Jim Wallis and Sojourners

We strongly encourage you to look into it as we did but as this can very time consuming we hope to shorten the time that you could spend wading through the sea of literature to help you get at the truth about Jim Wallis and Sojourners. But before you begin, please remember that you are responsible before The Lord for that which you know about. The servant who knows his masters will and does not do it will be beaten with many blows. We strongly encourage you to look into it because the Columbus Vineyard is being changed into another political organ for liberal politics rather than the beautiful bride of Christ. You just have to ask yourself the question "does it matter to you"?

A number of us began doing research and asking questions about Jim Wallis and Sojourners when our home church the Vineyard Church of Columbus (VCC) hosted a so called "Justice Revival" in April of 2008. During my own research, the more I looked into it the more sick to my stomach I became. Jim Wallis is far more interested in partisan politics than in advancing the kingdom of The Lord. His "God's Politics" blogs are best described as a pound of partisan liberal politics and an optional teaspoon of Christianity. It seems many have just been willing to drink the koolaid that Jim Wallis and Rich Nathan served up, sweeping aside deep concerns by many mature Christians that Jim Wallis is not another Billy Graham.

Does it matter to you that Jim Wallis and Sojourners consider homosexual rights as a "Social Justice" issue they are fighting to advance?

Does it matter to you that the 150 "new converts" at the Justice Revival were given (as their discipleship materials) a Sojourners booklet called "Hungry for Justice" telling new converts to "Join the movement; 10 ways you can put your faith into action at Sojo.net". Prayer team members, at the revival, saw the discipleship materials that Sojourners distributed to new believers and obtained a copy. As I recall from the June 5th meeting, Rich Nathan insisted that Sojourners would not have given new believers this material. The discipleship materials consisted of 10 steps, 9 steps regarded becoming involved in Sojourner political issues; such as:

• Read the "God's Politics" blog

• Apply to become a Sojourners intern

• make a donation and invest in the movement for justice

• find out how to start a local social justice group (remember, this was given to a brand new baby Christian)

• subscribe to Sojourners magazine

• Sign up for Sojo Mail, a free weekly ezine

Only one step mentioned anything potentially nurturing to a baby Christian; which was using Sojo.net to "search for a church near you". Curious as to what churches Sojourners was recommending, I went to sojo.net, specified a search radius of 40 miles (centered on my Columbus area zip code) and was given the names of only 3 churches. In a circle 80 miles across and covering all of Columbus, Sojourners only found 3 churches worth recommending. What is so special about those churches? What kind of kool-aid do they serve?

Does it matter to you that Jim Wallis was introduced at the Justice Revival as "the most powerful prophet for justice in this nation". I am deeply disturbed at the abusive application of the title "prophet" to a deeply partisan political operative.

Does it matter to you that the literature on the Sojourners table at the Justice Revival contained advertisements for conferences like:

• Introduction to Buddhism, Teaching, discussion, instruction and experience in Tibetan Buddhist Meditation?

• Art making and the "Divine Feminine" (participants develop their understanding of the Sacred Feminine)?

One article in a Sojourner magazine (at the revival) had in extra large print, a title and tag line that read:

"The Green Gospel; we firmly believe that addressing the degradation of God's sacred earth is the moral assignment of our time, comparable to the civil rights struggles of the 1960s."

I don't recall Jesus preaching or teaching anything even remotely like this in the sermon on the mount, nor in his 3 1/2 year ministry, nor do I recall the apostles ever placing any importance on this topic. I considered the title and tag line so absurd (the moral assignment of our time) that I read them to Rich at the June 5th meeting. Rather than find it offensive, I was taken back when Rich said that he could not disagree with it.

Does it matter to you that Sojourners were given the names and email addresses of those who attended the Justice Revival; who were then solicited by Sojourners to work on political issues such as "Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Issues"?

Does it matter to you that Rich Nathan knows these things, but does not regret inviting Jim Wallis to speak and is fully open to having him back in the future?

Does it matter to you that Rich Nathan spoke at a “Vote Your Values” Rally the Thursday night before the Ohio Nov. elections 2006, with Wallis and Sojourners and laid out his own political stances – giving the appearance that VCC supports these same causes? Rich definitely does not speak for me.

Does it matter to you that Rich Nathan spoke at a Sojourners conference called "Pentecost 2007". The name sounds Christian but it was actually a partisan political rally promoting only the Democrat presidential candidates: Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards (all who support unrestricted abortion and "gay rights")? I am very bothered by the fact that they showed no fear of God when they prostituded the name of a sacred biblical holiday to Christianize a partisan political rally.

Sojourners even gets funding from staunchly anti-Christian billionaire Atheist George Soros. Sojourners received funding and donations in the name of fighting poverty but they give no gifts to the poor (as do Samaritans Purse and World Vision). They believe their political activism is their service to the poor as stated in this letter from Sojourners.

Hi, ________. Thanks for your note. Sojourners is an advocacy organization, so our work to overcome poverty is largely through media, messaging, policy, and mobilizing. Through Jim Wallis’s ministry of preaching and teaching across the country (and the world), as well as our resources, we call people to a faith that does justice, especially as it relates to overcoming poverty. This year we are engaged in a Vote Out Poverty campaign, to get poverty on the agenda of the 2008 elections. We deal with many justice issues, and we find that almost all of them have some connection to poor people.

As you may know, Sojourners has been rooted in the Southern Columbia Heights neighborhood of Washington, D.C., since we arrived here. Over the years, we have also run a tenants union, daycare center, and neighborhood center. Changes in the neighborhood have caused us to close those ministries, and we have since focused on our particular mission to advocate for change. We partner with groups who provide a variety of direct services, with the goal of expanding both our work and that of our partners.

I hope this helps to explain our work. Please let me know if you have further questions. –Blessings, Karen

Karen L. Lattea
Chief Administrative Officer
Sojourners
(202) 745-4605
3333 14^th St. NW, Suite 200
Washington, DC 20010
www.sojo.net

Jim Wallis claims to be non-partisan but after having read his deeply partisan "God's Politics" blogs for many hours, I was hard pressed to find one bad thing he had to say about Democrat politicians (like Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Ted Kennedy). I was equally hard pressed to find one good thing he had to say about Republican politicians like George Bush.