When We Belong: Reclaiming Christianity on the Margins

Pastor Nagassar (Thrive) offers an eye-opening discussion of how to make Christian churches more inclusive for people of color. Arguing that many churches are plagued by white supremacy, Nagassar mines personal stories and Christian history to provide “new language and pathways” to help marginalized Christians find belonging in their places of worship. The author shares his own struggles with Christian bigotry, recounting how his childhood picture Bible rendered all the characters as white and how he left the Vineyard Churches of Canada after it denounced same-sex marriage. To decolonize Christianity, the author recommends looking to Christian traditions that predate the Roman Catholic Church, embracing the “land-based learning” of Indigenous spirituality, and taking inspiration from “church traditions that have embodied resistance to white hegemony in their foundation,” such as African American churches. Nagassar provides scant details on how to put these principles into action, but he more than makes up for this with an exceptional overview of the history of white supremacy within the church, tracing its origins to the 15th-century papal decree that condoned seizing land from non-Christians and paved the way for European colonization of the Americas. Well researched and passionately argued, this should be required reading for justice-minded churchgoers. (June)