Voices: Justice is something we learn and practice

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EDITOR’S NOTE: “Justice looks like …” is a special series in the Voices column. Readers will have the opportunity to consider justice from numerous viewpoints. The series is based on each writer’s understanding of Scripture and relationship with Jesus Christ. Writers present their own views independent of any institution, unless otherwise noted in their bios.

You are encouraged to listen to each writer without prejudgment. Then, engage in conversation with others around you about what justice looks like to you.

Click here for more information about the series. Click here to read the full “Justice looks like…” series.


The first time I truly began to understand what the word “justice” meant to me and my faith in Christ was under a pecan tree during my seminary days in Waco.

John Perkins, the civil rights activist, Christian leader and founder of the Christian Community Development Association, sat me down under that tree, and over a meal of cracked pecans, he told me what it was like to grow up as a Black man in our shared home state of Mississippi.

John was in Waco after the annual CCDA convention. He was coming to preach at Mission Waco’s Church Under the Bridge, and I was tasked with hosting him. This led to the opportunity to dialogue about the truth of justice that would change my life.

When I learned about justice

I am embarrassed to say this was the first time I made the effort to listen to a story like this. For me, growing up in the church in the Deep South did not offer me the opportunity to hear the heroic stories of men like John Perkins and the justice they sought. I never was taught that my faith should move me towards fighting for the rights of others and for justice-centered initiatives.

During my time in seminary, I started exploring Scripture passages and theology about race, justice, equality and mercy. I was astonished to see the Bible come alive as a repository of justice-centered stories and commandments.

Passages like the following convicted me and caused me to repent:


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Learn to do right; seek justice.
Defend the oppressed.
Take up the cause of the fatherless;
plead the case of the widow (Isaiah 1:17).

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19).

There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).

It was because of these encounters that I set out on a career of seeking, teaching and doing justice in the church and now do so as a leader of a historic Dallas nonprofit.

Where I practice justice

At Brother Bill’s Helping Hand, we serve the men, women and children who are represented in these passages. Many are oppressed, fatherless, widowed, poor, formerly incarcerated or in poor health.

Because we believe all are created in God’s image, we are compelled to provide our neighbors with the essentials of life: food for the hungry; care for their mental and physical health; and job training, education and Christian discipleship.

We do this, not out of a secular humanism compulsion, but rather from a place of deep devotion to the God who has taught us that imago Dei exists in all humans, regardless of skin color, social status, wealth, health or past.

As believers, if we ignore this conviction, the Spirit of Christ is not in us.

The lingering effect of our words

As I prepared this article, I re-read several past articles and sermons from white pastors here in Dallas during the era of desegregation. It was an important but difficult exercise. To hear these men of God say hurtful and untrue words about their understanding of God and people of different races was excruciatingly painful.

Even today, it brings me great pain to read and hear articles, sermons and social media posts from Christians—more specifically, white Christians—who simply do not see these themes in the Bible, nor see these problems in our current climate.

Christians, and unfortunately many of my Baptist brothers and sisters, have been on the wrong side of God’s plan for humanity for many years.

This was not 150 or 200 years ago; this was 50 to 60 years ago. While some of these pastors repented, others let that legacy of bigotry live on within their churches and congregations. They let it fester and be fueled by new narratives of fear and hate, narratives I still hear echoes of today.

Embrace a redeemed narrative

We as Christians must embrace a redeemed narrative, one not sullied by secular thought, but rather supported by Scripture, influenced by the Holy Spirit and modeled by Jesus.

The neighbors, staff members and community we know and love are disproportionately vulnerable to the current injustice. This is an unavoidable truth. We have witnessed stories of hardship, abuse and suffering at the hands of those in power for far too long.

But we are not dismayed or deterred. At Brother Bill’s Helping Hand, we intend to continue to unify the body of Christ by loving our neighbors as ourselves.

Wes Keyes is the executive director of Brother Bill’s Helping Hand. He has worked in impoverished communities in Waco, Dallas, Rural Mississippi, Haiti, Turkey, Guatemala and elsewhere.

Click here to read the full “Justice looks like…” series.


We seek to connect God’s story and God’s people around the world. To learn more about God’s story, click here.

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