Ben Lowe is on staff with the Evangelical Environmental Network and serves as the national spokesperson for Young Evangelicals for Climate Action. Ben was raised a missionary kid in Southeast Asia and now lives in community in a refugee and immigrant neighborhood outside Chicago, where he ran for US Congress in 2010. He is a graduate of Wheaton College (IL) and the author of Doing Good Without Giving Up: Sustaining Social Action in a World That’s Hard to Change
KW: What are some positive cultural trends you are seeing with regard to justice and justice work?
BL: It’s been exciting over the last decade to witness biblical justice become a much more mainstream and integral priority across many churches and campuses. In some hopeful ways and places, justice concerns are even transcending partisan politics and overcoming entrenched conservative/progressive stereotypes. Numerous books and resources are available to help ground and sustain this growth, along with important gatherings like the Justice Conference and groups such as the Christian Community Development Association. This is all tremendously encouraging.
KW: How do you think we’ve created an idol out of doing justice?
BL: There’s a whole chapter in the book about idolatry in our activism and advocacy. It takes on many different forms—I write about how we idolize ourselves, others, or even the cause—but whenever we set anything apart from or put anything ahead of God in our justice work, we know we’re off track. Jesus belongs at the center of all we are and do and our overriding goal is always to be faithful to him. Faithfulness is how we define success as followers of Christ, and out of faithfulness comes fruitfulness (see John 15:5).
KW: What are some of the practices you discuss for helping sustain Christ-centered justice?
BL: Each chapter in the second half of the book focuses on a particular practice or theme that has been an essential part of faithful activism and advocacy for me and others through the years. Topics include loving sacrificially, being prophetic, practicing contemplation, remembering the Sabbath, dealing with opposition, investing in community, and more. These aren’t quick tips or tricks, but rather are spiritual disciplines for all of us to intentionally cultivate over time.
KW: Can you illustrate how one of those practices has been helpful for you?
BL: In the book I share about an intense burnout experience and how my path to recovery included working with mentors and advisors to develop boundaries and start taking the Sabbath, contemplation, and community much more seriously. While these practices have all been instrumental in protecting me from further burnout, having a safety net of mentors and advisors to help catch me in the downward spiral was critical. We don’t run this race alone. Seeking out mentors who can help guide us in the work God is calling us to do, and the people God is calling us to become is essential, life-giving, and often neglected.
KW: What is your role at EEN? What message would you like to give the church about creation care and justice?
BL: I help spearhead Young Evangelicals for Climate Action (YECAction.org) and am also involved in our growing collaborations with mission agencies, relief and development organizations, and other creation care groups. Caring for creation is an integral issue of biblical justice, a matter of life and health, and a joyful calling for all followers of Christ.
I pray in particular that God will give us the wisdom and courage to face up to the urgent moral, environmental, and humanitarian challenge of climate change. We have a prophetic opportunity here to live out the love of Christ by 1) helping communities prepare for what are now unavoidable impacts, and 2) building a moral movement that will accelerate the transformation from further climate pollution to a clean economy and environment. There are much better ways forward here and I believe God is calling us to bear witness to a better world and to do our part to bring it about. To inspire hope against fear, speak truth to power, and pursue love against injustice.
KW: As a Christian, what is your encouragement to the church?
BL: It won’t always be like this. One day there will be no more need for activism and advocacy. Shalom will be restored, all things will be renewed, and God’s kingdom will be fully established among us. But until that day comes, let us not give up on doing and sharing God’s good work, for we know it’s not in vain. We may not be able to overcome sin on our own, but Christ has done that for us. And with the Holy Spirit’s help, we can overcome the effects of sin—including injustice, suffering, and degradation—wherever it rears its ugly head. Greater is the one who indwells and leads us, than the one who wreaks havoc and despair in the world.
KW: What is your hope for those that read this book?
BL: To be encouraged and empowered to persevere in following God faithfully in all areas of life and mission—particularly in being salt and light together in this good but groaning world.
