On Friday 20 February the UN World Day of Social Justice will be marked with the 2026 theme of ‘Empowering Inclusion: Bridging Gaps for Social Justice’. The United Nations observes designated days as a powerful advocacy tool, each with a theme or topic. The World Day of Social Justice recognises the need to promote efforts to tackle issues such as poverty, exclusion, employment, gender equity and access to social well-being and justice for all.

Whether we consider global or national indicators, inequality seems to be at extraordinary levels. For example, the gap in healthy life expectancy in England is growing. In 2020 to 2022 the gap was around 20 years between those living in the most and least deprived areas for both sexes (Health Inequalities Dashboard: statistical commentary, UK Government, September 2025). Internationally, children face unequal chances of survival based on where they live, their socio-economic status and whether they live in a fragile or conflict-affected setting. Even as global averages improve, the reality for many children is shaped by where, and into which conditions, they are born. A child born in sub-Saharan Africa is, on average, 18 times more likely to die before the age of 5 than one born in Australia or New Zealand.

Last year I went to hear The Levellers play live. For those not familiar with the radical folk-rock band whose heyday was the 1990s then ask your smart speaker to play ‘It’s a beautiful day’ and tell me you’re not uplifted! It was an amazing evening of nostalgia but I also heard a new (to me) tune with the refrain ‘Lend them your voice’. After the louder numbers this was slow, atmospheric and poignant. I think these words encapsulate what the World Day of Social Justice is about. Another term for lending our voice might be ‘advocacy’.

We quite often think about advocacy in a legal sense – the process of actively supporting and enabling people to express their views, understand their rights, make informed decisions and obtain the information and services they need. An advocate might represent an individual, ensuring their voice is heard and their interests are promoted, especially for those who are unable to speak for themselves or to navigate complex systems independently.

I think we sometimes look at the big names in climate and nature advocacy, like Greta Thunberg or Chris Packham, as different to us. That’s something they’re doing – it’s not for me. They’re somehow wired differently. Confident to be in front of the camera and always finding the right words to say. But aren’t we all called to be advocates? As Christians the term advocacy has particular significance to us.

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever – the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. (John 14:16-17)

As Jesus prepares for his departure from earth and return to God in heaven, he promises an advocate. Here the Greek word Parakletos, meaning ‘one who speaks in our defence’, and translated to ‘advocate’, is used with reference to the Holy Spirit. Elsewhere in the New Testament this word refers to Jesus. For example, 1 John 2:1, ‘But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father – Jesus Christ, the Righteous One’ speaks of Jesus as our continuing advocate with the Father, because we who are sinful find in him the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and thus have our acceptance with the Father.

In other words, we are not alone. Jesus promises us the Holy Spirit, an active, empowering presence within us, guiding us, comforting us, and strengthening us. It’s the inner reminder to be kind, the quiet wisdom that helps us make good choices, the courage to speak truth to power.

Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ (Matthew 25:34-40)

As the Holy Spirit is our advocate, then we, as God’s people, are called to be advocates too: to stand up for the marginalised, the poor, the needy. This is the essence of loving our neighbours, of bridging gaps for social justice.

There is a powerful history of the Church bringing about change for issues of social justice. If you haven’t heard the 2025 Reith Lectures by Dutch historian Rutger Bregman then I highly recommend them. Bregman describes how small groups of citizens can, and have, changed the world by challenging the status quo. A notable feature, from the second lecture, was how people of faith were often the instigators of change. Bregman spoke about the abolitionist movement in particular. In 1787, Clarkson and Sharp were instrumental in forming the Committee for the Abolition of the African Slave Trade. Many of the other members were Quakers. Bregman explained how conviction and compulsion drove Thomas Clarkson to spend over 60 years dedicated to the campaign.

Just to highlight a further injustice, although the 1833 Slavery Abolition Act meant the profiteering from human misery ultimately ended, not a penny of compensation was paid to those who were enslaved and brutalised. In fact, the British government borrowed £20 million to compensate the slave owners, which amounted to a massive 40% of the Treasury’s annual income or about 5% of British GDP. The loan was one of the largest in history. It was only in 2015 that British taxpayers finished ‘paying off’ the debt that the British government incurred in order to compensate British slave owners. (Reference: https://taxjustice.net/2020/06/09/slavery-compensation-uk-questions/)

Therefore, on the World Day of Social Justice, it seems appropriate to consider our role as Christians as advocates. Advocacy is deeply biblical, deeply relational and deeply needed in a world where both people and planet suffer under systems that prioritise profit over wellbeing. Advocacy is not just activism; it is discipleship in public. Advocacy is part of loving God’s world. It is loving our neighbour at scale. It is worship with our voices, our bodies, our actions.