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Sojourners ministries grew out of the Sojourners Community, located in Southern Columbia Heights, an inner-city neighborhood in Washington, D.C. The community began at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois, in the early 1970s when a handful of students began meeting to discuss the relationship between their faith and political issues, particularly the Vietnam War. In 1971, the group decided to create a publication that would express their convictions and test whether other people of faith had similar beliefs. What emerged was an evangelical publication committed to social justice and peace: The Post-American.
In the fall of 1975, the fledgling community moved to Washington, D.C., where both the community and the magazine took the name Sojourners. The biblical metaphor "sojourners" identifies God's people as pilgrims—fully present in the world but committed to a different order—and reflects their broadening vision. No longer defined solely by Sojourners magazine and its exploration of issues of faith, politics, and culture, the group branched out into ministry in its low-income neighborhood.
The community lived together in common households, had a common purse, formed a worshipping community, got involved in neighborhood issues, organized national events on behalf of peace and justice and continued to publish the magazine.
The community also gave birth to a variety of ministries, including the Sojourners Neighborhood Center, which runs after-school and summer programs for local children.
Over the years, however, Sojourners went through a variety of transitions. Slowly, the household communities gave way to an intentional community (with a common rule of life), the neighborhood center became a separate "not-for-profit" and people moved out of the community to care for their own families. Needless to say, Sojourners has suffered its own history of division, uncertainty, and glory.
Today, many people who work at Sojourners have never been a part of the community. Rather, we are a committed group of Christians who believe in the biblical call to integrate spiritual renewal and social justice. We continue to publish the magazine, we have developed an award winning web site, we publish resources, we engage the wider Christian community through our preaching, teaching, public witness, and organizing, and we sponsor a year of volunteer service in ministry, discipleship and community.
Sojourners office building houses Sojourners magazine and Call to Renewal, a network of people, churches, and organizations working to overcome poverty. We have provided leadership and support over the years to various other activities including Witness for Peace, the Pledge of Resistance, the Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign, the Free South Africa movement.
Rooted in the solid ground of prophetic biblical tradition, Sojourners is a progressive Christian voice that preaches not political correctness but compassion, community, and commitment. We refuse to separate personal faith from social justice, prayer from peacemaking, contemplation from action, or spirituality from politics.
Sojourners includes evangelicals, Catholics, Pentecostals and Protestants; liberals and conservatives; blacks, whites, Latinos, and Asians; women and men; young and old. We are Christians who want to follow Jesus, but who also sojourn with others in different faith traditions and all those who are on a spiritual journey. We reach into traditional churches but also out to those who can't fit into them. Together we seek to discover the intersection of faith, politics, and culture. We invite you to join, to connect, and to act. Welcome to the community.
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