I was invited to present to the Columbus chapter of the Christian Legal Society on Wednesday, January 21. I will be sharing relevant themes from my book THE FINE LINE. More about the CLS is below and the answer is YES if you were wondering-there is such a thing as a lawyer who follows Jesus. I know several of them.
A growing nationwide fellowship of Christian lawyers and law students
who act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.
~ Micah 6:8; Matthew 23:23 ~
OUR MISSION
To inspire, encourage, and equip Christian lawyers and law students, both individually and in community, to proclaim, love and serve Jesus Christ through the study and practice of law, the provision of legal assistance to the poor and needy, and the defense of religious freedom and the sanctity of human life.
OUR CORE VALUES
1. A passion to love, bear witness and follow the teachings and example of Jesus Christ.
2. The truth and necessity of the Holy Scriptures for a right understanding of life, including the law.
3. Reliance upon prayer and the transforming power of Jesus and the Gospel of His Kingdom.
4. The dignity and equality of every person as a creature of God with God-given gifts of life and liberty from conception to natural death.
5. Grace and peace expressed among us in community and conflict reconciliation rooted in God’s Word.1
6. Advancing the unity of the Body of Christ as envisioned by Jesus.
7. The importance of families and interdependent relational networks in the Body of Christ for the advance of the Gospel in the legal workplace.
8. Preferential care and concern for the poor and needy.
9. Always steward, never owner, of God’s provision.2
10. Commitment to skillful excellence and honest service to others in all that we say and do.
OUR NINE ORGANIZATIONAL OBJECTIVES
Since its founding in 1961, CLS’ nine organizational objectives, as set forth in its amended not-for-profit articles of incorporation, have been:
♦ To proclaim Jesus as Lord through all that we do in the field of law and other disciplines;
♦ To provide a means of society, fellowship and nurture among Christian lawyers;
♦ To encourage Christian lawyers to view law as ministry;
♦ To clarify and promote the concept of the Christian lawyer and to help Christian lawyers integrate their faith with their professional lives;
♦ To mobilize, at the national and local levels, the resources needed to promote justice, religious liberty, the sanctity of human life, and biblical conflict reconciliation;
♦ To encourage, disciple and aid Christian students in preparing for the legal profession;
♦ To provide a forum for the discussion of problems and opportunities relating to Christianity and the law;
♦ To cooperate with bar associations and other organizations in asserting and maintaining high standards of legal ethics; and,
♦
To encourage lawyers to furnish legal services to the poor and needy, and grant special consideration to the legal needs of churches and other charitable organizations.
These nine objectives are pursued at CLS by following the “inside outward” pattern for spiritual transformation, leadership development and community building that Jesus modeled and taught His disciples in the timeless “Beatitudes” of His Sermon on the Mountain. Matthew 5:1-12.
OUR CONFESSION OF CHRIST
At CLS, our association starts with a common confession of trust in Jesus Christ and in the truth of His Word as set forth in the Holy Scriptures. By starting here, we acknowledge that God’s standards of justice, mercy towards others, and humility about ourselves can never be understood, much less attained, unless God is, as He has revealed Himself, by His grace alone, first in our lives.3
It is only by this grace that we can by faith acknowledge that Jesus Christ gave His Life for us so that He could give His eternal Life to us in order that He could live His Life through us. Romans 8:14. These uncommon acts and attitudes of
confession, humility and desire for right living are inspired in us by Jesus’ words in the first six verses of His Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 5:1-6
Then, through CLS’ Attorney Ministries and Law Student Ministriesoperating through attorney and law student chapters and our national chaplaincy program, we encourage the maintenance of an accountable, personal and professional lifestyle that is characterized by seeing ourselves truly as God sees us, loving God completely and others compassionately. These steps of mercy and purity are inspired by Jesus’ next words in His Sermon. Matthew 5: 7-8,
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Finally, through CLS’ Legal Aid Ministries and its Center for Law and Religious Freedom, we provide two national and local avenues through which our members may seek to advocate justice with the love of God. First, we recruit and train lawyers to provide Christian legal services to the truly needy.4 Second, in the defense of religious freedom and the sacredness of human life, we train and encourage our members to model the biblical principles Christ modeled: truth, justice, sacredness of life, freedom of conscience, and biblical conflict reconciliation through personal confession and forgiveness of wrongs. These steps are inspired by the last “blessings” Jesus identified in His Sermon. Matthew 5:9-11 5
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when men cast insults at you, and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, on account of Me.
OUR FELLOWSHIP IN CHRISTThrough membership in CLS, each of our members (in every “season” of their life and phase of their legal practice) is encouraged to faithfully follow the above-described “inside outward” pattern for spiritual transformation and Christian living as modeled for us by Christ. In this fashion, CLS exists to transform the legal profession for good one heart and mind at a time by equipping and encouraging each CLS member (and their families), one at a time, through prayer, local fellowship, national provision, advocacy support and leadership training “to do justice with the love of God.”
We believe that it is our voluntary fellowship in Christ that most consistently mobilizes our more than 3,000 CLS members to locally volunteer his or her services to help the poor, mentor a student, promote the biblical reconciliation of conflict, protect the sanctity of innocent human life, or defend a “neighbor” persecuted or discriminated against for the exercise of their free religious conscience. 6
Eventually, by God’s grace and all appropriate means, CLS seeks to identify, equip and inspire every Christian lawyer in the United States who, along with CLS’ non-lawyer “associate” members, seeks to associate together for the common purposes and benefits offered by this Society, and strives to be known by that “love for one for another” that Christ inspires. 1 John 3:11, 23.
OUR COMMITMENT TO FOLLOW CHRISTWe are thankful for the extraordinary number of big and small ways we can follow Christ’s example, using CLS’ ministries, to assist others through CLS staff and our members’ local and national efforts. Here are some of those ways:
We equip attorneys for service
♦ By providing on-line access to vital resources (www.clsnet.org)
CLS’ website connects attorneys with CLS attorney chapters, as well as prayer, fellowship, legal referral, advocacy and jurisprudential resources. ♦ By publishing an on-line national member directory and maintaining an on-line and telephone-based legal referral network that makes more than 150 legal referrals per week.
Christian attorneys, judges and law students across the nation can be located through the CLS membership directory and the national lawyer referral network
.
♦ By providing instructive, informative and inspirational pastoral care, publications, resources and seminars on the Christ-centered practice of law.
♦ By providing a chaplaincy service dedicated to “building a community
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
