Description

What can the Church learn from the 500-year tradition of Latino Christian justice and the way in invited all cultural treasure and wealth into the beloved community?

“When my students heard that Christ suffered outside the gate, it’s like the blinders fall down and there is deep, profound encounter with God.”

UCLA professor, pastor, and author Robert Chao Romero sits down with Nikki Toyama-Szeto to share his story of faith, identity, and justice. From his Mexican and Chinese roots to his experiences of exclusion growing up in Los Angeles, Romero reflects on his journey of finding belonging in Christ and in the church. His groundbreaking book Brown Church uncovers a 500-year history of Latino Christian justice, from Antonio de Montesinos’s 1511 sermon against colonialism to today’s movements for immigration reform and racial equity.

Romero challenges the dichotomy that faith and justice cannot coexist, insisting that true Christianity embraces both. Together, he and Toyama-Szeto explore themes of cultural treasure, the metaphor of Christ outside the gate, and the future of a diverse church that welcomes all identities into God’s beloved community.

Key Moments

1. “So for all those young Latinos who wrestle with, how do I reconcile faith in Jesus with caring about justice and Latino culture, I say, welcome to the Brown Church.”
2. “Jesus becomes irresistible when we embrace both of the wings of the plane—personal faith and justice.”
3. “When my students heard that Christ suffered outside the gate, it’s like the blinders fall down and there is deep, profound encounter with God.”
4. “We need all the glory to glorify God. And unfortunately what’s happened is that many ethnic communities have been forced to leave their glory outside the city gates.”
5. “The Brown Church does not exist for the sake of the Brown Church…but as a distinct entry point into the beloved community of all.”

About the Contributors

Robert Chao Romero is associate professor in the UCLA César E. Chávez Department of Chicana/o and Central American Studies and in the Department of Asian American Studies. Holding a PhD in Latin American history from UCLA and a JD from UC Berkeley, he is the author of Brown Church and other works on immigration, race, history, and Christianity. Romero is also an attorney, pastor, and co-director of the Brown Church Institute, dedicated to exploring the intersection of faith, justice, and identity in multicultural communities.

Nikki Toyama-Szeto is the host of Credible Witness and executive director of Christians for Social Action. She leads conversations at the intersection of faith and justice, highlighting diverse voices that witness to the credibility of the gospel in contemporary society.

Show Notes

• Robert Chao Romero reflects on Latino identity, faith, and justice through his book Brown Church
• Experiences of racism in 1970s–80s Los Angeles shaped his search for belonging and identity
• Family heritage: Chinese grandparents fleeing persecution in China, Mexican immigrant father, roots in Latino and Chinese churches
• Law school crisis and encounter with Jesus transformed his life’s direction
• Calling to bring together academic research and pastoral ministry into integrated vocation
• “I’m tired of leaving two thirds of myself outside the academic door when I do research and teaching.”
• Discovery of Antonio de Montesinos’s 1511 racial justice sermon in Hispaniola
• Theologians like Gustavo Gutiérrez (A Theology of Liberation), René Padilla, and Samuel Escobar shaped holistic gospel mission
• Christ “outside the gate” metaphor resonates deeply with Latino students facing exclusion
• Revelation 21 and the glory and honor of nations as cultural treasures offered to God
• The Brown Church as both a theological tradition and a model of belonging
• “Jesus becomes irresistible when we embrace both of the wings of the plane—personal faith and justice.”
• Beloved community as the ultimate goal: all tribes, languages, peoples, and nations welcomed

Credible Witness is brought to you by the Rethinking Church Initiative. Produced and edited by Mark Labberton, Sarey Martin Concepcion and Evan Rosa. Hosted by Nikki Toyama-Szeto.

Special thanks to Fuller Theological Seminary, Christians for Social Action, and to Brenda Salter McNeill, whose book inspired the title of the show.

For more information, visit CredibleWitness.us.