More Than Equals - (IVP Signature Collection) by Spencer Perkins & Chris Rice (Paperback)

About the Book

Telling the stories of Spencer Perkins and Chris Rice as they served together in an intentionally multiracial ministry, this landmark book offers an example of how racial reconciliation is possible--and also critical to Christian discipleship. With biblical grounding, hopeful realism, and practical detail, this new edition is now available as part of the IVP Signature Collection.

Book Synopsis

"The first step in the reconciliation process," Spencer Perkins writes, "is admitting that the race problem exists and that our inability to deal with race has weakened the credibility of our gospel."

When longtime ministry partners and friends Spencer Perkins and Chris Rice began writing More Than Equals in the early 1990s, their goal was to offer an example of how racial reconciliation is possible--and also critical to Christian discipleship. This landmark book tells the stories of two men from very different backgrounds embarking on the complex, costly journey of healing across racial divides.

Perkins, who witnessed repeated hypocrisy from white Christians and witnessed his bloodied pastor-activist father after a brutal police beating, wondered how it was possible to love white people. Rice, who grew up as a white missionary kid and thought of himself as progressive, was surprised by the tensions he encountered as a volunteer at a majority-black church--and by his own blind spots. As they served together in an intentionally multiracial ministry, both gained insight into why this work is so challenging and how Christians can do it well, in dependence on God.

With biblical grounding, hopeful realism, and practical detail, More Than Equals provides a helpful framework for Christians engaged in the deep ongoing surgery of racial healing. Now available as part of the IVP Signature Collection, this edition includes a new preface by Rice and a study guide for group discussion.

Review Quotes

"More Than Equals brings creative possibilities to the door of every parish."

--Christian Century

"More Than Equals reminds us that grace is the most powerful expression of God's love. It inspires us to move toward others, affirming the dignity of all human beings, and challenges us to be reconcilers in a deeply broken world. We need this book today more than ever."

--John Perkins, president emeritus of the John and Vera Mae Perkins Foundation and author of One Blood, He Calls Me Friend, and Count It All Joy

"Living into the reality that Jesus has broken down the dividing wall of hostility is not easy in the United States, where the racist roots are deep and systemic. Perkins and Rice offer honest, painful, and courageous stories in the hard work of dismantling racism. More Than Equals is a clarion call to embody Christian discipleship and subversive love that is as relevant now as it was when it was written thirty years ago."

--Sue Park-Hur, denominational minister for transformative peacemaking, Mennonite Church USA, and codirector of ReconciliAsian

"Perkins and Rice exhibit a relationship that in itself proves the chasm between white and black Christians need not remain. . . . Many works have dealt with the reality of racial disunity in the church, but this [book] offers proven solutions."

--Christianity Today, 1993

About the Author

Chris Rice (DMin, Duke Divinity School) is director of the Mennonite Central Committee United Nations Office in New York City and coauthor of Reconciling All Things: A Christian Vision for Justice, Peace and Healing.

Spencer Perkins, until his death in 1998, worked with the John M. Perkins Foundation for Reconciliation and Development and was editor-in-chief of the magazine Urban Family. For twelve years he and Chris Rice and their families lived together in the Antioch Community and served as elders of Voice of Calvary Fellowship Church in Jackson, Mississippi.