Dear Church A Love Letter from a Black Preacher to the Whitest Denomination in the US

lenny duncan

eBook - 2019

"An inherently fascinating, inspired and inspiring read from beginning to end unreservedly recommend and worthwhile reading."—Midwest Book ReviewLenny 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 visio...n 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... more