Jackson Free Press

Sept. 23, 2011

When Justin White was in high school, he didn't want anything to do with church ministry.

"I was on a mission trip in Mexico ... and I thought it was very paternalistic the way we were handling things--going into garbage dumps and taking candy and tracts about salvation to people living in the garbage dump instead of building houses and teaching about sustainability," he said. "I got very upset and said, 'If this is what the church is and what the ministry is, I don't want any part of it.'"

One of White's friends replied that maybe he was called to do something to fix the problems he saw.

"I am called to work for justice from a religious and Christian standpoint," White--now the Rev. White--said.

White, 27, is a Pelahatchie native. He graduated from Mississippi State University, where he studied educational psychology in 2006 and taught high school for a year in New Jersey before getting his Master of Divinity degree from Duke Divinity School in 2010. He now lives in Jackson and has been the youth pastor and coordinator for children's ministries at Wells Memorial United Methodist Church since June. He is a provisional deacon seeking ordination.

For almost a year, White has been working to start a Mississippi chapter of the Methodist Federation for Social Action, a group that works to advance progressive and social justice issues within the United Methodist Church. He hopes the chapter will be official by next month.

White said the organization seeks to "bridge the community and the church together" by helping the church become a tool of justice in society.

"So, how can the church help bring about social change in society, and how can society also teach the church about social change?" he explained.

The local chapter's members are taking part in community outreach events, such as the National Alliance on Mental Illness walk in November and teaming up with a group called Daring to Reconcile and Embrace All in Mississippi, or DREAM, to work for the full inclusion of LGBTQ persons within the life of the United Methodist Church. MFSA also fights against poverty and opposes the death penalty.

Starting the chapter in Mississippi can be difficult at times, White said, because the culture is so conservative and people are hesitant to get involved.

"I think a lot of people are a lot more liberal than we think and give them credit for," White said. "But because Mississippi is such a volatile place when it comes to politics--and even progressive theology and religious and interfaith dialogue--some are just afraid to sign on."

White said he ran away from his calling several times, but came back--to his home state, as well as to the ministry.

"I just love Jackson, and I think Jackson has so much potential," he said. "I think churches in Jackson and Methodists in Jackson and Mississippi have so much potential ... to do good in our community."