When Justice Just Is: Confessing Brokenness, Cultivating Joy, and Creating Space for Authenticity in the Justice Movement

"This book will help keep generations of world-changers in the game, instead of tapping out because the struggle is too great."

--Tim Coleman, Founder & Lead Pastor at Brown's Mill Church

" A] refreshingly honest and an inspiring read."

-- Idelette McVicker, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of SheLoves magazine.com

"This book will] benefit those who run non-profits, those who work for them, and those who fund them."

-- F. Volker Greifenhagen, Academic Dean at Luther College

How do we reconcile joy and sorrow in a world that is both beautiful and desperately broken? Can we put the "human" back into "humanitarianism?" Is there a way to let go of disillusionment, hold onto hope, and redeem our pain for good?

Author and non-profit director Katie Bergman explores these questions while reflecting on her geographically sprawling pilgrimage to pursue justice without being crushed by it. Driven by her personal experiences from Cambodian villages to Canadian inner-cities, from courthouses to street corners to orphanages, this book of confessions starts a dialogue about the trials and triumphs of seeking justice.

The author's personal narrative weaves in a sequence of coming-of-age stories capturing her journey of learning to grieve without despair, to dream without guilt, and to serve without defeat. She will warm and break your heart with profound stories of intervening in human trafficking in Southeast Asia, teaching children with special needs in rural Mexico, spending austere summers planting trees in the rugged wilderness of northern British Columbia, and backpacking through Eastern Europe in self-imposed solitude.

When Justice Just Is provides authentic insight, gripping challenges, and a global perspective of the joys and struggles of humanitarian work as the soul to a fresh conversation of learning to be kinder to the world while also being kinder to ourselves.