Black History Month
When Faith Refuses to Stay Private
Pastor Trevor M. Crenshaw
In the late 19th century, a group of missionaries arrived in a colonized region of East Africa, carrying Bibles and building clinics. Among them was a young convert who began to read the scriptures for himself. One evening, the colonial governor attended a church service and was shocked to hear this young man praying for the “God of the Exodus to visit our land.”
The governor whispered to the young man, “You must keep your faith in your heart and in the heavens. Faith is for the salvation of your soul, not for the status of our laws. Don’t make your religion political.”
The young man replied with a counter-cultural clarity that silenced the room: “Sir, if my God is only interested in my soul but indifferent to my chains, then you are not describing the God of the Bible; you are describing a god who works for you. I serve the God who hears the cry of the oppressed and moves His feet toward the distressed.”
In our modern Western context, we are often pressured to keep our faith “privatized.” We are told that spirituality is personal and something for Sunday mornings, not something that should interfere with the social order. But the biblical text—from the thunderous cries of Amos to the inaugural sermon of Jesus—presents a faith that is inseparable from the fight for justice and liberation.
To examine faith’s role in this struggle, we must look to three central pillars at the heart of God’s Word.
The Proclamation of Personhood
Faith’s first role in the fight for justice is proclaiming personhood. In Genesis 1:27, we find the foundational truth of all liberation: “So God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God He created them.”
In a world that seeks to devalue, commodify, or discard certain groups of people based on race, class, or status, faith stands as a barrier against dehumanization. Justice is not merely a social preference; it is a theological necessity because every human being carries the Imago Dei—the Image of God.
When we fight for the rights of the marginalized, we are not just being “activists”; we are being “apologists” for God’s craftsmanship. We proclaim that no government, no system, and no person has the right to diminish what God has declared “very good” (Gen. 1:31). Faithful justice begins when we look at the “least of these” (Matt. 25:40) and see the face of the King.
The Pursuit of Parity
We see the pursuit of parity vividly in the prophet Amos’ words when he exclaimed, “But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!” (Amos 5:24). The word used for justice is mishpat, which means “rectifying justice.” It is not just about a “fair trial;” it is about actively dismantling systems that create inequality. Liberation is not just the absence of a visible chain; it is the presence of a flourishing life for all.
Faith plays a role by refusing to be satisfied with “order” when that order is bought at the price of “oppression.” We pursue parity by asking the hard questions: Who is missing from the table? Whose voice is being silenced? Whose labor is being exploited? A faith that ignores the economic and social disparities of its neighbors is a faith that has stopped reading the prophets. We are called to be the “repairers of the breach” (Is. 58:12), closing the gaps that sin has carved into our society.
The Power of Presence
Finally, faith provides the power of presence. In the liberation struggle, exhaustion is a common enemy. Many give up when the systems seem too large or the progress too slow. However, the biblical text reminds us that God is not a distant observer of the struggle; He is a participant.
In Exodus 3:7, God says, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out... and I am concerned about their suffering.” Then He says the most important words for any freedom fighter: “So I have come down to rescue them.” (Ex. 3:8).
The role of faith is to remind us that we do not march alone. The power of presence gives us “holy determination” to stay in the fight. We see this in Jesus, who did not just preach about liberation from a distance but became the “Word made flesh” (John 1:14) to dwell among us. He entered the pain, stood with the outcast, and eventually took the weight of the world’s injustice upon Himself on the cross. Faith tells us that because God is present in the struggle, victory—though it may be delayed—is inevitable.
Concluding Challenge
Remember your worship is not complete until your hands are busy undoing the heavy burdens of your neighbor. True faith is never a retreat from the world’s brokenness, but a courageous return to it, armed with the conviction that the God who saves the soul is the same God who demands the liberation of the oppressed.