The "Brown Church," Christian Identity, and The Ordinary Practices of Christian Worship

Robert Chao Romero, UCLA
John D. Witvliet, Calvin Institute of Christian Worship

Session Description

This session will offer a conversation with Robert Chao Romero about how worship practices relate to the themes of his forthcoming book, The Brown Church: Toward a Latina/o Christian Social Justice History and Identity. In churches in every cultural context, patterns of public prayer, preaching, music and the arts and other elements of worship often convey powerful implicit messages about the church’s relationships with colonialism, justice, and the power structures and assumptions of culture at large. One task for fruitful ministry is to learn to recognize these implicit messages, to confront the ways that they may distort the gospel, and to affirm ways in which they support the gospel. Come to learn from Prof. Romero’s remarkable experiences as a university professor and a pastoral mentor to justice advocates.

 

The "Brown Church," Christian Identity, and The Ordinary Practices of Christian Worship

This session will offer a conversation with Robert Chao Romero about how worship practices relate to the themes of his forthcoming book, The Brown Church: Toward a Latina/o Christian Social Justice History and Identity. In churches in every cultural context, patterns of public prayer, preaching, music and the arts and other elements of worship often convey powerful implicit messages about the church’s relationships with colonialism, justice, and the power structures and assumptions of culture at large. One task for fruitful ministry is to learn to recognize these implicit messages, to confront the ways that they may distort the gospel, and to affirm ways in which they support the gospel. Come to learn from Prof. Romero’s remarkable experiences as a university professor and a pastoral mentor to justice advocates.