Matt Ceasar works on the Joint Public Issues T e a m (JPIT). JPIT is a partnership between the Baptist Union of Great Britain, the Methodist Church, and the United Reformed Church. The purpose of JPIT is to help the Churches to work together for peace and justice through listening, learning, praying, speaking and acting on public policy issues This isn’t a place for easy answers; it’s an opportunity for us all to ‘Wake Up’ — to have a stretch, draw the curtains, and notice where God is calling us to deeper justice, wider mercy, and greater love. The panel is curated and chaired by Greenbelt’s youngest trustee, Molly Boot. Young, Woke and Christian is a text to turn the assumptions of older Christians on their heads and to provide a leaping point for other young Christians to have confidence in their faith and theological convictions. Particularly within an Anglican setting, the term "woke" can spark fear for older people, who don't understand that to be woke is simply to care deeply about the world, about inequality and about justice. Very much like Jesus, really! Professor Anthony Reddie, who wrote the book’s foreword, agreed. “I see being young as a form of marginalisation within the life of the church,” he said, with people listened to only if they have experience and authority, something that comes with age. Edited by Victoria Turner, a Researcher, Tutor and Council for World Mission Scholar at the University of Edinburgh, and URC Youth representative on the URC’s Assembly Executive.

There is much writing and strategizing aboutyoung people in the Church, which tries to understand and minister to them as the ‘missing generation’. This book is a much-needed contribution byyoung people to that conversation, and I pray the Church listens. The 21st century American church has been both passively and actively incorporating woke ideology into their institutions and practices. Strachan observes that some Christians have started apologizing for and repenting of their "whiteness." Often these actions are prefaced with the proposal that we should change the gospel to fit with woke ideology so that brothers and sisters of color will be more comfortable in the church. While true racial reconciliation is an important outworking of the gospel (Eph. 2), wokeness changes the gospel by teaching that white people are never able to fully repent for their actions because they are inherently racist by nature of being white. But the gospel says all have sinned, and everyone can be fully redeemed through the work of Christ. With its different view of sin and redemption, wokeness undermines the gospel. This is why Strachan argues, "[W]okeness is not a prism by which we discover truths we couldn't see in a Christian worldview. Wokeness is a different system entirely than Christianity. It is, in fact, 'a different gospel.' But it is not just that. In the final evaluation, wokeness is not just not the Gospel. Wokeness is anti-Gospel." Dr Abby Day is Professor of Race, Faith and Culture in the Department of Sociology at Goldsmiths, University of London. She is one of the co-editors of Diversity, Inclusion, and Decolonisation: Practical tools for improving teaching, research and scholarship (Bristol University Press, 2022). In chapters three and four, Strachan outlines his concern with the theological and cultural implications of CRT and woke ideology. First, he encourages believers to guard their hearts and minds, noting the apostle Paul's admonition not to be taken captive by false philosophies (Col. 2:8). Strachan argues that wokeness represents a man-centered gospel that takes others captive through legalism rather than setting them free in the grace of Christ. In other words, wokeness says that only your works can save you--but you can never actually accumulate enough works to satisfy its requirements. Ultimately, this philosophy promises so much, only to abandon its followers in the end.In her chapter on “Waking up to Ableism in Christian Communities”, Chrissie Thwaites points out that many churches lovingly accept people who are disabled, but more is required, as “disability is not just an issue of inclusion: it is also one of justice. And this is where the Church falls short.” It is perceived that young Christians are frustrated with the Church over social issues because they care about their political and social identities more than their Christian identities, placing ideology over Scripture. This book counters this myth ferociously, showing how for these authors their passion for liberation and justice is precisely because of their relationship with Jesus, not in spite of it. They want the Church to be more faithful to the mission of God in the world, not less. Because questions of race and ethnicity are so closely tied to woke ideology and CRT, chapter five and six provide an in-depth study of what the Old and New Testament have to say about our identity as human beings. Strachan explains how Genesis teaches that all humans are equally part of one human race. Although we may have different skin tones, languages, or ethnicities that distinguish us, we are all human beings who are made in the image of God (Gen. 1:26-27).

Shermara Fletcher’s chapter shifts the narrative of homeless communities from those whom the churches can help, to the ‘unlikely leaders’ who can be fully integrated into their lives, structures, and leadership. The central question is ‘Are we willing to change our structures and cultures of learning so that everyone can participate in the mission?’ (p. 139), which poses a real and thoughtful challenge to how we can have an effective and integrated ministry with, and not to, homeless communities. Young people are often referred to as the church's 'missing generation'. But perhaps it is not them that are missing from God's mission, but the church itself. 'Young, Woke and Christian' brings together young church leaders and theologians who argue that the church needs to become increasingly awake to injustices in British society. It steers away from the capitalistic marketing ideas of how to attract young people into Christian fellowship and proclaims that the church's role in society is to serve society, give voice to the marginalised and stand up to damaging, dominating power structures. I think my absolute favourite chapter is Shermara Fletcher’s chapter on homelessness. She offers a good theological reflection that seems so obvious and yet most of us aren’t doing it. Under a subheading, “radical Inclusivity”, she says “The Church should practise Christian diakonia, which is a deeper type of koinonia that describes a community that ‘works for the welfare of all its members as well as helping to build the reign of God throughout the entire world’”. This implies that homeless and hungry people should be wholly inside the structures of established churches. Of course, we should not treat all young Christians as monolithic, just as we wouldn’t with any demographic group. There are many young Christians within the Church who disagree strongly with the expression of faith found in this book. Yet it is important that these perspectives are heard in the Church, as they are too-often silenced by orthodoxy for fear of the so-called ‘woke agenda’. The chapters are wide ranging. Whilst some feel like old stomping grounds with reflections on interfaith, race and feminism there is something new about this collection. Chapters on the climate, purity culture, trans, food poverty and homelessness push our traditional boundaries and offer something new and distinct. There is little heavy theological language and at times the varied styles could jar but that is also its strength. Each chapter feels owned by its author, from their place, their time and in their own words.Covering themes such as climate change, racial inclusivity, sexual purity, homelessness, food poverty, sexuality, trans identity, feminism, peace-making, interfaith relations, and disability justice, the collection is a cry for the reform of the church to not ally with ‘woke’ issues because they are popular with youth, but because they are gospel issues. Annie Sharples concludes the book by focussing on personal, social, and political peace. This chapter aptly connects all of the chapters that precede it. For these young voices have all promoted peace in some way. Fear of the other is, she comments, what most of all threatens peace (p. 165). Young, Woke and Christian thus attempts to tell the stories of the ‘other’, so as to awaken and educate the wider Christian community. For preachers reading this book, it contains a wealth of personal stories and experiences that invite us to consider these topics from a new angle. We were all young once and yet the world has moved on and we can no longer presume we know what it feels to be ‘young, woke and Christian’” Each chapter also provides useful further reading within the notes for those who are interested. There is much writing and strategizing about young people in the Church, which tries to understand and minister to them as the ‘missing generation’. This book is a much-needed contribution by young people to that conversation, and I pray the Church listens.