CPJ’s potential could be maximized by working to become a viable political alternative at two levels: theoretical and practical. What politically-minded and -disatisfied Christian need is alternative political theories and alternative political policies to advocate. To waste itself by focusing exclusively on either of these things would result in a movement without a mission or in a mission without a movement. Currently, if I were to be audacious and upstartish enough to critique something that I am only recently familiar with, I would suspect that they err in the direction of offering theoretical alternatives without practical ones, a mission without a movement—but what do I know.

Nonetheless, going off my supposition, it occurs to me that a grassroots (cliche, but powerful) model of development at both a theoretical but also and especially a practical level would be catalytic to the formation of a movement from CPJ’s very admirable mission. The immediate goal (in terms of remedying the “practical” deficiency) would be the embodiment of theoretical distinctives in concrete prescriptions for public policy at local, regional, and national levels. CPJ could take the entire—overwhelming—burden of this job upon themselves, or practice something like the following method for organic growth and development.

CPJ should enlist the vast pool of local (and potential) Christian activists and thinkers, by en-rolling people in the movement. I mean literally giving people a sense of role within the story-in-the-making that is CPJ. Such enrollment would have to follow the basic formula for enrolling people in any movement:

• Educate
• Initiate
• Commision

For example, to enroll the constituency of which I am a part—interested university-age young men and women—these three steps of enrollment could be pursued in the following ways.

Educating a University-Level Constituency

• Provide them with information about a Christian approach to politics and about the specific policy suggestions of CPJ through mediums they would actually encounter. Examples of this would be newsletters aimed specifically at this constituency, creating a Web 2.0 community that organized and linked together the disparate student thinkers and act-ers in an online community centered around exploring (theoretically and practically) Justice in our world, seeking to form CPJ student groups (clubs? or “officially” recognized Justice Socieities?) on college campuses, and in general provoking excitement, discussion, and activity at the level of communication that students already engage.
• Provide them with information from other students. Student leaders will inevitably be a valuable asset to spreading the mission (and movement) of CPJ. But this gets into the area of my third step for grassroot growth, so hang on…

Initiating a University-level Constituency

• First there must be something to initiate them into. Again, I think the formation of Justice Socieites (or whatever they’d be called) on college campuses—to rival things like Republican or Democratic Student Socieites—with a prescribed form for campus activity coordinated between campuses, would give the members of such Societies a deep sense of enrollment and participation in the cause of Justice in their own world.
• Then, what they are initiated into should encourage them to engage politics at the two levels already mentioned. Theorizing should have a certain centralized, coordinated thrust to it; but policy suggestions should begin to derive from the application of CPJ’s distinctive theorizing to the local situations of these Societies. For example, at my college, Dordt College, the student Society could be encouraged to identify and investigate political organizations and relationships in the college itself, in the surrounding locale of Sioux Center, in the state of Iowa, and then critique them in light of CPJ’s theorizing. Perhaps the education mentioned above should include education in activism?

Commissioning a University-level Constituency

• Commissioning is, to my mind, the single most significant aspect of grassroots growth that turns a motley crew and diverse energies into a movement. It involes creating ties back to the centralized head of the movement, to the custodian(s) of the mission.
• Perhaps a national convention—I know this is sounding huge, but why not? let’s think big—or even several aimed at separate constituencies, or even regional conventions, with keynote speakers from the CPJ staff and immediate cohorts, to annually remind members of the student socieities of the big picture, meta-narrative movement they are participating in.
• Officially recognize the student societies. Even simple things like being listed on the CPJ website as one of the student organizations officially recognized—perhaps with certain standards for achieving such recognition (number of members, representation at national convention, etc.).
• Commission specific individuals within the societies to carry the gospel of CPJ (literally!) to their fellow students. Encourage these individuals to write editorials in school and local newspapers about political issues, to form Justice Socieities, to organize political discussion and activism, to investigate local politics. Perhaps provide them with mentors in some way from within the CPJ leadership. In short, create a sense of training for leadership within the movement.

Well, those are my quick, half-baked thoughts on the subject of enrolling and mobilizing a university-level constituency. I dream of a passion for Christian political engagement taking hold of my generation and shaking the foundations of our polis.