The Sojourners Community is an

intentional community An intentional community is a voluntary residential community designed to foster a high degree of group cohesiveness, social cohesion and teamwork. Such communities typically promote shared values or beliefs, or pursue a common vision, wh ...

that was started in the early 1970s by a group of students at

Trinity Evangelical Divinity School Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS) is the divinity school of Trinity International University, an evangelical Christian university headquartered in Bannockburn, Illinois. The divinity school was founded in 1897. In April 2025, Trinit ...

. The founders had the desire to further explore the relationship between their orthodox

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

faith and the social crisis that surrounded them, particularly around the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

. In the fall of 1971, they began publishing the ''Post American'', a newspaper that expressed the group's commitment to the faith and ideas about social change. The Sojourners Community is most widely known for ''

Sojourners ''Sojourners'' is a progressive monthly magazine and daily online publication of the American Christian social justice organization Sojourners, which arose out of the Sojourners Community. It was first published in 1971 under the original ti ...

'' magazine and for the writing and speaking of its founding member

Jim Wallis James E. Wallis Jr. (born June 4, 1948) is an American theologian, writer, teacher and political activist. He is best known as the founder and former editor of ''Sojourners'' magazine and as the founder of the Washington, D.C.–based Christi ...

History

In the summer of 1971, the group organized an

in Rogers Park, Illinois. However, in 1974, the community disintegrated. The remaining members decided to move to the

inner-city The term inner city (also called the hood) has been used, especially in the United States, as a euphemism for majority-minority lower-income residential districts that often refer to rundown neighborhoods, in a downtown or city centre area. Soc ...

neighborhood of Columbia Heights,

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, where they could better address urban problems and national politics. Combining their assets and incomes, the group gradually established households and a network of social outreach programs. The community lived together in these common households, shared a common purse, formed a worshiping community, got involved in neighborhood issues, organized national events on behalf of peace and justice and continued to publish ''

'' magazine. The vestige of the Sojourners' intentional living community remains its intern community, a group of individuals who are hired as year-long interns and who live together in intentional Christian community for that year as part of the internship experience. Other

Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

s have critiqued the Sojourners Community due to their combination of strict evangelical Protestant beliefs (though the Sojourners living community and wider organizational network has also long included

mainline Protestant The mainline Protestants (sometimes also known as oldline Protestants) are a group of Protestantism in the United States, Protestant denominations in the United States and Protestantism in Canada, Canada largely of the Liberal Christianity, theolo ...

s and

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

s) and radical "social priorities

hich Ij () is a village in Golabar Rural District of the Central District in Ijrud County, Zanjan province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq ...

run in markedly different directions". Also, Sojourners differentiates from other evangelicals in its condemning of

militarism Militarism is the belief or the desire of a government or a people that a state should maintain a strong military capability and to use it aggressively to expand national interests and/or values. It may also imply the glorification of the mili ...

, corporate excesses, and the exploitation of people in the

Third World The term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. The United States, Canada, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, the Southern Cone, NATO, Western European countries and oth ...

. However, other social critiques are similar to those of other evangelicals on issues such as condemning of

abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...

(as part of a wider pro-life stance that includes protection of life from conception to grave, i.e. anti-war and anti-hunger stances). Sojourners advocates economic justice and expanded services for the poor.

References

Notes

Bibliography

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External links

* * . {{Authority control 1971 establishments in Illinois Christian communities Christian organizations established in 1971 Christianity in Chicago Christianity in Washington, D.C. Intentional communities in the United States Organizations based in Washington, D.C.