Ep. 11 – Farewell Evangelicalism | On Belonging & Liberation

Featuring: Rohadi Nagassar, Sharifa Stevens, and Sarah E. Westfall

Episode 11 in the serial series ‘Farewell Evangelicalism’, designed to name malformed pillars that shape evangelical/conservative Christian thought and beliefs.

One of the counters to evangelical community is to demonstrate the expansive nature of belonging and liberation. Where evangelicalism demands assimilation to specific morals and theological persuasions, catching a glimpse of what freedom and living out your whole self looks like goes a long way to help make the switch and ultimately leave life-taking church community. In this episode my guests discuss some of the impediments in church community such as fear, and where we can look to replace harmful demands. Freedom to be your whole self, liberation from malformed theological systems, and ultimately community where you can belong and live as your true self without the mask are all out there.

Sometimes it just takes a little nudge in search of belonging.

Episode 11 Show Notes

(00:00) Introduction with Rohadi (5:24) Sarah Westfall intro and her story. (7:15) When belonging starts getting complicated…. (10:44) A conversation on authenticity vs performance. (14:40) Leaving community behind and the loneliness it brings. (18:04) Resisting the attention economy. (25:00) Countering the tool of ‘fear’. (29:00) Interlude (29:44) Poetry Interlude with Sharifa (30:50) Intro Sharifa Steven and chatting about her latest book. (33:25) Holding the tension for liberation; seeking the ancestors. (37:15) The legacy of the ancestors and what it means to our liberation. (40:28) Naming the hope that is to come and what it looks like. (56:18) Outro

Featuring your host: Rohadi Nagassar (he/him)

Rohadi’s books can be found here, including his latest publication, When We Belong. Reclaiming Christianity on the Margins. Visit his online church community: https://abeautifultable.ca/

Sharifa Stevens

Sharifa Stevens is a writer, poet, speaker, and singer. She is the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, born and raised in New York, and currently resides with her family in Dallas, Texas. She graduated from Columbia University in New York with a bachelor’s degree in African American Studies before earning a master’s in theology from Dallas Theological Seminary. Sharifa aspires to use writing as a vehicle that moves readers to intersect with the sacred and the honest. Her latest book is When We Talk to God: A Powerful New Book of Prayers and Poems for Black Women. SharifaStevens.com | IG: SharifaWrites

Sarah E. Westfall

Sarah Westfall’s lastest book is called The Way of Belonging: Reimagining Who We Are and How We Relate (available in both print, digital, and audio formats). Sign up for her Substack newsletter, Human Together, or check out her podcast (which happens to go by the same name). Sarah_Westfall on Instagram.

Bumper music by Daniel Wheat; Intro by Jesse Peters