David Swanson

David W. Swanson is the founding pastor of New Community Covenant Church and lives with his family on the South Side of Chicago. He is the founder and CEO of New Community Outreach, a non-profit organization dedicated to healing community trauma through restorative practices. David is the author of Rediscipling the White Church: From Cheap Diversity to True Solidarity and Plundered: The Tangled Roots of Racial and Environmental Injustice. Connect with David at his website.

Latest Articles

Featured image for “Reconciling to Place”
David Swanson

Reconciling to Place

Featured image for “Want to Dismantle Racism? Disrupt Your Discipleship”
Michelle T. Sanchez

Want to Dismantle Racism? Disrupt Your Discipleship

Featured image for “How Our Ignorance Slows Racial Justice and What We Can Do About It”
Derek Vreeland

How Our Ignorance Slows Racial Justice and What We Can Do About It

Featured image for “Racial Transformation Begins in Your Home”
Helen Lee

Michelle Reyes

Racial Transformation Begins in Your Home

Featured image for “Eleven Ways to Be a Great Partner to BIPOC Communities”
Donnell Wyche

Eleven Ways to Be a Great Partner to BIPOC Communities

Featured image for “Being Political as God Is Political (Part 1)”
Donnell Wyche

Being Political as God Is Political (Part 1)

Featured image for “Calling for Culturally-Competent Leaders”
Michelle Reyes

Calling for Culturally-Competent Leaders

Featured image for “Understanding Critical Race Theory, Part 2”
Jeff Liou

Understanding Critical Race Theory, Part 2

Featured image for “Understanding Critical Race Theory: Part 1”
Robert Chao Romero

Understanding Critical Race Theory: Part 1

Featured image for “Resilience, Race, and Resistance: Plenary Highlights, Part 2”
David Swanson

Enid Almanzar

Resilience, Race, and Resistance: Plenary Highlights, Part 2

Featured image for “Resilience, Race, and Resistance: Plenary Highlights, Part 1”
Christine Lee

Tod Bolsinger

Resilience, Race, and Resistance: Plenary Highlights, Part 1

Featured image for “Pastoring When Whiteness Prevails: A Conversation with Jemar Tisby”
Chuck Armstrong

Pastoring When Whiteness Prevails: A Conversation with Jemar Tisby

Featured image for “Vulnerability, Resilience, and Partnership: Formation for Confronting Injustice”
Tod Bolsinger

Vulnerability, Resilience, and Partnership: Formation for Confronting Injustice

Featured image for “Missio Alliance’s Top Ten Articles of 2020”
Missio Alliance

Missio Alliance’s Top Ten Articles of 2020

Featured image for “In Search of White Partners: What BIPOC Need”
Donnell Wyche

In Search of White Partners: What BIPOC Need

Featured image for “The Cost of Unity”
Pierce VanDunk

The Cost of Unity

Featured image for “A Moment or a Movement?”
David Swanson

A Moment or a Movement?

Featured image for “The Pure and Undefiled Job Description of the Christian”
Vince Bantu

The Pure and Undefiled Job Description of the Christian

Featured image for “Free-ish: the Here-but-Not-Yet Reality of Racial Justice”
Rich Villodas

Free-ish: the Here-but-Not-Yet Reality of Racial Justice

Featured image for “Forgiveness is Free…But Repentance Comes With a Cost”
Leeann Younger

Forgiveness is Free…But Repentance Comes With a Cost

Featured image for “A Pentecost Sunday to Ponder: The Church Finds its Breath to Lament, Grieve, Repent”
Missio Alliance

A Pentecost Sunday to Ponder: The Church Finds its Breath to Lament, Grieve, Repent

Featured image for “A Word for the Exhausted”
Montague Williams

A Word for the Exhausted

Featured image for “George Floyd, Empathy, and Making Room for the Fire”
Jay Y. Kim

George Floyd, Empathy, and Making Room for the Fire

Featured image for “Terrible Truths for the Church to Face”
David Swanson

Terrible Truths for the Church to Face

Featured image for “Remembering as Resistance: The Failure of Executive Order 9066”
Christine Yi Suh

Remembering as Resistance: The Failure of Executive Order 9066

Featured image for “Telling the Truth About White Privilege”
David Swanson

Telling the Truth About White Privilege

Featured image for “The Importance and Challenge of Diverse Friendships”
Dorothy Littell Greco

The Importance and Challenge of Diverse Friendships

Featured image for “Ministering to Multiracial Families Starts with Noticing”
Cara Meredith

Ministering to Multiracial Families Starts with Noticing

Featured image for “A Risky Opportunity for Discipleship”
David Swanson

A Risky Opportunity for Discipleship

Featured image for “The Church’s Complicity in Mass Incarceration”
Dominique Gilliard

The Church’s Complicity in Mass Incarceration

Featured image for “A Pastoral Response to the Hug Seen Around the World”
Rich Villodas

A Pastoral Response to the Hug Seen Around the World

Featured image for “Four Practices to Help You (and Your Ministry) Break Free from “Slaveholder Religion””
Leeann Younger

Four Practices to Help You (and Your Ministry) Break Free from “Slaveholder Religion”

Featured image for “Young Leaders: Here Are 10 Ways to “Lead Up” for Reconciliation and Racial Justice”
David Swanson

Young Leaders: Here Are 10 Ways to “Lead Up” for Reconciliation and Racial Justice

Featured image for “Thinking Differently About Rest: What Communities of Color Can Teach the Church”
Christine Yi Suh

Thinking Differently About Rest: What Communities of Color Can Teach the Church

Featured image for “Identity Politics and the False Self”
Mandy Smith

Identity Politics and the False Self

Featured image for “The Spiritual Practice of Shutting Up”
Lesa Engelthaler

The Spiritual Practice of Shutting Up

Featured image for “Racism and The Dying American Church”
Joy Craun

Racism and The Dying American Church

Featured image for “Colonialism and Mission: 4 Lessons We Must Learn from History”
Anthony Siegrist

Colonialism and Mission: 4 Lessons We Must Learn from History

Featured image for “3 Ways the Church Can Jettison the Idea of Race as Biology”
Ryan Kuja

3 Ways the Church Can Jettison the Idea of Race as Biology

Featured image for “5 Ways Your Predominantly White Church Can Work for Racial Justice and Reconciliation”
Rich Villodas

5 Ways Your Predominantly White Church Can Work for Racial Justice and Reconciliation

Featured image for “Evangelicalism: It’s a Brand, but it’s Also a Space”
Dan Stringer

Evangelicalism: It’s a Brand, but it’s Also a Space

Featured image for “3 Formational Practices for Difficult Conversations Every Church Can Learn”
MaryKate Morse

3 Formational Practices for Difficult Conversations Every Church Can Learn

Featured image for “From #RubyWooPilgrimage to a Pilgrimage of the Ordinary”
Nikki Toyama-Szeto

From #RubyWooPilgrimage to a Pilgrimage of the Ordinary

Featured image for “How the Church Can Combat the Idolatry of White Mythology”
Ryan Kuja

How the Church Can Combat the Idolatry of White Mythology

Featured image for “How Do We Think About Affirmative Action as Christians?”
Gena Thomas

How Do We Think About Affirmative Action as Christians?

Featured image for “SheLeads: An Awakenings Syllabus to #AmplifyWomen”
Natasha Sistrunk Robinson

SheLeads: An Awakenings Syllabus to #AmplifyWomen

Featured image for “How to Break Through the Gender and Race Stalemates: 5 Methods”
Mandy Smith

How to Break Through the Gender and Race Stalemates: 5 Methods

Featured image for “All the Noise About Shusaku Endo’s Silence”
Nikki Toyama-Szeto

All the Noise About Shusaku Endo’s Silence

Featured image for “The Birth of a Nation: From Darkness to Light”
Natasha Sistrunk Robinson

The Birth of a Nation: From Darkness to Light

Featured image for “When God Reveals You Prefer Whiteness: A Response to Gaye Clark”
Sean Palmer

When God Reveals You Prefer Whiteness: A Response to Gaye Clark

Featured image for “Speaking the Truth about Race in Love”
Kyuboem Lee

Speaking the Truth about Race in Love

Featured image for “The Problematic ‘Creative Class’: When a Generation of Church Planters Only Reach White People”
Doug Paul

The Problematic ‘Creative Class’: When a Generation of Church Planters Only Reach White People

Featured image for “Diversity Is Not Nice”
Natasha Sistrunk Robinson

Diversity Is Not Nice

Featured image for “Race, Gender, Justice: How Should the Church Respond When People Reach the Boiling Point?”
Kris Beckert

Race, Gender, Justice: How Should the Church Respond When People Reach the Boiling Point?

Featured image for “Beyond Black and White: Dr. John Perkins, The Ecclesia, and Reconciliation”
Ruthie Johnson

Beyond Black and White: Dr. John Perkins, The Ecclesia, and Reconciliation

Featured image for “Confessions of a Taiwanese-American White Supremacist in Recovery (Part 2)”
Judy Dominick

Confessions of a Taiwanese-American White Supremacist in Recovery (Part 2)

Featured image for “Confessions of a Taiwanese-American White Supremacist in Recovery (Part 1)”
Judy Dominick

Confessions of a Taiwanese-American White Supremacist in Recovery (Part 1)

Featured image for “Unsanctified Mercy: Integrating Compassion and Conviction for Human Flourishing”
Charles Self

Unsanctified Mercy: Integrating Compassion and Conviction for Human Flourishing

Featured image for “On Violence and Living in a “Racialized” Society: Silence Sends a Clear Message When We Have an Opportunity to Act”
Natasha Sistrunk Robinson

On Violence and Living in a “Racialized” Society: Silence Sends a Clear Message When We Have an Opportunity to Act

Featured image for “Dajerria Becton, #McKinney, and Working Toward a Theology of Justice”
Ruthie Johnson

Dajerria Becton, #McKinney, and Working Toward a Theology of Justice