Episode 132 - Ashlee Eiland

Sep 24

If we’re honest, the church hasn’t always done a great job of elevating diverse voices. Women, people of color, and other marginalized groups often find themselves on the outskirts of our faith communities, with no one they can learn from who shares their life experiences. This is a problem that Ashlee Eiland knows well. Both as a black woman and as a pastor and author, Ashlee has felt this pain, and she wants to work to help mend it. In a continuation of our ongoing conversations about racial reconciliation, Ashlee sits down with Aubrey to talk about her experiences and the radical kindness that God has called each of us to display in this pivotal moment in history.

“My instinct is to reinvent something new when God has already been at work. He’s already doing His reconciliation and His redemption through others.”

— Ashlee Eiland

Long before polls, protests, and political issues divided us, we were joined by a humanness that God considered very good. Created in his image, we reflected the height and depth of God’s loving-kindness, but our discord has blinded us to the imago Dei in us all.

In this compelling collection of essays, Ashlee Eiland shares her story of being a black woman living on two sides of the fence: as the token black girl in majority-white spaces and as the “whitewashed” black girl in majority-black spaces. As she discovers her own unique worth through these recollections, Ashlee learns that extending radical kindness toward every person—regardless of social status, political views, or religious beliefs—gives us hope and rekindles our common humanity.

With grace and humility, Human(Kind) invites us to chart our own formative journeys and recognize our inherent value, cultivating empathy so we may once again see the image of God shining brightly within one another.