Montague Williams: Living Ministry

04/28/23 • 36 min

This week, Dr. Patrick Reyes talks with Rev. Dr. Montague Williams. He recounts his early life navigating Chicago and serving as a cultural translator for his immigrant family. Steeped in church life as the child of a pastor, he didn’t always think ministry was in his future but always felt a deep sense of who God is and what is possible through prayer and connecting theology with people's lived experience.

Montague Williams is an ordained elder in the Church of the Nazarene and has served in congregational, non-profit, and educational ministry over the past 15 years. His doctoral research offers an ecclesiological proposal that takes seriously the experiences and pastoral needs of youth and young adults in multiracial and multicultural ministry contexts. He has written articles and chapters for several publications and regularly speaks at conferences and retreats about the church's presence and engagement with society. His latest book, Church in Color: Youth Ministry, Race, and the Theology of Martin Luther King, Jr. is available wherever books are sold.

Portrait Illustration by: Triyas
Music by: @siryalibeats

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Portrait Illustration by: Triyas
Music by: @siryalibeats

Rate, review, and subscribe to Sound of the Genuine on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Previous Episode

Ched Myers & Elaine Enns: Solidarity and Justice Making

This week Dr. Patrick Reyes sits down for a conversation with Ched Myers and Elaine Enns. Each talks about their radically different upbringings and how their peacemaking and restorative justice work led to their chance meeting. Ched and Elaine have spent the past 25 years at the helm of the Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries, whose motto is “Revisioning the intersection of Word and world. Animating communities of discipleship and justice.”
Ched, an ecumenical activist theologian, is a well-known educator, writer, teacher, and organizer committed to animating and nurturing church renewal and radical discipleship and supporting faith-based movements for peace and justice.

Elaine, a Canadian Mennonite, is an educator, writer, facilitator, and trainer in conflict transformation. She focuses on how restorative justice applies to historical violations, including intergenerational trauma and healing.

Their latest book, Healing Haunted Histories: A Settler Discipleship of Decolonization, and other publications are available at Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries. Portrait Illustration by: Triyas
Music by: @siryalibeats

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Sandhya Jha: The Sacred Work of Justice

This week Dr. Reyes talks to Rev. Sandhya Jha about their multiracial, interfaith upbringing, which is deeply rooted in both a love of Jesus and the fight against injustice. Their work in politics, the church, and non-profits is where they find community, inextricably tied up with the sacred.

Sandhya Jha (they/them) is an anti-oppression consultant who particularly loves helping organizations get diversity, equity, and inclusion teams off the ground. Sandhya is the founder and former executive director of the Oakland Peace Center, a collective of 40 organizations working to create equity, access, and dignity as the means of creating peace in Oakland and the Bay Area. An ordained pastor with a master’s in public policy, Sandhya is comfortable in the pulpit, on the picket line, or hanging out with friends and friends-to-be over a good cup of tea and a good story. Sandhya’s fifth book with Chalice Press, Rebels, Despots, and Saints, is now available where books are sold.
Portrait Illustration by: Triyas
Music by: @siryalibeats

Rate, review, and subscribe to Sound of the Genuine on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Sound of the Genuine - Montague Williams: Living Ministry

Transcript

Patrick Reyes: All right, Montague, I'm glad you joined us on the Sound of the Genuine. I've known you for a long time. We spent some time in school together. I'm glad that our listeners get to learn a little bit about you.

Montague Williams: Hey, it's really good to be here. I'm excited to chat with you, Pat.

Patrick Reyes: You know, we spent a lot of time in Boston together. I could talk about what you're up to now, your books,