Reclaiming Christianity from White Supremacy: A Conversation with Brit Barron

Voxology

Philosophy, Religion & Spirituality, Society & Culture

4.8 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 8 June 2020

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

How the church's complicity in white supremacy distorts the gospel—and how to confront it with humility and courage. Mike, Tim, and Bonnie sit down with pastor, author, and diversity trainer Brit Barron for a powerful and deeply honest conversation about race, justice, theology, and the responsibility of the church in a time of social upheaval. Drawing on her personal experiences as a queer woman of color, former megachurch pastor, and co-pastor of the inclusive community New Abbey in Pasadena, Britt offers prophetic insight, careful nuance, and radical hope for a better way forward in both faith and society.

Key Takeaways: • Understanding the Church's Role in Racism – Why white supremacy, power structures, and theological interpretations go hand-in-hand—and how churches must reform from within to dismantle those ties. • Diversity vs. Charity – Exploring how "charity" approaches to racial justice reinforce power dynamics, and why real change requires internalizing the work. • Personalizing the Journey – Why white complicity in racism is about more than action steps—it's about doing your own work, confronting personal fears, and being willing to change. • Navigating Hard Conversations – Insights on interracial marriage, family dynamics, and staying grounded in painful seasons of world-shaking injustice. • Creating a Truly Inclusive Church – How deauthorizing leadership, centering marginalized voices, and practicing real-time political engagement leads to authentic gospel embodiment.

Guest Highlights: Brit Barron – Pastor, speaker, author of the upcoming book Worth It, and co-leader of New Abbey Church in Pasadena. Britt shares her wisdom on race, church, LGBTQ+ identity, and social justice with clarity, humor, and hope.

Resources Mentioned: • Brit's website and anti-racism guide – brittbarron.com • New Abbey Church – newabbey.org • Britt on Instagram – @brittbarron • Book: Worth It by Britt Barron – Coming July 21

Come be part of the movement toward a more just, honest, and loving church. Subscribe to the Voxology Podcast, leave a review, and follow us on social to continue the conversation.

As always, we encourage and would love discussion as we pursue. Feel free to email in questions to hello@voxpodcast.com, and to engage the conversation on Facebook and Instagram.

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Learn more about the Voxology Podcast

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Follow Mike on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mikeerre

Music in this episode by Timothy John Stafford

Instagram & Twitter: @GoneTimothy

As always, we encourage and would love discussion as we pursue. Feel free to email in questions to hello@voxpodcast.com, and to engage the conversation on Facebook and Instagram.

We're on YouTube (if you're into that kinda thing): VOXOLOGY TV.

Our Merch Store! ETSY

Learn more about the Voxology Podcast

Subscribe on iTunes or Spotify

Support the Voxology Podcast on Patreon

The Voxology Spotify channel can be found here: Voxology Radio

Follow Mike on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mikeerre

Music in this episode by Timothy John Stafford

Instagram & Twitter: @GoneTimothy

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey everybody, welcome to the Vox podcast.
0:09.6	Mike Bonnie and Tim here.
0:12.1	And with all that's going on in the world, we just sit sort of in silent grief and disbelief as we're watching a pandemic, a recession, and racial
0:27.9	divisions explode.
0:29.8	These are such heavy, heavy days.
0:34.2	And we're grateful for Bonnie, who has been really listening, advocating, championing in the midst of we don't know what to do or say.
0:50.5	She's just been an amazing guide.
0:52.9	And so today, do you know her, have you met her
0:58.4	before? Have you met Britt before? I've never met her. You know what? We have, um, a ton of
1:04.0	mutual friends. Got it. And so they have all pointed me towards her over the years. Yeah. So I've followed her work for a long time.
1:13.3	Yeah.
1:14.2	Yeah.
1:14.8	And New Abbey Church, the one that she worked at, they actually bought a bunch of Tim Shels.
1:22.2	And so that's how I became connected with the other pastor at the church, Corey.
1:25.9	Got it.
1:26.6	Got it, got it, got it. So, you know, and it feels so weird when I'm reaching out
1:33.2	and we're reaching out to people of color to bring on the show for this. And, you know, it just is,
1:41.2	it feels just so odd. But I think we're all in agreement that
1:46.7	what we have to say on this isn't as significant as anything else. And so we get to have,
1:56.2	we get to have Britt Barron on today. And so, Bonnie, do you want to set that Convo up? Yeah. Like I said,
2:04.3	she's awesome. She's so funny. She's like, I'm a typical millennial. I've got all these jobs.
2:10.1	She's an author. She's an educator. She's a speaker. She's a pastor. And so we wanted to just
	...

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