially significant. They included failure to earn the required gym credit and suspension from our teams or from school. But these other ways to change things intrigued us.
In the end, we collected signatures of students, parents, and administrators (including our gym teachers and the AD), and petitioned the school board. It invited us to present our case, and, after a short deliberation, board members set us free from the awful suits.
Christian Justice and Advocacy for Teens
A sense of justice ignited by the discovery of a perceived injustice is a powerful force. The willingness to personally risk something to end an injustice is an even more powerful force. These factors motivate us to help each other. They move us to act on urges to do something rather than stand by.
I gained a voice that day, sitting silently on that bench. It wasn’t until years later that I understood why, for what purpose, I received that voice. Not until I became aware of sin and redemption, of grace and mercy, of the remedy for the selfish and unjust inclinations of the human heart, could even begin to understand Christian justice and advocacy.
To speak for people who have no voice is an essential part of following Christ and, even more so, of making him known. The two are inseparable and can’t be absent from the life of a Christ-follower.
