Tetsuro Shigematsu

Better Than Brunch

Evangelism & Missions

“Better Than Brunch is better than a safari. Keep your hands in the vehicle as you ride through this wild kingdom known as Cascadia, the most secular corner in all of North America. In a region strewn with carcasses of Christendom, you’ll encounter the wild fauna who have evolved to thrive: a Korean-American ‘OG womanist’ who preaches like an African-American while wearing a Black Lives Matter T-shirt; an LGBTQ+-inclusive Methodist pastor who isn’t above carrying someone else’s inconsolable child on her hip while she preaches; a pastor who has lived with thirty-eight people, often with very different last names and socioeconomic backgrounds; my own sibling, Ken Shigematsu, who I thought I knew, but it turns out I don’t; plus, churches that aren’t defending their space, but giving it away to build affordable housing; a church with no sign out front; another with a tent city ensconced on its lawn, and now counts its occupants as members. Better Than Brunch is a thrilling encounter with a new generation of insurgent pastors who reject the usual yardsticks of what successful churches look like. Instead, they are fostering communities built on the kind of radical inclusivity and social justice Jesus himself would recognize.”