Michelle Ferrigno Warren - Join the Resistance: Step Into the Good Work of Kingdom Justice

I FIRST MET MICHELLE IN CHICAGO in July 2016. We were at a gathering for Christian justice leaders from around the United States at a time when the country and the church were becoming deeply divided along racial and political lines. Michelle and I were new to this group but not new to the conversation.

As we sat side by side in a discussion group, Michelle asked me about myself. I stated candidly, I am a pastor at a White megachurch in Texas. Michelles eyes widened and her face fell. She slowly and quietly responded. Wow. Im sorry was all she said.

As a White woman who for decades had lived, worked, and worshiped in majority BIPOC communities, Michelle understood the unique challenges working across racial lines, especially for me as a Black woman pastor serving a White congregation in Texas. For a season, she had lived in Dallas teaching middle school in a poor community of color and had experienced the racial and political tensions that existed in Texas. We did not say much as we sat there; the few words stated said enough.

We exchanged contact information and went on to intersect over the next several years in various spaces but always from that shared space of seeing each other as bridge builders.

I did not stay at that Texas church much longer. In 2016 I founded Be the Bridge, which seeks to empower people and culture toward racial healing, equity, and reconciliation. In my ongoing work and book Be the Bridge, I talk about the steps needed to move beyond awareness to the restorative work of making reconciliation a lifestyle.

We cannot fix what we dont understand. So we seek to understand the social and political construct of race and how to move toward racial solidarity and holistic restoration. You dont have to do it all, of course. But you can identify racial wrongs in the world around you and take one step toward making them right. Thats the work of reparations. Thats the work of the gospel.

Jesus came to restore individual people and break down systems of oppression, to provide a way for his kingdom to appear on earth as it is in heaven. He came so that we his followers could partner with him in restoring integrity and justice to broken systems, broken governments, and ultimately broken relationships. By building a bridge between the oppressed and the oppressors, he created space at the table and opened the conversation to explore a new way forward to build a future together.

To do this important restorative gospel work, we need to learn from others. Those who have been stepping into the troubled waters to resist racial injustice and division with the light of Christ can help us all know where to go.

Michelle is one of those light-shining kinds of people. She has been stepping into good work that actively repairs and restores what is broken at every level, from individual restoration and social justice transformation to the work of dismantling systemic injustice.

She helps shine this light on a new, necessary way forward in this book. She does not leave people with an imperative to go and do without showing us a way. As she sayshow you show up is as important as showing up. From the Prophets and Jesus parables to those who have gone before us, Michelle guides us forward, helping us set a new trajectory to restore racial brokenness through faith-rooted activism.

Many of us hide little flickers of hope inside our hearts, and we ignore the small nudges from God pushing us to change the direction of our lives. When we dont follow his leadings, we end up carrying on in the status quo even if its not the right thing, the most just thing. We have to be willing to shake things up, even if stepping into our calling leads us into deep pain and discomfort.

As you read the following principles for a life of love rooted in action and truth, please dont sleep on it. Move, act, and get involved in the good work of kingdom justice by resisting the status quo and seeking restorative justice together. Bridges are built not with passivity or avoidance but with the deep, hard work of seeking to understandthe deep hard work of fighting for justice for all.

INJUSTICE DOES NOT JUST HAPPEN, and it does not repair itself.

A while back, I joined a virtual book club with people who were reading my first book, The Power of Proximity. After talking, sharing, and answering questions, one of the participants asked if I thought the only way to heal injustice was through direct advocacy.

I answered no yet went on to share why I believe activismwhich includes advocacy, or taking your convictions to the public squareis an essential key toward overcoming injustice.

From the beginning of time, when everything that was good and perfect became broken and put evil on full display, we have been warring with our fellow humans. Those struggles and wars center around powerwho has it and who needs it? Power not only has guaranteed seats at the table, but it also has voice and access to get what it needs and wants. Those held down by injustice cannot even consider the power table as they struggle to manage one more day completely dependent on the systems that keep them in their place.

Those systems that work for some are keeping others in perpetual brokenness. This is not okay. For those of us who call ourselves Christians, who believe that in the reconciling work of Christ and his gospel we are to no longer operate in this post-fall, pre-Pentecost narrative, there is no difference between Jew or Greek (racial/cultural), slave or free (socioeconomic), male or female (gender); we are all one in Christ. If we share this one-ness, then we must submit to and work together toward ensuring that everyone is treated with dignity and respect. This is not happening as it should. We must be willing, as a foundational practice of our faith, to stand against oppressive, unjust systems by confronting power.