Will Samson - Justice in the Burbs: Being the Hands of Jesus Wherever You Live

Will and Lisa are provocateurs of imagination, writing from a desert where folks are thirsty for more than the American dream. This is a much-needed invitation for justice to flow through the suburbs like mighty waters and bring to life all the parched souls trapped in the ghettos of poverty and wealth.

Shane Claiborne, activist, author, The Irresistible
Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical

Will and Lisa have joined talents to offer a compelling argument for living justly in an unjust world, and for loving our neighbors in a hands-on, life-changing way. If story is what speaks to your soul, Lisa weaves throughout these pages one fictional familys journey toward a more Christ-centered, less me-centered lifestyle. If an impassioned presentation of twenty-first-century, worldview thinking is your style, Will has that covered with a historical, biblical, and practical approach to social justice. As Will writes, Its hard to convince the world that Jesus cares when we dont. With heart and head firmly grounded in the gospel, Will and Lisa show us how and why caring for our neighbors truly matters.

Liz Curtis Higgs, author, Bad Girls of the Bible

Will and Lisa Samsons new book, Justice in the Burbs, is a moving book. I read the book and wept with recognition of the deep need for justice in this world of violence, inequality, and suffering. I read the book and wept with recognition of my own complicity in the typical reluctance of comfortable Christians to act with justice. But most of all, I wept with joy, knowing how many people will be moved to join the work for justice God has already begun in the world. The combination of Lisas compelling narrative and Wills deep analysis, along with punchy reflections by a host of top Christian thinkers, is a perfect setup for raising the j word in your church. Justice in the burbs? Yes, but dont stop there! This book calls for Gods justice everywhere!

Christian Scharen, director, Faith as a Way of Life Project,
Yale Center for Faith and Culture, Yale Divinity School;
author, One Step Closer: Why U2 Matters
to Those Seeking God

Whatever happened to the vital social and moral energies of the Christian faith? They are alive and throbbing in this book that shows how the gospel can walk the missing sidewalks and unfriendly cul-de-sacs of the suburbs.

Leonard Sweet, Drew Theological School,
George Fox University, www.wikiletics.com

JUSTICE IN THE
BURBS

mersion

Emergent Village resources for communities of faith

An Emergent Manifesto of Hope
edited by Doug Pagitt and Tony Jones

Organic Community
Joseph R. Myers

Signs of Emergence
Kester Brewin

Justice in the Burbs
Will and Lisa Samson

Intuitive Leadership
Tim Keel (October 2007)

Losing My Religion
Samir Selmanovic (Summer 2008)

www.emersionbooks.com

JUSTICE IN THE
BURBS

BEING THE HANDS OF JESUS WHEREVER YOU LIVE

WILL & LISA SAMSON

2007 by Will and Lisa Samson

Published by Baker Books
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.bakerbooks.com

Printed in the United States of America

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meansfor example, electronic, photocopy, recordingwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Samson, Will, 1964
Justice in the burbs : being the hands of Jesus wherever you live /
Will and Lisa Samson.
p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 10: 0-8010-6809-6 (pbk.)
ISBN 978-0-8010-6809-6 (pbk.)
1. Christianity and justice. 2. Social justiceReligious aspects Christianity. 3. SuburbanitesUnited StatesReligious life. 4. Evangelistic work. I. Samson, Lisa, 1964 II. Title.
BR115.J8S36 2007
261.8dc22 2007007418

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture is taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture marked NIV is taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

Scripture marked NKJV is taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Emergent Village resources for communities of faith

mersion is a partnership between Baker Books and Emergent Village, a growing, generative friendship among missional Christians seeking to love our world in the Spirit of Jesus Christ. The mersion line is intended for professional and lay leaders like you who are meeting the challenges of a changing culture with vision and hope for the future. These books will encourage you and your community to live into Gods kingdom here and now.

From the beginning of the Christian faith, the agenda of God has been intended for all the world. And people of faith were called to proclaim the justice of God in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). There is no limit to places of justice, and there is no place outside the scope of where justice should be lived.

In Justice in the Burbs, Will and Lisa Samson lead a crucial conversation about how we can all lead lives of justice in the obvious and not-so-apparent places. For those who feel that justice is an issue for only the urban center, this important book creates a vision and plan for living justly from the city to the suburbs and to the ends of the earth.

This book is dedicated to
Bill and Arlene Samson,
who taught us to how to radically follow
Jesus wherever he might lead.

CONTENTS

We failed.

We wanted to say that from the start because questions of success have such huge significance in our culture. Its the dedicated athlete, soldier, or businessman who becomes the motivational speaker. They will give you some formula with three or five or seven steps and tell you they know this success formula works because it worked for them. They may even make some promise as to what they believe their method will do for you.

We cannot do that. We failed to live a life of justice in the suburbs, and this book is, at least in part, our mea culpa our confession of insufficiency.

Ironically, that insufficiency may give us a unique vantage point as storytellers. The contemporary tale of justice seems to be one with few chapters and even fewer happy endings. Perhaps this is why the title alone, Justice in theBurbs, gets such a great instant reaction when we mention it to people. We all have this sense that we are to be participating in writing Gods story of love in the world, and yet it can be very difficult to know how, particularly in the suburbs.

Regarding our citizenship in the burbs, we are both insiders and outsiders. We are insiders in the sense that until very recently, we lived all of our lives in that setting. We lived, worked, raised children, and labored in churches, all in the context of the suburbs. We are products of the American suburban experience.