Reimagining the Good Life with Amy Julia Becker

Is diversity or discipleship the answer to segregation within the American church? David Swanson, pastor and author of Rediscipling the White Church, talks with Amy Julia about the segregated American church, the white church’s discipleship problem, and how rethinking discipleship can grow communities of welcome that break down barriers. (Scroll down for book giveaway details!)Show Notes:“David W. Swanson is the pastor of New Community Covenant Church, a multicultural congregation in Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood. He helps lead New Community Outreach, a nonprofit that collaborates with the community to reduce sources of trauma, and speaks around the country on the topics of racial justice and reconciliation.”Connect online:Website: dwswanson.comTwitter: @davidswansonFacebook: @PastorDavidWSwansonInstagram: @david.w.swansonOn the Podcast:Rediscipling the White Church: From Cheap Diversity to True SolidarityDr. Brenda Salter McNeilMichael Emerson and Christian SmithDavid Bailey on Love Is Stronger Than FearArrabon“There’s something that’s been discipling us outside of Jesus that has left us content with that segregated status quo...Why is it that my discipleship to Jesus hasn’t upended or broken through some of the segregated patterns that are so normal in this country?”“What makes us so incredibly unique is that we make up this family with other welcomed outsiders…and the center is always Christ, the center is always Jesus’ body, which welcomes us as these former outsiders now sitting together at the same table.”“One of the attributes of whiteness is forgetfulness.”___Book GIVEAWAY:To enter to win a copy of Rediscipling the White Church...1. After 1 p.m. EST on April 6, go to Amy Julia's Instagram account: @amyjuliabecker2. Follow @amyjuliabecker on Instagram ✔️3. Like the post for this podcast episode 💙4. And tag a friend in the comments of the post who might be interested in this podcast episode 😀Winner will be randomly selected on Monday, April 12, 2021. Thank you to IV Press for making this giveaway possible.[Shipping to the continental United States only. This giveaway is not affiliated with Instagram. Contest will end at 11:59 p.m. EST 04/11/21] ___Thank you to Breaking Ground, the co-host for this podcast.Head, Heart, Hands, Season 4 of the Love Is Stronger Than Fear podcast, is based on my e-book Head, Heart, Hands, which accompanies White Picket Fences. Check out free RESOURCES that are designed to help you respond to the harWe want to hear your thoughts. Send us a text!Connect with me: Instagram Facebook YouTube Website Thanks for listening!

What is the role of art in bringing hope and healing to the fractures of our world? Makoto Fujimura, a leading contemporary artist and the author of Art+Faith, talks with Amy Julia about creating beauty through brokenness, the art of waiting and making, and how the theology of God’s new creation transforms communities of Christ.Show Notes:Makoto Fujimura is the author of Art+Faith: A Theology of Making, and his “art has been featured widely in galleries and museums around the world, and is collected by notable collections including The Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo, The Huntington Library as well as Tikotin Museum in Israel.” Connect online:Website: makotofujimura.comFacebook: @makotofujimuraartInstagram: @iamfujimuraTwitter: @iamfujimuraYouTubeOn the Podcast:Makoto Fujimura’s Books: Art+Faith, Refractions, Culture Care, and Silence and Beauty Silence movieSilence by Shūsaku EndōEmbers InternationalKintsugi art1 Corinthians 3, John 11-12, Luke 19Liuan Huska interviewMargaret Mead"I consider what I do to be prayer and theological work as much as aesthetic work, so I’ve always felt the presence of God in my studio, in the practice of making.""It becomes essential conversation for us to find our thriving. What does it mean to be a human being today, let alone a Christian? The arts fundamentally can bring us to a deeper conversation."”We are not going back to pre-pandemic normal. It’s a new world. It’s a world in which we have all suffered—and we have all shared in the suffering—and, therefore, we have an opportunity to create communities that would both nurture and protect those broken places and really be able to share because of our brokenness...A Kintsugi master even amplifies or exposes the fractures but does it in a beautiful way. And can we do that as communities, especially communities of Christ?”"Waiting is such an important part of art. You cannot have music without pauses. You cannot have choreography without the body stopping. And so being still, finding that still point of the turning world, as TS Elliot writes, is very much at the heart of every art form.""If we are not making, we are consuming."___ Thank you to Breaking Ground, the co-host for this podcast.Head, Heart, Hands, Season 4 of the Love Is Stronger Than Fear podcast, is based on my e-book Head, Heart, HandsWe want to hear your thoughts. Send us a text!Connect with me: Instagram Facebook YouTube Website Thanks for listening!

How should Christians care for immigrants and respond to the divisiveness surrounding immigration policies in the United States? Briana Stensrud, director of Women of Welcome, talks with Amy Julia about her journey from working in the pro-life movement to working with immigrants, biblical hospitality, and what extending welcome to immigrants could look like today.SHOW NOTES:Briana Stensrud is a human dignity advocate and the Director of Women of Welcome. Connect online:Women of Welcome: womenofwelcome.comInstagram: @womenofwelcomeInstagram: @bri.stenzFacebook: @WomenofWelcomeOn the Podcast:Women of WelcomeLatasha Morrison and Be the BridgeHeather MacFaydenAmy Julia’s trip to the borderLetter on Immigration ReformLove Undocumented by Sarah QuezadaGenesis 1:27, Matthew 25, Luke 10:25-37Association for a More Just Society“The borders on my definition of what it meant to be pro-life really started to expand because of my anchoring in the belief of the dignity and sanctity of every human life. Being against abortion was not enough.”“You have law enforcement handling a humanitarian crisis, so instead of treating vulnerable people as a specific vulnerable population, what you’re doing is trying to meet that humanitarian need with a military response, which is such a mismatch because you’re asking border patrol to handle toddlers, and their job is to thwart and find those who would seek to do harm to the country or enter illegally.”“Women of Welcome…we are a community of Christian women who are looking to enter into this issue from a biblical perspective. What is Christlike welcome? What is biblical hospitality…immigration for us is a biblical issue; it’s not a political issue. What that does is it frees us up to engage and enter into this space and speak very transparently and honestly about the policies that are affecting vulnerable people no matter who’s in charge, no matter who the president is.”“We want safe borders. We also want compassionate treatment of those who are made in the image of God.”“When you move to this Kingdom mindset of what God cares about, you move off of this “country” or “empire” mindset that says, ‘Citizenship first. America first.’”___Thank you to Breaking Ground, the co-host for this podcast.Head, Heart, Hands, Season 4 of the Love Is Stronger Than Fear podcast, is based on my e-book Head, Heart, Hands, which accompanies White Picket Fences. Check out free RESOURCES that are designed to help you respond to the harm of privilege and join in the work of healing. Learn more abWe want to hear your thoughts. Send us a text!Connect with me: Instagram Facebook YouTube Website Thanks for listening!

How do we respond with courageous love in order to bridge the divisions facing our country? Natasha Sistrunk Robinson, Raymond Chang, and Amy Julia Becker reflect on racial injustice, unity, discipleship, and ways to courageously love our neighbors.Show Notes:Natasha Sistrunk Robinson is an author, speaker, former US Marine Corps captain, Naval Academy Graduate, and founder of Leadership LINKS, Inc. Raymond Chang is the president of the Asian American Christian Collaborative (AACC), a pastor, and writer. On the Podcast:Wheaton CollegeAsian American Christian Collaborative A Sojourner’s Truth by Natasha Sistrunk RobinsonWhite Picket Fences by Amy Julia BeckerLeadership LINKS, INCAACCEphesians, John 17, Psalm 133, Exodus 20, Acts 6:1-3Russell MooreCompassion (&) Conviction by The AND campaignThou Shalt Not Be a Jerk by Eugene ChoGenerous Justice by Tim KellerThe Witness“Unity has always been at the heart of God. So has diversity…it’s not unity in uniformity, which is what we see in a lot of evangelical spaces.” - Ray“When we see these things [racial injustice and civic unrest] happening, it is a cause for mourning. It’s a cause for lament. It’s a cause for care and concern and hospitality.” - Natasha“The church should have so much to offer that our culture doesn’t have in a time of turmoil because we believe in a God of love and in a God of love for every individual human being and for our world in an even broader sense.” - Amy Julia“The Christian ethic is to move towards the stranger, not away from the stranger; move towards the other, not away from the other; move towards the person who’s different, not away from them.” - Ray“We’re called to both preach and practice the Gospel. We’re called to embody the Kingdom of God.” - Ray“We have to count the cost of discipleship, and when we talk about this issue of racial justice and injustice and unity, and all these things, if you really commit to it, it’s going to cost you something…I always talk about these issues as discipleship issues—they are discipleship issues.” - Natasha“The biblical understanding of justice is about proactive care for the vulnerable.” - Amy Julia___Thank you to the Church of the Apostles in Raleigh, NC and the Center for Christianity and Scholarship for sponsoring this discussion. Thank you to Breaking Ground, the co-host for this podcast.Head, Heart, Hands, Season 4 of the Love Is Stronger Than Fear podcast, is based on my e-book We want to hear your thoughts. Send us a text!Connect with me: Instagram Facebook YouTube Website Thanks for listening!

Is healing possible for women coming out of abuse, addiction, sex trafficking, and prostitution? Thistle Farms ambassador, Dorris Walker-Taylor, tells her story of loss, drugs, life on the street, and the healing power of love that she found at Thistle Farms.SHOW NOTES:Dorris Walker-Taylor is an ambassador for Thistle Farms. Follow Thistle Farms online:Website: thistlefarms.orgInstagram: @ThistleFarmsFacebook: @ThistleFarmsTwitter: @ThistleFarmsOn the podcast:Thistle Farms productsThistle Farms videosBecca Stevens“You can’t tell me that love is not stronger than fear—because it is. You can’t tell me that love is not the most powerful force for change in the world—because it is.”“I always thought it was me against the world. This organization [Thistle Farms] loved me back to life.”“This whole world is in an uproar. And the only way we are going to be able to live in peace and unity is for love to come into the picture.”“I could have responded to my father’s death in a lot of different ways, but the way I responded to it was not the right way because I thought I could cover up the pain with a chemical, and it manifested itself into just a horrible life. But God has brought me out of that, and I have done more living in these past 11 years than I did in the first 50 or so…the first four, five decades of my life were in ruins, but God has forgiven me of all my sins, which are many, and now he has blessed me to be able to go back out there and to tell women that there is a way out, that we do get our lives back.”“God chased me until I found him.”“Come to Thistle Farms…and you’ll see, it’s as clear as night and day, the difference that love has made in our lives.”Thank you to Breaking Ground, the co-host for this podcast.Head, Heart, Hands, Season 4 of the Love Is Stronger Than Fear podcast, is based on my e-book Head, Heart, Hands, which accompanies White Picket Fences. Check out free RESOURCES that are designed to help you respond to the harm of privilege and join in the work of healing. Learn more about my writing and speaking at amyjuliabecker.com.We want to hear your thoughts. Send us a text!Connect with me: Instagram Facebook YouTube Website Thanks for listening!

Marxism is often mentioned when talking about progressive views of justice, but what are the secular concepts that shape conservative views of justice? Are they biblical? Corey Widmer, lead pastor of Third Church in Richmond, VA, tells his story of moving into, and out of, a neighborhood in the inner city of Richmond, and he talks with Amy Julia about race, white evangelicalism, faith, and biblical justice.Connect Online:Third Church website: thirdrva.orgInstagram: @thirdrvaFacebook: @ThirdRVATwitter: @coreywidmer and @ThirdRVAOn the Podcast:White Picket Fences and A Good and Perfect Gift by Amy Julia BeckerChristian Community Development AssociationDon Coleman“A call for gentrification with justice” by Corey Widmer Bob LuptonUrban HopeBook of RevelationCorey’s sermon series on RevelationSermon series on Revelation by Rankin WilbourneRevelation: The Triumph of Christ by John StottDivided by Faith by Christian Smith and Michael O EmersonThe Bible project series on justiceReading While Black by Esau McCaulleyAmy Julia’s podcast Interview with Esau McCaulley“As Christians, we’re called not just to preach good news of forgiveness but also the good news of the renovating and restoring and renewing work that the gospel can do for neighborhoods, communities, families, and societies.”"Marxism is not the only secular concept of justice. Actually, the typical view of justice that we have as Americans is also profoundly secular and was birthed out of the Enlightenment...When you understand that, it’s not just that progressive Christians are malformed by this Marxist view of justice. It’s that conservative Christians are really malformed by this libertarian and liberal view of justice that is not from the Bible. It’s from John Rawls."“A true biblical worldview and a true biblical teaching of justice is unlike anything that any of us probably have seen. And, therefore, you shouldn’t fit into any political category or any secular concept of justice.”“The hope of Jesus won’t be as beautiful and clear and wonderful if we don’t first recognize the ways that we have put so much of our hope into false idols that ultimately don’t deliver.”...Thank you to Breaking Ground, the co-host for this podcast.Head, Heart, Hands, Season 4 of the Love Is Stronger Than Fear podcast, is based on my book Head, Heart, Hands, which accompanies We want to hear your thoughts. Send us a text!Connect with me: Instagram Facebook YouTube Website Thanks for listening!

Erin and David Leaverton sold their house, loaded their three, young children into an RV, and traveled the country for a year. Their family’s journey is part of the documentary The Reunited States. Erin Leaverton talks with Amy Julia about their search for what divides our nation, the false hierarchy of human value, and the durable power of God’s love to heal division.SHOW NOTES:Erin Leaverton is a wife, a mom to three children, an interior designer, and a blogger. Her family’s “life-altering adventure, traveling across America by RV for one year to learn about why the fabric of our nation is fraying” is part of The Reunited States documentary. Connect with Erin online:Website: erinleaverton.comFacebook: @erineleavertonInstagram: @erinleavertonPinterest: @erineleavertonWebsite: undividednation.usOn the Podcast: The Reunited States of America: How We Can Bridge the Partisan Divide by Mark GerzonDocumentary: The Reunited States, presented by Van Jones and Meghan McCainSusan Bro, Steven Olikara, and Greg OrmanUndivided Nation“[Our divisions are] rooted in our belief in a false hierarchy of human value...you can’t measure human life. It’s infinite.”“We bear the image of an eternal God. That’s incredible. Each one of us. It’s infinitely beautiful and infinitely valuable.” “The things that I will look for to define my own value is the exact same set of principles I’ll apply on every other person.”“We do have permission to mourn things that we discover. And we need to. I think that that’s healthy. But we can’t stay there. We have to move through it.”“Dr. King said, ‘Love is the most durable power in the world.’ And when I heard that quote, what I literally saw was like an actual structure to hold the weight of disagreement. And I think agreement is what we’re building on right now. And it’s so cheap and so flimsy. It cannot hold any dissonance, whereas love can.”“Respect is earned over time. Honor is something we can give freely, just like love. Everyone is deserving of honor because everyone bears God’s image. Even if they’re committing atrocities—and I know this is a hard thing to say, a hard thing to believe—but even in the act of committing horrible atrocities, no human being is outside the realm of redemption and honor.”Thank you to Breaking Ground, the co-host for this podcast.Head, Heart, Hands, Season 4 of the Love Is Stronger Than Fear podcast, is based on my e-book Head, Heart, Hands, which accompanies White Picket Fences. Check out free RESOURCES that are designed to help you respond to the harm of privilege We want to hear your thoughts. Send us a text!Connect with me: Instagram Facebook YouTube Website Thanks for listening!

Can acknowledging the wounds of white evangelicalism actually bring healing? Kristin Du Mez, author of Jesus and John Wayne, talks with Amy Julia about the harm of militant masculinity and Christian nationalism found within white evangelicalism and the hope for healing by exposing and addressing those wounds.SHOW NOTES:Kristin Kobes Du Mez is professor of History and Gender Studies at Calvin University and the author of Jesus and John Wayne. She holds a PhD from the University of Notre Dame, and her research focuses on the intersection of gender, religion, and politics. Connect with Kristin online:Website: kristindumez.comFacebook: @kkdumezTwitter: @kkdumezOn the Podcast:Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation by Kristin Kobes Du MezLuke 6:6-10“The closer I looked, the more I saw John Wayne popping up in very unexpected places as the icon of American masculinity and Christian masculinity.”“We have seen this before. We have seen this so many times before—evangelicals finding reasons to support abusers of power, to support men who they thought would protect the faith, protect Christianity—and at great costs to women, to children, and to their communities.”“It doesn’t take a lot always to slip from metaphorical battles to actual battles.”“How did we get to where we are now? There were many choices, active choices, that individuals made at different junctures, often for the purpose of enhancing their own power, and we can start to see how all of this came together...Then we are freer to ask, “Is this where we want to be? Is this how evangelicals—how Christians—ought to engage our neighbors?”“What is the Good News? And what should that look like? And how much should it actually entail building walls and drawing stark divisions and excluding people from our communities?”Thank you to Breaking Ground, the co-host for this podcast.Head, Heart, Hands, Season 4 of the Love Is Stronger Than Fear podcast, is based on my e-book Head, Heart, Hands, which accompanies White Picket Fences. Check out free RESOURCES that are designed to help you respond to the harm of privilege and join in the work of healing. Learn more about my writing and speaking at amyjuliabecker.com.We want to hear your thoughts. Send us a text!Connect with me: Instagram Facebook YouTube Website Thanks for listening!

How do spiritual practices equip us to participate in God’s healing work in the world? Rich Villodas, pastor and author of The Deeply Formed Life, talks with Amy Julia about social divisions, the relationship between inner spiritual formation and outward actions, and God’s healing work within individuals and communities.SHOW NOTES:“Rich Villodas  is the Brooklyn-born lead pastor of New Life Fellowship, a large, multiracial church with more than seventy-five countries represented in Elmhurst, Queens.” Connect with Rich online:Website: richvillodas.comFacebook: @rvillodasInstagram: @richvillodasTwitter: @richvillodasOn the Podcast:The Deeply Formed Life by Rich VillodasThe Message: Eugene Peterson’s Bible translationLuke 3-4Thomas Keating, Henri Nouwen, and Jean VanierFamily Systems TheorySexual Character by Marva DawnLiving Gently in a Violent World by Stanley Hauerwas and Jean Vanier“It’s quite liberating—it’s very difficult at first—but it’s quite liberating when you realize, ‘I’m not a human doing, I’m a human being. I can take an extra nap. Or I can delight in or cultivate things that bring me joy.’”“Contemplative prayer for me has been the most important element for how I think about race, how I think about the interior life, how I think about justice...the goal is to be present with God so that I can be present with myself and then be present with my neighbor. For me, contemplative prayer serves as the foundation to be present with those who are difficult to love, to be present with those I disagree with.”“The agony of prayer is that I don’t see fruit in the moment. And I need to be okay with that.”“Who are you allowing to speak into your life? What are the stories you’re opening yourself to? Even in the books that we read, the music that we listen to,  the stories that we come across, I think that moving close to someone isn’t necessarily a physical proximity. Sometimes it’s an emotional proximity. Sometimes it’s narrative proximity—trying to understand someone’s story.”“How Christians can participate in the renewal of the world—we can see people as enemies to be conquered or see wounds that need to be healed. And that’s hard. That’s a cruciform way of living. It’s painful. It’s slow.”___Thank you to Breaking Ground, the co-host for this podcast.Head, Heart, Hands, Season 4 of the Love Is Stronger Than Fear podcast, is based on my e-book Head, Heart, Hands, which accompanies White Picket Fences. Check ouWe want to hear your thoughts. Send us a text!Connect with me: Instagram Facebook YouTube Website Thanks for listening!

Can God truly heal, redeem, and transform brokenness? Katherine Wolf, coauthor of Suffer Strong and cofounder of Hope Heals, talks with Amy Julia about the reality of disability and pain, redefining brokenness and healing, and the game-changing nature of community. (Keep scrolling for book giveaway!)“Katherine Wolf miraculously survived a catastrophic stroke caused by a congenital brain defect she never knew she had. After a sixteen-hour brain surgery, forty days in the ICU, a year in neuro rehab, and eleven operations, she continues her recovery to this day.” Katherine and her husband, Jay, are the authors of Suffer Strong and Hope Heals and the founders of Hope Heals and Hope Heals Camp.Connect with Katherine online:Website: hopeheals.comInstagram: @hopehealsFacebook: @hopehealsTwitter: @hopehealsOn the Podcast:Wolfs’ books: Suffer Strong  and Hope HealsHope Heals CampJohn SwintonPenny’s diagnosis“The Lord has really used what was terrible, tragic brokenness and transformed that into something really beautiful. We love our story of redemption.”“It’s not a rejection of the body that we’re in. It’s a deeper understanding of the body we’re in and how it can enable us to see truths about God differently than if it were ‘normal.’”“Community is a game-changer for healing.”“True community isn’t trying to be outcome changers. They’re not trying to pray away your pain. They’re just with you in it… True community isn’t trying to stamp a Jesus sticker on your pain because it’s so much bigger than something a sticker could do…I need the truth of Jesus but not yet. In this moment, I need you to cry with me and feel the loss with me and let it be shocking to you.”“God has equipped me in these years of suffering.”“The communal, almost instant, embracing of each other [at camp] has everything to do with the fact that living the ‘American dream’ is no longer available to these families, so they’re not concerned with it anymore. They’re on the other end of the spectrum where they actually are wanting to disrupt the lie that joy only comes in a pain-free life. They are banding together to proclaim that we’re not going to worship the idol of a pain-free life. It’s not available. That’s not our story. But there’s still joy in this story."BOOK GIVEAWAYTo enter for your chance to win a copy of Suffer Strong, simply share this podcast episode on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter, and be sure to tag me when you share it!___Thank you to Breaking Ground, the co-host for this podcast.Head, Heart, Hands, Season 4 of the Love Is Stronger Than Fear podcast, iWe want to hear your thoughts. Send us a text!Connect with me: Instagram Facebook YouTube Website Thanks for listening!