Courage in Action
February 22, 2010
Yesterday in our middle school ministry, a volunteer leader was finishing a three-week teaching series inviting students to become aware of and engaged in acts of justice.
In particular, yesterday was focused on the issue of global slavery. The anti-slavery Not For Sale Campaign declared yesterday Freedom Sunday, an international day to rally churches “to declare that they are Not For Sale, you are Not For Sale and no one should be For Sale.” Stephanie pointed students to other websites like humantrafficking.org and invisiblechildren.com to help raise their awareness and inspire ideas for advocacy and action.
I always love when leaders open students’ eyes about the realities around them, and living in the L.A. area slavery is certainly more than a far-away issue. I also appreciate when leaders help connect the dots from ideas to concrete action, and yesterday kids left with a number of ideas for how to respond. But what I appreciate even more about Stephanie’s leadership is that she didn’t consider middle school students too naïve, distracted, useless, or powerless to become aware of real injustices and to act in response. She had the courage to begin conversations about justice-oriented lifestyles among students who aren’t too young to get involved in action that leads to the freedom and shalom of others.
And listening to their prayers yesterday, I think some of our students’ perspectives are in fact changing as a result of her courage.
©2010 Fuller Youth Institute