Insider Outsider
By Bryan Loritts
The minority experience in America is an experience unlike any other. In a racialized society -- one filled with tension, division, and bias -- it is difficult for the races, particularly the black and white races, to right history and reconcile the wrong done. This makes building relationships difficult especially in light of present injustice and present segregation. The church should be the place where love is supreme, but as you will see in this book, that’s not quite the case.
This is the second of Loritts’ books that makes our list. Insider Outsider is a memoir of Loritts’ journey as a black man in white evangelicalism. This is a quick read that will have you hooked from page one. Loritts is super relatable and has a wealth of experience on this topic and is adamant about tackling the blind spots in white evangelicalism with grace and truth. Balancing two goals -- informing his white readers and encouraging his black readers -- Loritts attempts to correct the course of an American church that continues to minimize and excuse its role and complicity in racism.
If you have grown accustomed to listening to the black narrative, this book will be a great addition to those voices. This book will also be a great primer for a first timer. Loritts is currently the president of the Kainos Movement and pastor at The Summit Church where he is working on championing efforts to catalyze the multiethnic church.