We’re a community of Christian young adults committed to a faithful presence in public life.
Join us in equipping the next generation for a more hopeful, engaged, and just civic presence.
The Home Campaign: Why Now?
The Home Campaign will raise $15,000 in gifts in 2020 to advance the Center for Public Justice’s work to equip the next generation of Christian leaders for a lifetime of faithful engagement in the public square. This goal will require the resources, prayers, and commitment of the Center for Public Justice community – including new and old friends.
An entire generation of Christian young adults sit at a crossroads. Some feel disillusioned, apathetic, or disappointed in our politics. They feel powerless and don’t believe they can make a difference. Others feel politically homeless, and despite a desire to love their neighbor through civic engagement, they don’t know where or how to begin.
Shared Justice, an initiative of Center for Public Justice, believes there is another way. There is a model for Christian public engagement that is guided by norms of justice, civility, pluralism, and hope. The vision is rooted in the knowledge that our ultimate identity is found in Christ, which has implications for our political engagement. Christian engagement in public life should be motivated by a commitment to love and serve our neighbors in hope, not fear.
In this contentious election season and beyond, Shared Justice is a home for Christian young adults who:
Feel politically homeless and desire a community of Christians with a distinctly hopeful civic presence.
Love their neighbors across deep difference in the public square.
Shape policies and communities towards justice.
Are mentored by an intergenerational community of Christian academics, thought leaders, and policy experts.
We are a community of Christian college students and young adults committed to:
Invest in the Next Generation
In Shared Justice, Christian young adults find a home. The Center for Public Justice has created a community of Christian students and young professionals and those connected with them, including pastors, professors, and practitioners. This community is poised to grow. In the next decade, CPJ’s work with young adults will center on four core pillars: Christian political formation, advancing Christian scholarship, a commitment to principled pluralism, and local civic engagement. To learn more about CPJ’s vision for 2020 and beyond, email Shared Justice Program Director Katie Thompson.
Our citizenship is a lifelong calling. The impact of CPJ’s work in forming young people toward an engaged and hopeful civic presence is relevant not just in an election year, but in the years to come. The young people of today are tomorrow’s leaders in our families, houses of worship, businesses and halls of political power – the health of our communities and nations depends upon a generation that is inspired with a faithful, principled, and hopeful vision for our common life.
Will you join us?
Since its founding in 2012, Shared Justice has:
Advanced Christian scholarship on today’s most complex social policies through publishing nine comprehensive policy reports, authored by Christian college students and utilized by policymakers, practitioners, professors, and pastors.
Mentored hundreds of student authors and shaped discourse on issues of public policy and political engagement on SharedJustice.org by publishing over 700 articles, written by Christian 20- and 30-somethings, on topics of domestic and political injustice, Christian public engagement, and pluralism in a diverse and changing society. Every article articulates a public justice perspective, presents a hopeful vision for what ought to be, and invites readers into deeper engagement. In the last year over 106,000 readers visited and interacted with content on SharedJustice.org.
Invested in the spiritual and political formation of over 80 CPJ interns through its Public Justice 101 (PJ 101) curriculum, in which students read works by thought leaders including Dr. Vincent Bacote, Dr. Stephen Monsma, Stephanie Summers, and Dr. Richard Mouw and engage in weekly reflections and dialogue.
Equipped over 100 Christian young adults for local civic engagement through participation in CPJ’s Political Discipleship curriculum, in which groups advocate on an issue of local concern.
Introduced thousands of Christian college students to a public justice perspective, leaders in their communities, and pathways for local civic engagement through over 100 campus events, conferences, and student group visits to CPJ’s office.
Published the book Unleashing Opportunity: Why Escaping Poverty Requires a Shared Vision of Justice, a primer for young adults eager to engage in issues of domestic poverty and opportunity through a public justice framework. Students were invited to engage in these issues locally through a CPJ-sponsored book tour that visited seven college campuses and connected students and faculty to local experts, policymakers, and practitioners.
Amplified its work with and resources produced by Christian young adults to religious and secular audiences in an effort to shift narratives about Christian political engagement, through coverage in media including Christianity Today, Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity, Advance Magazine, The Boston Globe, The Houston Chronicle, The Chicago Tribune, Public Justice Review, and more.