Jim Wallis is the driving force behind the Sojourners organization. This is the English word for ‘sojourners’ and refers to the fact that Christians do not have the earth as their home, but are merely passers-by or pilgrims. This means that they are fully involved in the world, but ultimately they are accountable to a different order. Wallis grew up in the Midwestern United States in an evangelical family. As a teenager he started asking questions about racial division and the role of the church and Christianity in it. Through his search, Wallis ended up in the black churches and black neighborhoods of Detroit. He also became involved in the civil rights and anti-war movement while studying at Michigan State University. He then studied theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity College in Illinois and, together with a number of other students, started a magazine called Post-American . The students mainly discussed the relationship between their faith and political issues, at that time mainly linked to the war in Vietnam. In doing so, they emphasized the social justice that the gospel promotes. The work resulted in the organization Sojourners, which quickly gained fame. In 1979, Wallis was named by Time magazine as one of America’s fifty future leaders.
Theologian
The theologian has written numerous books to which he owes his fame. Several of his books have also been translated into Dutch. One of his most recent books, God’s Politics: Why the Gets it Wrong and the Doesn’t Get It, spent four months on the New York Times bestseller list . He gives more than two hundred speeches annually and his columns appear in most major newspapers, including The New York Times , the Washington Post , Los Angeles Times, and News Week Online . He is also a regular guest on America’s most famous TV shows, including Meet the Press, the Daily Show with John Stewart and the Fox program the OReilly Factor. Wallis has taught at Harvard’s Divinity School and Kennedy School of Government .
Advisor to Barack Obama
An interesting fact is that he is seen as Barack Obama’s most important spiritual advisor. For example, he was one of the readers when the future president of America wrote his book The Audacity of Hope . Wallis is mentioned as a possible candidate to perform the prayer at his inauguration. Until 2000 this was done by Billy Graham and in 2004 by his son Franklin Graham. However, Billy Graham himself is no longer physically able to do this and Franklin Graham has passed himself over as a candidate by, among other things, speaking too negatively about Muslims. Walis currently lives in downtown Washington DC. He is married to Joy Caroll. She is a minister in the Anglican Church. Together they have two sons.
The Sojourners organization
The organization moved to Washington DC in 1975 and established its headquarters there. They lived in community of property and had regular prayer meetings together. In addition, they are fully committed to community work and have continued to publish the magazine. The work consists of several departments, such as the Sojourners Neighborhood Center. From the early 1980s to 2002, this center ran after-school and summer programs aimed at neighborhood youth who often suffered from social and learning disadvantages.
Over the years, some things have changed within the organization. In this way, the participants no longer live in common with goods, but they do live in common with a certain basis of rules. Sojourners describes itself as a committed group of Christians who work together and want to live the gospel in which spiritual renewal and social justice are an important part.
Call for Renewal
In 1995 the organization started the Call for Renewal festival . Together with a large number of other Christian organizations and churches that place a strong emphasis on the theology of social justice and standing up for the organization. In 2007 the name of the festival changed again to Sojourners. The festival has a major impact. For example, in 2007, then-presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Barack Obama sat together in a forum on Faith and Politics
Christian left
Sojourners has no specific ties to one denomination or group of Christians. In general, the group is seen as evangelical, but there are people from different backgrounds active within the organization, such as Roman Catholics, Pentecostals and Protestants. Under the Bush administration, the organization was seen by many as an alternative to the dominant voice of the Religious Right within and from the Christian spectrum. That is why the organization is sometimes referred to as Christian-left or Christian-social. my view on