Where Jesus Stands: A Challenge to Faithful Allyship

If you are a Christ follower Jesus calls you to stand with anyone who is marginalized, oppressed, victimized, or bullied. His words as seen in the gospels are peppered with cries for justice, inclusion, and equality. As a Pastor I have come to realize Jesus is calling us to become allies to those who are most ostracized or vulnerable in our midst. 

What is an Ally? According to Mirriam Webster’s Dictionary the word ally is defined as “one that is associated with another as a helper; a person or group that provides assistance and support in an ongoing effort, activity or struggle”.

To be clear being an aspiring ally is all one can be, it is the right and privilege of the excluded and mistreated community to decide who they designate as an ally. This can only happen over time as a person backs up their words with action.

I want to share some hard fought lessons I have learned on my own personal journey to as an aspiring ally. As a reminder if you are a christian you serve a savior who attended all the “wrong” parties while building relationships of grace with all the “wrong” people.

Aspiring allies are learners with a posture of humility

As a white cis gendered heterosexual majority culture man, it was easy for me to dismiss the real lived experience of those who exist in minority spaces or spaces where the majority culture dictates their access to inclusion. My friends and family who are people of color, female, LGBTQ, or any other regularly excluded group are faced with a different lived reality. This means that I MUST listen to them as they share their lived reality, and that listening must be to understand—not to excuse or minimalize. Scripture reminds us, “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry” (James 1:19), and “To answer before listening—that is folly and shame” (Proverbs 18:13).

As a former overtly racist, homophobic, transphobic, misogynistic man, it was imperative that I adjust my own thinking while actively pursuing friendships with those I once judged or looked down on. Once I earned their trust through proven posture and began to listen well, it was like scales of hate fell from my heart. The more I listen, the more I understand the privilege I have because of who I am.

Put another way, once I realized that the race, gender, and sexuality I was born into gave me certain advantages, it became easier to recognize the trauma those not born like me have experienced. Scripture repeatedly calls God’s people to this kind of humility, reminding us that “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble” (James 4:6), and inviting us to walk in the way of Christ, who described Himself as “gentle and humble in heart” (Matthew 11:29).

Aspiring allies lay aside & leverage position, privilege, or advantage for the sake of those they have marginalized.

As we learn, we begin to recognize what it truly means to leverage our advantage—and what it will cost us. Awareness without action is not neutrality; it is complicity. If we grow in understanding yet remain where we are—choosing comfort over risk and safety over solidarity—we risk causing further pain and traumatization. Learning must always move us toward embodied action.

We are called to become like Jesus, who willingly laid aside His advantage for the sake of a broken world. Paul reminds the church, “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5), who “did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage” (Philippians 2:6), but instead emptied Himself, taking on the form of a servant (Philippians 2:7–8). Jesus left the perfection and protection of heaven to endure life as a human—one who was misunderstood, falsely accused, persecuted, and ultimately rejected by the very people who should have welcomed Him as their long-awaited King. In this way, Jesus entered a form of rejection that mirrors the daily experience of many of our marginalized siblings.

Those who exist in minority cultures live with the ongoing reality of exclusion and oppression, often without the protections or privileges afforded to those in the majority. As followers of Christ, our allegiance is not to comfort or cultural power, but to the values of His Kingdom, which consistently elevate the lowly and confront injustice. This means choosing faithfulness to Jesus over alignment with dominant power structures.

For the LGBTQ community, this looks like actively contending for their dignity and humanity. For people of color who continue to bear the weight of histories shaped by colonization and systemic injustice, it means working to ensure access to resources and rights long denied. For women, it means advocating for equality and shared authority in work, faith, and family life. To follow Jesus is to leverage whatever privilege we possess—not for self-preservation, but for sacrificial love modeled after Christ Himself.

Aspiring allies must continually prove their posture through consistent, costly faithfulness.

One of the hardest truths I have learned is that allyship is never a status that is earned once and then retained forever. Trust can be damaged quickly, especially by those of us who come from majority or power-holding cultures. Because of this, aspiring allies must be willing to keep showing up, keep listening, keep apologizing, and keep adjusting when harm is named.

Jesus teaches us that faithfulness is demonstrated not through words or self-identification, but through fruit-bearing lives. “By their fruit you will recognize them” (Matthew 7:16). In other words, people will not know us by our intentions, our labels, or our social media statements, but by the consistent evidence of our actions over time.

Scripture also reminds us that love must be proven, not proclaimed: “Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth” (1 John 3:18). Aspiring allies must resist the urge to center themselves, seek affirmation, or grow defensive when correction comes. Instead, we submit ourselves to ongoing refinement, understanding that being trusted is a gift—not a right.

To walk this path well requires perseverance. “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9). Allyship is not a moment; it is a long obedience shaped by humility, repentance, and love.

To follow Jesus is to walk toward the margins, not away from them. It is to stand with those whose voices have been silenced, whose dignity has been questioned, and whose humanity has been denied. Aspiring allies recognize that they are always becoming, always learning, and always accountable to the communities they seek to serve.

Jesus did not seek approval from power structures; He disrupted them. He did not defend His own status; He emptied Himself. And He did not love from a distance; He dwelled among the wounded, the rejected, and the outcast. May we, as His followers, do the same—choosing humility over comfort, faithfulness over applause, and sacrificial love over cheap solidarity.