ustice work is hard. Some days it feels lonely. But Rev. Cheryl Jefferson Bell holds onto a promise Jesus made right after the great commission — one she believes is for every person doing the work of justice today. It hasn’t expired. It has no exceptions.

Dr. Cornel West says justice is what love looks like in public. Rev. Cheryl Jefferson Bell believes he’s right — and she’s calling Resurrection’s justice ministry partners and congregation to prove it together. On April 28, over 2,000 people will gather at Resurrection Leawood to do exactly that.

Rev. Cheryl Jefferson Bell opens with a prayer the violence would stop — then grounds her response not in politics, but in scripture. Every person carries the image of God. And because of that, she says, we don’t just belong to God. We belong to each other.

Rev. Cheryl Jefferson Bell will be the first to admit that loving her neighbor is something she still struggles with. Then she met a typewriter poet named Nika Renee — and walked away with a poem that’s been a mirror and a challenge ever since.

Rev. Cheryl Jefferson Bell spent Martin Luther King Jr. weekend at a celebration where the preacher declared we are in the second civil rights movement. She believes he’s right. And she’s calling Resurrection’s justice ministry — and you — to respond with intention in 2026.

As a child, Rev. Cheryl Jefferson Bell memorized the Preamble to the Constitution with pride — not yet understanding it wasn’t written with her in mind. Decades later, she’s still holding onto hope. And she’s calling the church to do the hard, holy work of justice.