Title: Dear Church Pdf A Love Letter from a Black Preacher to the Whitest Denomination in the US
Author: Lenny Duncan
Published Date: 2019-07-02
Page: 138
"Rev. Lenny Duncan is a voice calling in the wilderness. I am deeply grateful for the comfort and the discomfort his book brought me. I dare you to read this book, church. I dare you to be open to the repentance it calls for, to the grace it manifests, to the pain it witnesses to. I dare you to be changed by the truth in its pages. I dare you to not look away. It's time." --Nadia Bolz-Weber, Pastor and New York Times bestselling author of Shameless: A Sexual Revolution "Our brother Lenny Duncan has crafted a masterful and heartbroken indictment of where the Lutheran Church could be and where it is instead. He stands fiercely grounded in the Lutheran tradition of revealing our own brokenness, proclaiming our hope in Christ, and challenging us to live into love of neighbor. His individual experiences and our churchwide practices are woven together in an unsettling illustration of how the American idol of white supremacy has laid the foundation for a wide array of vitriol, from Dylann Roof to transphobia to the election of the forty-fifth president. Prepare yourself, church. This is a love letter you have to read--and a proclamation that will leave you convicted." --Emmy Kegler ELCA Pastor and author of One Coin Found "May we love the church as much as Duncan does so that we cannot just take his words to heart but also engage to dismantle the powers and principalities that keep us from being siblings in Christ with one another. His words about the whitest denomination in the United States and its relationship to white supremacy are the truths that we need to acknowledge. Duncan's love letter to the church is the modern day epistle we all need to read." --The Reverend Tuhina Verma Rasche "Marrying stunning, reverberant personal stories with little-known Lutheran history, Duncan makes readers laugh out loud in grim recognition. His critiques of our beloved church strike a tender spot in the heart, not because they are harsh, but because they are true. I pray we will engage in truth-telling with the same rigor Duncan does, because only truth will open the path to justice." --Emily Scott, ELCA Mission Developer and Dinner Church Movement "Lenny Duncan has given us a bold and fearless book filled with unsettling but indispensable insights into the stranglehold white supremacy inflicts upon our churches. At the same time, we feel a holy, ferocious love radiating from every page. This book should be required reading for all who love our church and lament our failures. If you don't come away breathless, hope-struck, and fired up for revolution, check your pulse." --Heidi Neumark, Trinity Lutheran Church Manhattan "The Reverend Lenny Duncan writes with a searing message urgently rooted in true love. His deep commitment to speak the truth to his white siblings in the church reads as a desperately clarion call. Dear Church isn’t just a good idea for a book study--the grace-filled ferocity that overwhelms its pages reminds one of early writings from the Latin American base communities that formed liberation theology as we know it today. Duncan has written a necessary addition to the corpus of Christian writings in the twenty-first century. We ignore his plea at our own peril." --Jason Chesnutt ANKOS Films, The Slate Project and #slatespeak and #slatereads Lenny Duncan is pastor of Jehu's Table, a church in the heart of Brooklyn. Formerly incarcerated, formerly homeless, and formerly unchurched, Duncan is now a sought-after speaker and writer on topics of racial justice and the role of the church in the twenty-first century. His documentary film, Do Black Churches Matter in the ELCA, was released in 2017.
Lenny Duncan is the unlikeliest of pastors. Formerly incarcerated, he is now a black preacher in the whitest denomination in the United States: the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Shifting demographics and shrinking congregations make all the headlines, but Duncan sees something else at work--drawing a direct line between the church's lack of diversity and the church's lack of vitality. The problems the ELCA faces are theological, not sociological. But so are the answers.
Part manifesto, part confession, and all love letter, Dear Church offers a bold new vision for the future of Duncan's denomination and the broader mainline Christian community of faith. Dear Church rejects the narrative of church decline and calls everyone--leaders and laity alike--to the front lines of the church's renewal through racial equality and justice.
It is time for the church to rise up, dust itself off, and take on forces of this world that act against God: whiteness, misogyny, nationalism, homophobia, and economic injustice. Duncan gives a blueprint for the way forward and urges us to follow in the revolutionary path of Jesus.
Dear Church also features a discussion guide at the back--perfect for church groups, book clubs, and other group discussion.
Extremely Elementary This book is the "rage" and individuals are "swooning" all over it. Thus, I normally stay away from the books like this and wait for the hype to die down. However, I felt as a white ELCA pastor that I needed to read the book. I felt that the book fell short on so many levels that it would be very difficult to even go into them.It is a passion and plea book and a "wake-up" call for this almost all-white church. However, I would have loved him to go deeper ESPECIALLY when he states numerous times that this is a theological issue/problem in our church. To me, that is a very BIG hypothesis. Show us data, show us research, dive deep into scripture and our theology to show, but it did not occur.Most of the book seemed to be personal and as I read it, I keep thinking this was more of an endorsement essay not a book on racism. In fact, I think this was more of a story of redemption than racism. In itself, that is not a bad thing and maybe even a GREAT thing if that was the central-theme of the book.I was leaning to one star but that seems to be very cruel even if a book is a train wreck. I "leaped" to two stars because the last two chapters where he made his passion plea was good/emotional.On to look for a book that truly tackles racism.A Love Letter to Treasure and Act Upon I was blessed to receive an advanced copy of this book, in exchange for an honest review.#dearchurchIn an age when we desperately need good news, these epistles from prophet, and pastor, Lenny Duncan are a challenging, and yet hopeful, message to the church he loves.If you have ever wondered how we could “be church together” in a way that would make a difference in regard to racism, sexism, classism, homophobia, and/or other discriminatory and sinful practices, you must read this book. If you want to know how to reach every generation, you must read this book. If you want to be a faithful Jesus follower in the 21st-century, YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK.I do not believe that it is an exaggeration to say, that this book has the potential to be impacting the church 100 years from now.What we do now matters.Never again is now.Please ...Read this book!Rev. Dr. Yolanda Denson ByersEssential and timely reading This thoughtfully and beautifully written book is exactly what I have been looking for to move the conversation forward in my congregation on building the beloved community. Rev. Duncan’s words are challenging and uplifting at the same time.I work in campus ministry and have made many of the same observations that Rev. Duncan puts so eloquently: the most obvious being that young people see the church as irrelevant because of our hypocrisy in saying “all are welcome” and not really meaning it. And in campus ministry, because we are here for people at a time when they are trying lots of new things, we have an incredible opportunity to make a shift in what our community looks like. But it takes intention and will.In the campus ministry, I also have a small congregation. I am asking my board and council to read this book this summer, and we will center a small group around it in the autumn.You may already be on board with the concepts laid out in this book. But the reason to read it is to give yourself the courage to take next steps toward the full inclusion God wants for God’s people, and to give yourself another tool for building the beloved community.Thanks, Rev. Duncan.
Light of the World pdf
A Preacher's Guide to Lectionary Sermon Series, Volume 2 pdf
Red State Christians pdf
The Fixin' Place pdf
The New Testament in Its World pdf
White Awake pdf
One Coin Found pdf
Tags: 1506452566 pdf,Dear Church pdf,A Love Letter from a Black Preacher to the Whitest Denomination in the US pdf,Lenny Duncan,Dear Church: A Love Letter from a Black Preacher to the Whitest Denomination in the US,Fortress Press,1506452566,Evangelicalism - Social aspects - United States,Evangelicalism;Social aspects.,Lutheran Church - Social aspects - United States,Race - Religious aspects - Christianity,Race;Religious aspects;Christianity.,Religion & Spirituality / Christianity,GENERAL,General Adult,Inspirational/Devotional - Christian,Non-Fiction,RELIGION / Christian Living / Social Issues,Religion/Ethics,Social Science/Discrimination & Racism
0 Response to "Dear Church Pdf"
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.