The Wages of Peace: How to Confront Economic Inequality and Love Your Neighbor Well

It’s getting harder and harder to get by.

Inflation. Stagnant wages. Spiraling costs of living. Even in the world’s wealthiest nation, it is too hard to earn enough money to thrive without a tremendous amount of privilege or luck. When so many people are struggling, what can we do?
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The Wages of Peace offers aspiring economic peacemakers an empathetic, informed perspective on today’s economy and the difficulty of getting by. Reporting back from his work in community development, Brian Humphreys unpacks the core needs of low-income households and communities, starting with living-wage jobs. He then offers practical steps to address complex socioeconomic challenges and become equipped to talk about money, work, and well-being. This includes confronting where our theologies of wealth and work have come up short and naming that when we put profits over people, we pay the price in despair and violence.
Jesus calls us to seek shalom in the marketplace and the neighborhood. It’s time to dismantle inequality and work for an equitable peace.

Brian Humphreys is a community economic development professional who is passionate about enhancing local churches’ capacity to love their neighbors. He first trained to be a missionary pilot, but soon became aware of the growing struggle for households to attain living-wage jobs. He is both an academic and a practitioner, executing projects in the community while training the next generation of Christian leaders and servants. Brian cares deeply about the intersection of Christian peacemaking and the global challenge of economic inequality. He is the director and chair of the School of Global Studies at Northwest University in Kirkland, Washington.