By Angela D’Amour, Dean of Student Engagement Students in an Age of Activism

One of my great joys as dean of student engagement is to encounter students who care deeply about their neighbors and who strive to promote healthy social change. Over the past few years more students than ever have arrived at Westmont committed to important issues like environmental sustainability, racial justice, and ending homelessness. At times, students adopt a vision for activism that consciously or unconsciously urges them to choose between their faith and these critical social issues. 

I hear students ask, "Why the church is inconsistent when it comes to pursuing the issues that worldly activists give their lives for?" These are not easy questions, but they are worth addressing and I have been considering how to appropriately aide and support our students into a more robust relationship with Christ and the local church while seeking to understand and shape the systems that are broken in this age of activism. 

I spent time this summer considering how the Gospel informs and shapes the way we pursue activism and social change. I considered the question, "How we can know if our political or social activism is wise or godly?" as I met with faculty colleagues, dug into the scriptures, and read other articles and books I was encouraged by the many dynamic models of activism in the Bible, but I was also sobered by the very real suffering experienced by the many disciples and prophets who were tortured or even martyred for their faith and beliefs. The Gospel is not simply good news about personal salvation. It is also about loving our neighbors and helping others to flourish, especially those who have been historically marginalized. Gospel centered activism begins in covenant communities - churches or groups that God calls us to participate in to support one another, hold one another accountable, and to remind one another of "The End Game." We are in the Kingdom of God yet we are broken sinful people; only the Holy Spirit can guide us to lasting Kingdom change. Dr. Sandy Richter, Old Testament professor at Westmont, said it well when she told me, "Self-identifying as members of the same tribe with the same Lord and the same ultimate objectives in mind will take us miles further and faster than common day activism." God created and intended for us to live, learn, and to activate through community. 

While community is critical, assuming that any community is a perfect representation of the body of Christ will leave believers feeling discouraged and disappointed. Unfortunately, it is too easy to re-identify brothers and sisters in Christ as enemies because they don't see the world in the same way that we do. However, the villanization of our neighbors in defense of our causes might be the most dangerous trap of modern-day activism. The true enemy is not our fellow people, but the powers of evil that seek to divide us and separate us from Christ. Martin Luther King Jr., in the collection of his sermons Strength to Love, reminds us as Jesus said that as believers we must simultaneously be as the wise as the serpent and as gentle as the dove, having a tough mind and a tender heart. We are to be astute and discerning, cultivating truth and facts, alongside a capacity for genuine compassion. As I continue to engage with students, to mentor students, and to guide them toward gospel centered activism, my aim is to help prepare students to be good citizens in their residence halls, in the classrooms, in their leadership positions, and in their communities as they ultimately learn how to be citizens of the eternal Kingdom of God.