If It Wasn't for the Women: Black Women's Experience and Womanist Culture in Church and Community Book

For leaders looking to do the honest work of understanding communities AND the harder work of changing them, read this book and reference it often. Speaking from experience, this is the text that I leaned on most heavily for my thesis on developing a congregational model for racial reconciliation.

Beneath the demographic diversity in today's "multi-ethnic church" movement, Edwards argues that hidden forces in interracial churches may actually be deepening racial inequalities. In her words, these churches often function like white churches by adding "rainbow sprinkles to a dish of [vanilla] ice cream." Therefore, from beginning to end, Edwards invites leaders to examine how their ministry philosophies welcome minority presence while preserving majority power.

With that as her message, Edwards' method a) surveys relevant sociological terms (white structural advantage, white normativity, white transparency, hegemony, counter-hegemony) and b) analyzes congregations and the various subgroups therein. However, the real genius of this book is that the author contextualizes such terminology and analysis in her case study of "Crosstown Church". This allows congregational leaders to re-imagine Edwards' findings for their faith communities.

Simply put, I wouldn't necessarily locate this book in a lay discussion group (though it wouldn't hurt). I would---and do---regard it as a must-read and reference manual for leaders that are serious about creating more equitable congregations and communities.