By Simon Barrow. British Journal of Theological Education (12:2) pp 95ff. 13 pp.
Ched Myers is not a well-known figure in European church or academic circles. He is a forty-something fifth-generation Californian white male. Los Angeles, a city ‘oppressed by the hucksters of over-development and quick profit’ (his words) is the place he calls home. He is an experienced community educator and social activist. Over the past two decades he has worked with several peace and justice organizations and movements, including the American Friends Service Committee. He has a name that led someone I spoke with recently to mistake him for an actor in a star Wars movie. His loves include baseball, stand-up comedy, rap, flapjacks, straight-ahead jazz, gumbo and sci-fi novels of Usula Le Guin… and, most importantly, the Gospel of Mark. He is currently co-director of Bartimaeus Cooperative ministries in LA, and ecumenical organization promoting biblical literacy, church renewal and action for social justice.
St. Mark’s episodic recollection of the subversive memory of Jesus has been, you could say, the soundtrack to Ched Myers’ life – though that would still underestimate the extent to which this ancient Gospel text has informed, shaped and borne the load of his practical engagement with people, with power, and with those communities which dare to call themselves ‘church’.
Full Article: Unleashing the Vulnerable Word: Reflections on Ched Myers as a Provocateur for a Healing Church SKU: 02-6-F
Ched Myers 