Episode 60: Reframing the Singular Narrative with Jonathan Brooks

A Year of Listening

This week’s conversation covers a multitude of topics. My guest, Jonathan Brooks and I discuss the damaging effects of a singular narrative, what happens when escaping from your neighborhood becomes the definition of success and how falling in love with the place you live is the best hope for effecting change in your community. Jonathan is a lifelong resident of Chicago, IL. He currently serves as Senior Pastor at Canaan Community Church in the West Englewood neighborhood.As a firm believer in investing in your local community, Jonathan has a deep desire to impress this virtue on all who will listen. This is a conversation for everyone whether your community’s narrative is positive or negative.

Connect with Jonathan! Find Pastah J on his website, Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. And go get his book Church Forsaken: Practicing Presence in Neglected Neighborhoods.

Our year of action call this week is simple. I challenge you to consider the pervasive singular narrative in your own community and then find ways to bring out the other sides of the narrative. If your community is one primarily known for its brokenness seek out and share the beauty. Post it on social media, tag myself and Pastah J (or use #ayearofaction). And if your community is one known for its beauty, could you bravely speak about your own brokenness? Share it with a friend, or a family member. Or even on social media. Let’s all challenge our own place’s singular narratives. And finally, consider how you can fall more in love with your place so that you can impact your community.

Also mentioned in this episode:

Jesus and the Disinherited by Howard Thurman