The Foundational Statement of Sojourners

The following is the foundational statement of what became the Sojourners community and magazine. It was written by Jim Wallis in the fall of 1970. The sentiment of this statement as it was expressed in the early issues of Post-American, which Jim and his colleagues began publishing in 1971—and which became Sojourners in 1975—was what spurred my own sojourn from being primarily concerned with Christian philosophy/apologetics to greater concern for Christian social ethics (as mentioned in this blog post of April 5, 2021). 

The church has failed to adequately communicate the gospel of Jesus Christ to our culture. . . . Because Christians are not living the gospel they are proclaiming, the church has become tragically irrelevant to our times and problems, and is losing touch with the world we live in. . . .

The church lacks a dynamic, biblical social ethic in this time of great national and world crisis. Never has our world so needed the prophetic voice of the church. The scriptures are clear in condemning social and economic injustice, oppression, racism, hypocrisy, environmental destruction, and the kind of chauvinistic nationalism that gives rise to aggression, imperialism, and endless war. To these crucial issues and other forms of human suffering, the church today has been silent, indifferent, or even stubbornly reactionary—fighting against necessary change, supporting and sanctifying the status quo. . . . Biblical instruction is clear in teaching that faith divorced from social justice is a mockery. True spirituality manifests itself in a concern for the needs and rights of people.

(Jim Wallis, Revive Us Again: A Sojourner’s Story [1983], p. 79)