Volume 7 Issue 1 is dedicated to the theme of #churchtoo. Abuse of power and leadership failures may be nothing new in churches, but that doesn’t take away from its horror or devastation. In many cases, these abuses have been allowed to metastasize in secret, with those who have been called to be communities of light complicit in cover-ups. In our day, especially in the wake of #metoo movement, revelations of abuse by those entrusted with power in all spheres of our culture have also drawn many secrets hiding in churches out into the open. We are living through a time of reckoning for the church.
Honestly engaging with #churchtoo and all its implications will be painful for church leaders (many will wish to avoid it; indeed, many have tried their best at it) but leaning into #churchtoo will be absolutely necessary for the health of the mission of the church moving forward.
The Letter from the Editors will introduce you to each of the pieces in the issue; we offer this issue with the hope for a church repentant and renewed.
In this Issue:
- Heather Evans and Hannah Wildasin – “#Churchtoo Through the Lens of Trauma”
- Carolyn Custis James – “The Gospel Versus Patriarchy: Ruth and Esther Have Something to Say”
- Urban Voices:
- Tamika Holder – “Jephthah’s Daughter and #metoo”
- Dave Park – “Healing from the Bitter Past: A New Way Forward for the Korean American Church”
- Bill Krispin – “Mentoring: Raising Up Leaders for the Harvest”
- Profile:
- David Garlock – Miea Walker: Modern Day Harriet Tubman
- Case Study:
- Ernest McNear and Lin Crowe –Â Â Global Outreach in an Urban World
- Reviews:
- Susan Baker – Diane Langberg’s Redeeming Power: Understanding Authority and Abuse in the Church,
- Carolyn Custis James – Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation by Kristin Kobes Du Mez,
- Julie Cowen – A Church Called Tov: Forming a Goodness Culture That Resists Abuses of Power and Promotes Healing by Scot McKnight and Laura Barringer
Please help spread the word. Share this link with others and tell them to sign up to our email list. Follow us on social networks. Contribute articles or artworks (email us: editor@jofum.com). Give financially to support our work of seeking God’s mission in cities around the world. Thank you.
This dissertation examines the urban mission efforts. So when we look at Adventist urban mission today, the starting point must be our stance, our perspective, our motivation which can be nothing less than Christ-like love.