Just Like Jesus - A YBA Journey in 2021

ON 3rd June 2020 the YBA Regional Ministers wrote this response to the lament and protests at the murder of George Floyd:

"What we see and hear are not new conditions of injustice yet God graciously calls us once again to work with all our energy to dismantle those strongholds of evil which are prejudice, systemic racism and inequality. As Baptists we began our history in protesting for freedom and liberty for all. We say again that it is our duty to examine ourselves, to be informed and to engage actively in dismantling racism in both the public and private spheres we each inhabit. This is not something we can achieve with a fleeting concern but rather with commitment to a lifetime journey."

We invite you to commit to an intentional journey towards the holy justice of God
- click here for the YBA Theological Statement.                   Artwork (c) Eleanor Brennan

Since June, we have been praying and sharing with Baptists in our Association and in the Union, and we have particularly sought to work out what this intentional justice journey looks like for the YBA. As we look at ourselves, both individually and as YBA team and Executive, we also want to share the resources, reflections and challenges with YBA churches and encourage you to focus on justice with us.  We believe it is important at this time to start with matters of racial justice but we will also look at how inequality and exclusion impact on other groups of people who should all know the welcome of God.

We offer you Just like Jesus to start off a lifelong commitment to justice in all its aspects. We believe this is rooted in all that Jesus said and did as the incarnate Son, as God with us.

Monthly challenges – Making a Start and Seeing a Change

Each month for a year we will suggest some challenges. Some are very simple – one-off exercises to help you make a start. Others are about making and sustaining changes to the way you do things so that our habitual, maybe unconscious, behaviour becomes more just. They can be done individually but we recommend you do them with others. All the challenges are better reflected and prayed upon with others and ideally this is a journey for your church or community to make together. Do one challenge or all the challenges. Like anything worthwhile, the more you keep going with this journey, the more you will benefit. If it takes more than one year – keep going!

Journey together – be accountable to one another

Let us know your intention so we can pray for you and offer YBA support. Click here to email Regional Minister Mary Taylor.

For churches that are committed to this through 2021 we will try to link you up with someone in the YBA who can accompany you and be a good sounding board in matters of justice. This way too, we will be sharing together as Jesus teaches us, sharing our discoveries, our need to change and the inner and outer steps we are taking.

There will also be a Just like Jesus group facilitated by Mary  . If you’d like to take this journey but have no one else to share it with we’ll hold Zoom meetings and take the challenges together through the year.

Ministers focusing on their continuing ministerial development (CMD) could benefit from taking part in a Just Like Jesus group.

Each month we will publish the two challenges and we want to hear back from you too. Send us your photos, book reviews, services, reflections. At the same time as you take up these challenges, we think God will be opening up the Bible to you through fresh eyes. Please share with us the words of Jesus, the stories and the teaching, which become powerful for you through the year.

Key Questions

Whatever steps you take, key Just like Jesus questions are: What do I feel? What have I learned? How is my experience different from others? What does the Bible tell me? What do I/we need to change?

The first three months

January

Making a Start
When you have time, watch the BBC programme Sitting in Limbo.

Then with someone else or in a small group, ask these questions:

• What emotions did you experience as you watched the film, and why was that?
• What struck you as odd, now, unfair and even outright racist?
• Suggest changes we should make at the personal and societal levels.

Seeing a Change
Start a Just like Jesus journal.

Write, draw, scribble your thoughts, feelings and questions as you take this journey with Jesus and as you follow the suggestions. Ask the Holy Spirit to teach you through Scripture and through life. When you read Bible passages that are about justice write them in your journal. Make a note of your own experiences and how they differ from others. Write about your resistance, your prayers and your encounters with others. If you are doing this as a church why not give everyone a journal?

February

Making a Start
Watch the BUGB Listening to God video with Christine Hudson-Roberts, and then use the "I can’t breathe" prayer exercise by Jane Day (pictured) - click here.

Seeing a Change
Book a JustAware! session for your deacons, housegroup leaders or whole church for a date in 2021. Contact Mary - click here.

Racial Justice Sunday 14th February.

March

Making a Start
In October 2020 Baptist Union Council called for a day of prayer focused on justice issues in which lament plays a significant role. Plan your own day of lament on Good Friday (2nd April 2021). You will find some resources here.

Seeing a Change
As a church, review your programmes and rotas and plan to have a wider range of people leading, preaching and leading prayer and worship in your services and other meetings. Try to have someone different involved, whether from your own church or invited from outside, at least once every 3 weeks.