Join the #CommonRead
Mennonite Church USA, Mennonite Church Canada, and Herald Press are partnering to encourage every Mennonite to read carefully selected books chosen to equip the church.
October. 2022 – December 2022
When We Belong: Reclaiming Christianity on the Margins
by Rohadi Nagassar
Step into a journey toward liberation, belonging, and a faith that makes you whole again.
We need belonging to survive and thrive, but too often the church is an impediment. For Christians who know the pain, isolation, and loss of identity that comes with the ongoing struggle to be seen in churches and institutions full of barriers to belonging, you are not alone. Sometimes it can feel easier to walk away from faith completely. But there is another way. When it feels as though there’s no place left to belong, Jesus invites us into a love that knows no bounds and a community that truly liberates.
In this hope-filled book, author Rohadi Nagassar brings the margins to the center to help readers rediscover a reality of love, belonging, and beauty through the journey of deconstructing, decolonizing, and reclaiming faith. For those on the margins struggling to find belonging, for everyone who wants to join in building radically inclusive communities where all people can live fully in their own skin—now begins a journey to find this freedom.
January 2023 – March 2023
Grace Can Lead Us Home: A Christian Call to End Homelessness
by Kevin Nye
On any given night, more than half a million Americans and Canadians find themselves sleeping on the streets, in shelters, cars, and other places not meant for human habitation. Yet as this crisis continues to grow, it remains one of the least talked about—especially in churches. Even where compassion and empathy exist, the complexities around homelessness can make us feel stuck, overwhelmed, or numb to the existence of unhoused people in our cities and neighborhoods.
Reporting back from his work in homeless services, minister and advocate Kevin Nye introduces readers to the Christ he’s met in tents, shelters, and drop-in centers. He demystifies homelessness by journeying into complex issues like affordable housing, mental illness, addiction, and more, while reimagining our theological approach to these matters and educating us on how they intersect with homelessness.
This thorough and intimate book shows us that from the margins, Jesus has something to teach us all about grace—something that could change the landscape of homelessness entirely if we’re ready to hear it.
Use the code COMMONREAD to get 30% off orders of 4 or more paperback copies.
April 2023 – June 2023
Finding Our Way Forward: When the Children We Love Become Adults
by Melanie Springer Mock
When our children turn 18, we hope to happily launch them into the world to become the adults we’ve been preparing them to be. Their pathway seems clear: most will go to college, find a vocation and then a true love, and settle into a comfortable life while we parents keep in touch through occasional phone calls, family gatherings, and surprise trips home for Christmas. But now more than ever, these expectations fail to acknowledge the significant challenges faced by many young people, from a pandemic to racial unrest to a climate crisis that is setting the world on fire, figuratively and literally.
While young people are consistently told they need to discern God’s calling, in Finding Our Way Forward, Melanie Springer Mock draws on her decades as a college professor and mom to four adult children to explore how finding our way means developing a more expansive understanding of calling for ourselves and for the young adults we love, one that moves beyond vocation and capitalistic enterprises to what God really calls us to: Seeking justice. Loving mercy. Walking with humility. Loving others. Loving God. As we do so, our relationships can be transformed as together we find our way forward.
