Undivided was a program launched at a mega church in Cincinnati, OH to fight bias and promote racial justice. It follows several participants through their personal lives, during the program, and after to see how the information affected them. The congregation was primarily white, but gathered a diverse group of attendees to provide a deeper context into race in America.

One participant grew up with a white supremacist father. A Black woman denied her Black identity to fit in with her primary white community. One man was raised with an adopted Black brother and thought that meant he was run expert on race. A Black man rises to pastoral leadership in the church and feels pressure and criticism from all sides when he speaks up or expresses anger.

Each account is vulnerable and relatable. Each of them wrestles with how best to advocate, knowing what they know.

The author is a secular political scientist, adding another layer to the complex mix of this work.

As a former Evangelical I have experienced many of the tensions described; the personal reckoning with being white, my bias, the role of the church in social advocacy, the separation of church and state, the racist history of America and the church, passionate monologues that cause tension in relationships, the discomfort with veering from the status quo, the floundering and not knowing how best to act on new information.

This book should be read by anyone within the Evangelical church!!! It should be ready by white people from any stage of racial reckoning. These questions need to be pondered and asked, especially at this time in history. Five stars!

 A look into the Undivided organization and how some of its members have implemented its message of racial justice work into their lives in order to bring it to their larger communities. 
 Fairly fast paced and relatable it managed to find a hopefully message in very difficult, continuous work. 

A story about the way some people tried to work towards racial justice at a megachurch in Ohio. Really compelling because it follows the journey of specific individuals, and because it work to grapple with some of the complexities of activism. I loved an idea in this book, reconnecting to the origin of the word radical, as in "originating in the root or ground." The idea that radical change comes when people rooted in their own interests and communities work together to create that change was very moving to me.

"And what is justice but unconditional love for and belief in the dignity of all people? In other words, what is justice but the belief that everyone deserves grace."

I enjoyed reading about the transformations people went through in this program and the research on some of why it worked from a psychological perspective. I think it sparks lots of good ideas and conversations. However, I did feel like the ending came sort of abruptly... I think I was expecting a slightly tidier ending, or a check-in years later about how they were doing.