Image of globes and the question "How are we trying to change the world?"

 

“World change” is such a vague standard to work towards. So how do we, at Average Advocate define world change?

 

The community at Average Advocate was founded to focus on global social justice issues that go beyond our Western borders.

 

These include, but are not limited to the following:

 

-Modern slavery:

  • Human trafficking
  • Sex trafficking
  • Labor trafficking
  • Related injustices

-Extreme poverty:

  • Famine
  • Education
  • Clean water
  • Distribution of resources
  • Homelessness

-Sustainable development

-Women’s issues

-Refugees & immigration

-Genocide

-Conflict zones

-Other forms of extreme injustice:

  • Racism
  • Abuse
  • Widows without rights
  • Tyrannical governments

-Orphans – children in need of care:

  • Adoption
  • Foster care

 

We are not limiting ourselves to these topics of advocacy, let alone requiring our conversations to be concerning what affects other countries–rather, we realize changing the world on a grand-level usually requires us to be active where we are first.

 

And yet, our passion is to not stay satisfied with responding to needs on a local level, but to get to a place where we love our global neighbor, both literally and globally.

 

Actually, at our core, that is what Average Advocate is all about–simply to learn the art of loving others. (Which usually means we learn to love ourselves too.)

 

We do acknowledge that not all causes are listed here. After all, many do-gooder causes are actually opposing forces of each other. So why did we choose these ones?

 

Average Advocate was birthed out of a response to these ancient words:

 

No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good,
    And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
    and to walk humbly[a] with your God.

Micah 6:8 NLT/NIV

 

“He ensures that orphans and widows receive justice. He shows love to the foreigners living among you and gives them food and clothing.”

Deuteronomy 10:18 NLT

 

“There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

Galatians 3:28 NLT

 

“No, this is the kind of fasting I want:
Free those who are wrongly imprisoned;
    lighten the burden of those who work for you.
Let the oppressed go free,
    and remove the chains that bind people.
Share your food with the hungry,
    and give shelter to the homeless.
Give clothes to those who need them,
    and do not hide from relatives who need your help.

“Then your salvation will come like the dawn,
    and your wounds will quickly heal.
Your godliness will lead you forward,
    and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind.
Then when you call, the Lord will answer.
    ‘Yes, I am here,’ he will quickly reply.

“Remove the heavy yoke of oppression.
    Stop pointing your finger and spreading vicious rumors!
10 Feed the hungry,
    and help those in trouble.
Then your light will shine out from the darkness,
    and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon.

Isaiah 58:6-10 NLT

 

‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.  A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.

Matthew 22:37-38 NLT

 

“Give [your entire tithe] it to the Levites, who will receive no allotment of land among you, as well as to the foreigners living among you, the orphans, and the widows in your towns, so they can eat and be satisfied. Then the Lord your God will bless you in all your work.”

Deuteronomy 14:29 NLT

 

Do we claim to understand all the passages in the Bible? Is this supposed to be a valid  theological argument to respond to these specific social issues? And what about ancient scripture from other religions?

 

Yes, we do realize there are lots of confusing segments in Biblical scripture, and we are also not making theological statement by choosing only these passages to display. Neither do we claim to understand all the gray areas. In addition, we apprecaited that others, from various backgrounds, motivate individuals to show justice and compassion.

 

These ancient words were chosen as our standard simply because these were our founder’s original inspiration, and birthed an advocacy movement. We still believe the above scriptures are beautiful enough to live by.

 

Considering, we are not opposed to other respectful conversations being brought up as a response to our interpretation of the word “justice.”  But we reserve the right to stick by our original inspiration. We aren’t here to cause division, rather, simply to try to bring a little heaven to earth in these areas specifically. We know there is a place for you elsewhere if we disagree on what “justice” means. But let’s focus on what we do agree on!

 

Seek Justice and the world will never be the same

 

Check out this post which got me (Elisa) started “Seeking Justice”