Dear Church: A Love Letter from a Black Preacher to the Whitest Denomination in the US Paperback – July 2, 2019

”Grace is free. But loving your neighbor has a high cost. It may cost us our very lives and the church as we know it. We may lose it all. But we are armed with the fact that changes it all: <b>the world believes that Jesus is dead, and we know he isn’t.I don’t know why I haven’t reviewed this book before now. I ripped through it as soon as I received it in July. I have referred back to it because it is so powerful. I hope that I will get to see Duncan and hear him speak about it in September because I want to connect his voice in the book with his actual voice. Duncan is a powerful, prophetic writer. This book could be a life-changer in my denomination and I just keep putting off my review.Every Lutheran should read this book. We should be having sermons about it and small groups. We know that we have sinned against others and we need to get ourselves right. Not necessarily with G!d because she knows where our hearts are and gives grace nevertheless. But we need to work with our brothers and sisters to bring the kingdom of G!d to this world. We need to show ourselves to be more loving and kinder than we have been so far.Since this book was published, we took one small step towards reconciliation. At the ELCA church wide assembly, the voting members adopted a resolution to commemorate June 17 as a day of repentance in the ELCA for the martyrdom of the Emanuel 9—the nine people who were shot and killed June 17, 2015, during a Bible study at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C. If you didn’t know Dylan Roof was a member of an ELCA church. We need to do more, but at least we have made a start.If you claim to be a Christian of any stripe, I recommend this book to you. It is a hard read, but very necessary.

This book will take your breathe away within pages, bring tears to your eyes chapter after chapter, and will point so clearly to Jesus that you will stumble over God's grace and land in the midst of true hope. It is not easy to experience - but neither is resurrection.Pr. Lenny's extraordinary book is a masterpiece. He deftly weaves together sacred and ancient liturgical metaphors with lived experiences from our current context in North America. Bound through and through with his love for the church and Jesus' love for the world, the breathtaking moments of Truth become Spirit-giving moments of hope. Not false hope that everything is going to be all right - Deep hope that resurrection really is possible, even for cultures steeped in patriarchy, racism, misogyny, nationalism, violence, and so much more.These conversations need to happen - in the ELCA and in many of our communities. This book gives us words, stories, and a chance to open the conversations with a foundation of deep and abiding love. Please join in the conversation and bring these stories into your life.

A friend asked me if I had read this book. When I asked if I should, he told me that he didn't want to influence my opinion. Of course, I had to buy it. I read 45 pages and gave up in frustration and anger. It turned out that my friend had only read 30 pages before having the same reaction! For some reason, this made me feel the need to read more. As I moved through the book, I was able to drop some of my anger at having my gender, race, sexual orientation, and denomination attacked; I realized that the issues raised were about more than my personal feelings. I now understand that I NEEDED to read this book. I don't plan to lead a revolution in rural Minnesota, but this book has helped me to grow as a pastor and as a human being.

Easy to read, but I never finished the last chapter.

I am a 76 year-old, cisgender, male, heterosexual, happily married, retired ELCA pastor. I have just finished reading the Reverend Lenny Duncan's Brave Church and it is one of the three most powerful books I have ever read.outside of the Bible. Reverend Duncan speaks with a prophetic voice, not learned from a textbook, but from his own personal life experiences. Not only is it a much needed wakeup call for the ELCA and its members - bishops, clergy, and laity - but also for all denominations that are trying truly to proclaim Christianity in today's world. If we do not more deliberately lift up, welcome, affirm, learn from, and support the marginalized in today's society - the LBGTQA+, homeless, poor, incarcerated, all women but especially women of color, and all people of color - we will surely die. Reverend Duncan pulls no punches, nor does he use flowery language to make his points. he is refreshingly direct. Not only do I believe this is a must read for all clergy, it is a valuable asset that should be in all church libraries.

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.