It brought me right back to my church experience where I first learned to recognize spiritual abuse. And I realized after these conversations that many of those who stayed had an overinflated view of the importance of loyalty. Loyalty is a good thing – we see that in Scripture. But it is not the BEST thing.

“Sorry kid, life’s not fair.”

May we never again say that to a child. Children have a wonderful, natural instinct toward fairness and justice – and so often we caregivers squash it with phrases like that.

For way too long, I went through life second-guessing people who told me about different types of mistreatment they experienced, witnessed, or heard about. I doubted that what they were saying could really happen.

There is a seemingly constant barrage of news about churches and people of faith being caught flat-footed when it comes to justice issues. The world is desperate for a church that is trained theologically and practically for the work of justice.

Many of us have worked in mercy ministries and found that charity plays an important role in helping people thrive. But sooner or later, we run up against (or are the victims of) larger forces that go beyond what our 1-on-1 interactions or charitable resources can accomplish.

Last summer, in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, large numbers of people came together to learn about and to speak out about the injustices happening in their own backyards.

A treasured maxim applies to investing at least as well as it does to the medical profession: first, do no harm.