Our Mission
Empowering vulnerable neighbors with the help of a lawyer and the hope of God's love.
Our Vision
Our vision is to launch 1,000 Gospel Justice Centers transforming lives in the name of Christ. That is a big, hairy, audacious goal and it won’t happen apart from God and you. But we believe that “all things are possible with God.”
With your help, we can build vibrant justice communities to free people from legal burdens so they can flourish. Together, we will seek justice.
God is Searching
"The Lord looked and was displeased that there was no justice.
He saw that there was no one, He was appalled that there was no one to intervene"
Isaiah 59:15b-16a
Democracy suffers, freedom suffers, & God is appalled when we fail to intercede for justice. When God looks does He see us interceding on behalf of the poor?
Does He see you?
Administer Justice Founding Story
JOHN D. ROBB
Board of Directors (2012-2014)
Gospel Justice Initiative’s founding board chair, John D. Robb, was perhaps the nation’s leading advocate for justice for the poor.
For five decades John led the charge for providing equal access to justice. He served as National Chairman of the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defendants in the 1970’s. He testified before Congress and was involved in the creation of the Legal Services Corporation.
In the 1980’s John started one of the first Christian Legal Aid ministries. In the 1990’s he joined with other national leaders from Chuck Colson to Jim Wallis to advocate for justice for the poor. In the late 1990’s and 2000’s John persuaded Christian Legal Society (CLS) to get involved leading the effort through CLS as their first public ministries director.
In 2009 John wrote a book, Defending the Poor with the Love of God, where he laid out a vision given to him from God of 1,000 organizations, primarily churches, joined together in meeting the spiritual and legal needs of the poor. The vision was an impossible dream. Only 60 Christian Legal Aid organizations existed across the country after more than a decade of effort and John was 86 years old. How would God advance his purposes?
God was separately moving in the heart of Bruce Strom to write the book Gospel Justice to encourage the church, individuals and attorneys to seek justice for the poor and vulnerable. Bruce left a highly successful law practice to start Administer Justice in 2000. Bruce’s work with Administer Justice earned World Magazine’s National Hope for Effective Compassion Award in 2013. Bruce built teams of churches, hundreds of attorneys and hundreds of support volunteers who together served thousands of individuals every year.
Bruce wrote a letter to John in December 2009. Recognizing a common calling, John and Bruce began weekly phone calls spending hours praying and listening to God. Through intensive prayer over two years, John and Bruce sought input from several leaders across the country which led to the formation of Gospel Justice Initiative (GJI) in the fall of 2011. That group of leaders would work together to create a simple turnkey model to do justice in community. Gospel Justice Initiative officially launched in January 2014 when Bruce left Administer Justice to serve as GJI’s CEO. In 2018, after learning how to make justice simple for Christ followers, he returned and merged the national initiative into the local mobilizer to form a national catalyst for doing justice through the local church across America. His second book, Persevering Power, describes this justice journey and lessons learned that are applicable to volunteers serving, clients being served, and anyone wanting to pursue a life of faith.
John Robb died in July 2014. The foundation he laid and legacy he lived for continues.
BRUCE STROM
President & CEO
“Bruce Strom has been a pioneer in challenging the church in the United States to seek justice for the vulnerable in our society.”
– Matthew Sorens, U.S. Director of Church Mobilization, World Relief & Author of Welcoming the Stranger
Our Statement of Faith
WE BELIEVE in a God of justice eternally existing in a loving unity of three equally divine Persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
WE BELIEVE justice for the poor and vulnerable is a prominent theme in the Bible which as originally written was inspired by God, hence free from error, and is the ultimate authority for faith and practice.
WE BELIEVE Jesus demonstrated justice in his life, ministry, and teaching as an example for all to follow. He was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, and His substitutionary death on the cross made provision for the redemption of mankind from sin. He is raised from the dead and is now seated at the right hand of the Father.
WE BELIEVE that man, created in God’s image, willfully sinned and brought injustice into the world. That man is without hope apart from the grace of God, through faith in Christ.
WE BELIEVE the Holy Spirit indwells all believers equipping them for good works, sanctifying them to love God supremely and others sacrificially and empowering them to show care for one another, compassion toward the poor, and justice for the oppressed.
WE BELIEVE in the spiritual unity of all believers in our Lord Jesus Christ and His church and that cooperation for the great objects of the Kingdom of God, including justice, is desirable between the various Christian denominations, churches and organizations.
WE BELIEVE in the imminent return of Jesus as King to rule on a throne of justice and righteousness and that the dead shall be raised, both the saved and the lost – those who are saved, unto the resurrection of life, and those who are lost unto the resurrection of damnation and that the mark of a true saving faith is in loving concern for the poor and vulnerable.
