A climate justice campaigner with Christian movement Common Grace, 30-year-old Sydneysider Jody Lightfoot speaks with DAVID ADAMS about the group’s passion for “connecting personal faith with action” to make the world a better place…
A climate justice campaigner with Christian movement Common Grace, 30-year-old Sydneysider Jody Lightfoot speaks about the group’s passion for “connecting personal faith with action” to make the world a better place…
First up, what is Common Grace?
“Put simply, we’re a movement of Christians who are passionate about Jesus and justice.”
What led to it being founded?
“In 2014, a group of diverse Christian leaders came together in the Blue Mountains. We talked about how we have watched a new generation of Christians emerge who have experienced the transformation that comes from following Jesus.
“It’s a generation that is acutely aware they serve a loving God who cares about His world. They know deep down that there is more to the story of being a Christian than just church on Sunday, a weeknight study group and a healthy devotional life. They read God’s word and hear His heart for those in need. They’ve heard how Christians have borne witness against injustices throughout history and are ready to act to be the change they want to see in the world. They feel inspired when they see the church living God’s love in the world.
“Yet this generation also feels a sense of disappointment. They see little action in Christian culture on domestic issues. They see fragmented action in the church on key justice issues and, in some cases, no action at all. They feel upset that the perception of the church is often negative and they cringe when Christianity is in the news for all the wrong reasons.
“But even so, this generation of Christians dares to believe that they can be part of a movement. A movement that addresses the current gaps in Christian engagement with issues of justice. A movement that is shaped by the true character of Jesus and the hope of His resurrection. A movement that meaningfully connects personal faith with action that makes the world a better place.
“So out of that background and desire to provide a platform for this movement to unite, we launched Common Grace in late 2014 and it’s been incredible to see more than 20,000 Christians join since.”
IN SHORT – JODY LIGHTFOOT
A Bible verse that’s influenced me…Matthew 6:10
A song that’s inspired me…Always by Hillsong. It’s not very well known but it was a song that has captured the feeling of God’s presence in my life during my first few years as a Christian.
A person whom I admire…My mum and dad because they’ve shown me the kind of love that I want to live.
Who is involved?
“The Common Grace movement is the 20,000 Christians who have become members. The Common Grace team consists of a board, a steering group of advisors, volunteers who lead campaign teams, and a small operating team. We’re also fortunate to have the support of a wide diversity of church leaders and social change leaders.
A few of our advisors and operations team members include Tim Costello (World Vision), Kylie Beach (Hillsong), Brad Chilcott (Welcome to Australia), Nic Mckay (Avaaz), Pastor Jarrod McKenna (West City Church), Jessica Smith (Paddington Anglican Church) and more.”
Was the fact it’s not of a particular denomination important in its creation?
“Yes. I think that God smiles when we start to break down the walls of division. Our goal shouldn’t be to tolerate each other, but to love one another. So rather than focusing on what divides, we want to focus on what unites. A major point of unity is how we’ve encountered God’s grace.
“Even the term Common Grace refers to the grace that God shows to all without distinction. Not just to Christians, but all people, and even the whole community of life. It is God’s life-giving rain falling on all – the just and the unjust. It’s the non-discriminating, all inclusive power of God’s love that we see reflected in Jesus and the goodness of creation.”
What sorts of issues has Common Grace campaigned upon to date and do you expect to see these broaden out?
“We’ve run spiritual formation campaigns. Last year, we asked diverse Christian leaders to video record a teaching series on the Lord’s Prayer, and this Easter we focused a video teaching series on the theme of ‘Love Thy Neighbour’.
“We’ve also run advocacy campaigns such as crowd funding solar panels for Kirribilli House to advocate for a clean energy future and helping to reverse a decision to ‘hose the homeless’ in WA. We’ve ran campaigns advocating for a more humane approach to people seeking asylum, and for reconciliation and friendship with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. We’ve educated the Christian community about domestic violence and will continue to focus on all those issues in the future.”
What’s been your greatest success to date?
“I think Common Grace members will all have a different response to this. For me, it was the moment last year when thousands of Christians joined with Pacific islanders in the People’s Climate March. We prayed together, and then marched side by side for the survival of Pacific homelands. Rather than shouting protest chants, we sang worship songs from the Pacific islands. It was the sound of the Kingdom of God filling our city streets, in three part harmonies. It was a physical embodiment of solidarity and God’s love. The Christian turnout to Australia’s People’s Climate March last year was unprecedented and I’m so grateful for that.”
Tell us a little about your own spiritual journey – when did you become a Christian and how did it come about?
“I’ve believed in Jesus since I was little, even though I didn’t grow up in a family that went to church or have Christian friends. Yet, as a child I had an strong sense that God loved me and Jesus wanted to be part of my life. But throughout school I walked away from God because I felt scared what my friends would say if I became a Christian.
“That was heavy on my heart because I knew that I wasn’t living out what I believed. When I was at university I finally built up the courage to follow Christ. I thought my non Christian friends would give me a hard time, but they were actually really supportive!
“In the first few years of being a Christian, people saw how following Jesus affected my life. I went from being the only person in my year who wasn’t allowed to attend the final formal (due to misbehaviour), to someone who got really excited about God’s love and making a difference in people’s lives. I started to experience the joy of bringing joy to others and I was hooked.”
“I learnt how the radical generosity of the earliest Christians towards the poor amplified the rapid rise of the early church. But I became frustrated that God’s heart for justice wasn’t taught in many churches, and decided that I wanted to be part of closing that gap.” |
What’s your own church background?
“When I became a Christian, I randomly walked into a church called Powerhouse Church. I didn’t know anyone there and I didn’t yet know about how many different denominations there were, but I came to learn that my church was a Church of Christ. On my first visit, there were lots of elderly people, children, and not much in-between. One of the pastor’s invited me to start training to be a youth leader even though I’d only been a Christian for a few months. I said yes.
“After a few years I was on staff as a discipleship support officer, leading worship and helping to run youth group. I’m so grateful for the Senior Pastor Darryl Redman who’s encouragement has had a profound effect on my life. He was an outstanding leader and friend. The whole thing was unbelievably fun and rewarding, and I wouldn’t trade those early experiences for anything.”
When and how did God stir you about standing up for people who suffer injustices?
“I attended a Hillsong conference in 2008 and the whole thing happened to be on justice. I’d never heard a vision about being about others presented in such a compelling way and it struck a chord in me. I knew deep down that you can’t sign up to follow Jesus and not pursue justice for people on the margins of society.
“I started to learn about the power of movements and the beauty of Christians who had created change in the past. For them, embodying justice wasn’t a one-time action, it was a way of life. I learnt how the radical generosity of the earliest Christians towards the poor amplified the rapid rise of the early church. But I became frustrated that God’s heart for justice wasn’t taught in many churches, and decided that I wanted to be part of closing that gap.
“God also convicted me that the way that we try to bring about justice matters. Martin Luther King (Jr) talked about how you can’t separate the means from the ends because the means represents the seed and the ends represents the tree. That means as Christians we need to refuse to spread fear and dehumanise people, and instead spread love and dignity in all that we do. It means that we must pray not just for the oppressed, but the oppressor too. That’s really hard, but that’s what God’s love is like and what we’re invited to be part of.”
Common Grace just launched a campaign to stop the Shenhua mine project from going ahead on the Liverpool Plains in New South Wales. Why is Common Grace involved?
“We’re involved because God calls us to love our neighbour and care for creation. Shenhua corporation plan to dig a 35 square kilometre coal mine in the heart of Australia’s food bowl. It would risk thousands of years of farming for a 30 year mine that will make climate change worse. We are stewards of Australia’s best agricultural land, so we’re urging Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Agriculture Barnaby Joyce to save our food bowl.”
What’s next on the horizon for the movement?
“Recently, church leaders came out offering sanctuary to people seeking asylum and it sparked a wave of compassion in our country. People got caught up in seeing a costly love that came from selfless concern for vulnerable people. Suddenly, premiers, civil society and the public followed the churches lead. That doesn’t happen much these days but the #letthemstay campaign helps us to reimagine what’s possible. We want to see more of that.
“More Christian voices in the public square that looks and sounds like Jesus. More everyday Christians coming together to shape a more just and sustainable world. We’re excited to see more people come on the journey to come together to love God and our neighbours.”
