3 Questions with Raleigh Sadler, Founder, Let My People Go; director of justice ministries, Metropolitan New York Baptist Association
What books would you recommend for seminary students to learn about social justice issues?
In the context of the local church, Tim Chester’s Good News for the Poor and Tim Keller’s Ministries of Mercy capture gospel-driven justice and mercy. And then there’s another book by Jim Martin at International Justice Mission, The Just Church. Our strategy for equipping the local church to fight human trafficking through loving vulnerable people has flown out of those books and the reading of Scripture.
What passages of Scripture drive and sustain your vision for justice ministries?
2 Corinthians 11:30-12:10 shows me God works through our weaknesses. This hermeneutic of vulnerability reminds me that God is at work. On vulnerability, also Isaiah 1:17 and Matthew 25. On the justice of God: Isaiah 61:8.
What TV shows and movies best reflect your experience of living in New York City?
movies: Every now and again, I see how true Seinfield is. How I Met Your Mother also speaks to certain social and cultural dynamics of living in NYC. The indie movie Paterson, directed by Jim Jarmusch, focuses on nearby Paterson, New Jersey, and reminds me of how the confluence of cultures in NYC impacts my daily life.
