Antioch Justice Ministries operates under the Antioch Movement of churches and exists to integrate holistic community development principles and best practices with mission work.
About the Antioch Movement
Antioch is a global family of churches that are Spirit-led, biblically based, and embracing every nation, tribe, people, and language. We are committed to the person of Jesus, His rule and reign in all aspects of our lives, and living out His values in community. God has called us to be a multiplying church-planting movement through whom He brings transformation to personal lives, families, neighborhoods, and every sphere of society in our city, nation, and nations for the glory of God.
About Antioch
Story & History
Antioch Justice Ministry
Antioch Justice Ministries was established from the long-standing calling of Antioch Ministries International to plant churches that bring restoration and transformation to the communities they serve. From the beginning, the Antioch movement has firmly believed that serving communities demonstrates the hope of the gospel: from investing in its neighborhood in Waco, Texas, to rebuilding a community in Sri Lanka after the earthquake, to walking alongside communities in Haiti. These community development initiatives grew out of the conviction that the gospel is not simply for salvation. The Church is called to be the hands and feet of Jesus on the earth, responding to injustice with the same passion, intentionality, and vision that drives our efforts to build and multiply His church.
As Antioch continued to plant churches and serve communities around the world, important questions emerged: What does it look like for the church to respond to injustice? How do we walk alongside those experiencing poverty, exploitation, displacement, and broken systems? And how do we pursue restoration without reducing people to problems to be solved?
Antioch Justice Ministries (AJM) was formed in response to these questions. Rooted in Isaiah 61, AJM exists to help integrate justice, mercy, and restoration more fully into the life and mission of the church. We believe the Church is not meant to simply respond to crises, but to become a faithful, embodied presence in places of brokenness—bringing good news to the poor, binding up the brokenhearted, and proclaiming freedom to the captives.
AJM steps in at critical moments of vulnerability and injustice. AJM helps churches and communities move beyond immediate response toward rebuilding communities and long-term restoration. AJM also mobilizes coordinated efforts when large-scale injustices affect vulnerable populations, bringing together churches and partners to pursue justice and lasting transformation. This may be reflected in anti-trafficking work, trauma-healing workshops, work with refugees, or community development. Justice work, in all facets, aims to bring restoration to places of brokenness.
Antioch Justice Ministries works to envision, equip, and support leaders and teams pursuing God’s restorative justice in the communities they serve. Our focus includes community transformation, leadership development, and sustainable practices that complement church planting. Rather than relying on quick fixes, financial dependency, or one-time interventions, we are committed to the long-term work of developing people, communities, and systems that foster holistic transformation and multiply healthy church movements.
Through this restorative justice work, AJM teams embody the gospel in their various locations: proclaiming the good news of Christ while participating in God’s work of restoring people and communities. We are firmly resolved that Jesus is the hope of the world, and his church participates in bringing his ‘hope’ of the gospel to the world. This not only brings salvation, but also the restoration and transformation of whole communities.
What do we believe?
The Antioch Movement is fully submitted to Jesus as the head of the Church. We hold the Scripture as our highest authority in faith and practice and we stand in agreement with believers around the world and throughout history in the following beliefs which anchor all that we do.
Beliefs
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We believe the Bible is the inspired, authoritative, living, eternally reliable Word of God equally in all parts and without error in its original manuscripts, and our primary and authoritative source of revelation from God, superior to conscience and reason, though not contrary to reason. Therefore, the Bible is our final authority for faith and practice and is necessary for our daily lives as it continually points us toward the person of Jesus. [2 Timothy 3:16-17; 1 Peter 1:23-25; Hebrews 4:12]
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We believe in one God who has revealed Himself in three persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. [Romans 1:20]
The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are all co-eternal, all stand equally superior to time, free from the temporal distinctions of past and future.
FATHER [Deuteronomy 33:27; Psalm 90:2; Psalm 102:27; 1 Timothy 1:17]
SON [John 1:1-2; John 8:58; Hebrews 1:8; 1 John 1:2; Revelation 1:8]
HOLY SPIRIT [Hebrews 9:14]
We believe in God the Father, Creator of all things visible and invisible. [Colossians 1:15-16]
We believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son, who came into the world to reveal the Father and was the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person. Jesus Christ was the Creator of everything, for by Him all things were made. We further believe that in Christ dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead in bodily form and that He was very-God and very-Man. [John 1:1-2, 14; 1 Timothy 3:16; Acts 7:37-38]
We believe in Jesus Christ’s pre-existence, incarnation, virgin birth, sinless life, miracles, substitutionary and atoning death, bodily resurrection, bodily ascension into heaven, exaltation, present rule at the right hand of God, coming, personal return in power and great glory and in His everlasting Kingdom and dominion. [Acts 1:11; Acts 3:19-21; Daniel 7:14; Revelation 20:4]
We acknowledge His Lordship—that Jesus Christ is Lord over all things in heaven, on earth and under the earth. [Philippians 2:9-10]
We believe in the Holy Spirit, His present ministry, His indwelling, His empowering, His impartation of gifts for today and His transforming power in the lives of all believers. [1 Corinthians 12:4-11, Galatians 5:22-23; Ephesians 1:13-14] -
We believe man was created by a direct and immediate act of God. [Genesis 1:26-27; Genesis 2:4]
We believe man, by transgression, fell from a state of righteousness and holiness in which he was first created into total spiritual depravity, a state of death in trespasses and sins in which he is held as a slave of sin and an enemy of God. As such, he is unable to attain divine righteousness by his own efforts but must be redeemed and delivered by the power of the gospel. [Romans 5:12-21; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4]
We believe repentance and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ are an integral part of God’s work of justification of the believer. Through faith in the shed blood of Christ, he or she is justified and made a partaker in the death of Christ. [Romans 5:1, 9]
We believe it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. [Ephesians 2:8-9]
We further believe the emphasis for a continuous walk in grace should be on demonstrating righteousness and purity of heart, believing in the keeping power of God, walking after the Spirit and not after the flesh, living a lifestyle that demonstrates the character, standards and convictions of Jesus Christ, and not being conformed to the world. [Jude 24; Romans 8:25; Galatians 5:16-25; Romans 4:1-5; Romans 12:1-2]
We believe repentance is dependent upon the convicting action of the Holy Spirit in the lives of sinners and believers and their response. The conviction of the Holy Spirit, which often accompanies the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, will result in the revelation of the sinfulness of self, which should lead to godly sorrow and repentance. [2 Corinthians 7:10; Psalm 51; Acts 11:18; 2 Timothy 2:25; Romans 1:18-32; Matthew 9:12-13]
We believe that in the final judgment, which will accompany the return of Christ, every person will give an account to God of every aspect of this earthly life. Unbelievers will be separated from God for eternity in hell. Believers will experience the final resurrection and live eternally with Christ in the new heavens and the new earth. [1 Corinthians 3:10-15; 2 Corinthians 5:10; Revelation 20:11-15] -
We believe in the Lord’s Supper and believer’s baptism as acts of our obedience and a testimony of our faith. [Matthew 3:6; Mark 16:16; 1 Corinthians 11:23-29]
We believe water baptism is necessary in obedient response to the command of Jesus. Baptism is to be performed only upon repentant believers in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. [Matthew 28:18-20]
We believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit. [Acts 2:4; Acts 10:46; Acts 19:6]We hold that the real evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is one’s response to the Word of God (John 16:13), a Christ-like life, showing forth Christ’s character, and experiencing and manifesting the gifts and fruit of the Holy Spirit. [John 15:26; John 16:14; Galatians 5:22-23; 1 Corinthians 12:4-11]
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We believe God has ordained the family as the foundational institution of human society. Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime. The husband and wife are of equal worth before God, since both are created in God’s image. Children, from the moment of conception, are a blessing and heritage from the Lord. [Genesis 1:27-28; Genesis 2:20-25, Matthew 19:4-6, Psalm 139:13-15]
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We believe the Church is both universal and local. All believers form the Church, in unity with all believers throughout history; and yet, the church is also local, with believers gathering in committed community and under the authority of Christ. [Ephesians 1:21]
Scripture describes the Church as:
the Body of Christ [Romans 12:5, 1 Corinthians 12:12-31; Ephesians 1:9-10; Ephesians 1:22-23]
the household of God [Romans 8:14-17; Galatians 3:26-4:7; Ephesians 2:11]
the temple of God [1 Corinthians 3:9-17, Ephesians 2:21-22, 1 Peter 2:4-10]
God’s chosen people [Romans 11:17; Galatians 4:28-31; Ephesians 2:19]
This language is intimate and reveals Jesus’s commitment to and care for His people. Furthermore, the church is God’s instrument for revealing His purpose on the Earth and the fullness of Jesus on earth for His glory. [Ephesians 3:10; Ephesians 1:23]