Danielle Strickland on Hospitality as Counter-Formation, the Beauty of Story, and How We Can Better Repent & Lament
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Danielle shares passionately with Jason in this week’s episode about how the church can step into our cultural moment with humility and courage. It’s not easy to be a church leader right now. Increasingly, people view the church as detrimental to society and harmful to individuals. As pastors, we can respond with defensiveness and aggression, or we can take a path of reflection and refinement to see how God might want to shape us.
Throughout the episode, Danielle tells stories of her own experiences with this, seeing ways that the church has upheld segregation, racism, and other forms of inequality that do not reflect the heart of God. As churches and leaders, we need to repent and lament for the wrongs we have done and then step forward into a future with a stronger out-living of the whole gospel. The gospel isn’t just a spiritual belief she tells Jason, but a truth that when embraced, moves us to action for the things of the Kingdom. Following Jesus should transform how we see social issues.
Danielle also unpacks some thoughts around what it means to lead, disciple, and care for the next generation. Empowerment doesn’t mean just plugging young leaders into the institutional church systems we have, but discovering the wiring God has given them and unleashing them to lead in those ways. This is hard for us as churches, we have jobs to fill and ministries we run, but she’s not saying these things are bad. Rather, we need to better walk with and share life with young people to see how God might be uniquely calling them to be a part of His Kingdom work.
You will find this episode both inspiring and challenging, so we hope you can process it with friends and co-workers as you seek to faithfully serve in the places God has placed you. Thanks for being a part of our network! Enjoy!
Danielle Strickland
Danielle Strickland’s aggressive compassion has served people firsthand in countries all over the world. From establishing justice departments and church plants, to launching global anti-trafficking initiatives, to creating new initiatives to mobilize people towards transformational spiritual life. Danielle trains, advocates, and inspires people to live differently through initiatives like: Amplify Peace, Brave Global, Infinitum, and Women’s Speaker Collective. Her latest book released in 2020, "Better Together: How Women and Men Can Heal the Divide and Work Together to Transform the Future", her podcast is listened to by thousands globally, and closer to home, she’s on the teaching team at The Meeting House.
Currently based in Toronto, Canada, Danielle is the proud mom of 3 boys, wife to Stephen, and as an Enneagram 7, has been affectionately called the "ambassador of fun".