In a time of great tension and divides across racial, gender, political, and socioeconomic lines, InterVarsity Press and Missio Alliance have partnered again on a resource to equip the church for the challenges of our day. A Sojourner’s Truth: Choosing Freedom and Courage in a Divided World by Natasha Sistrunk Robinson will release on October 9, 2018. 

J. R. Rozko is the codirector of Missio Alliance, a fellowship of churches, denominations, schools, and networks partnering together to see the church in North America equipped for fuller and more faithful participation in God’s mission. He said, “Missio Alliance enjoys a partnership with IVP that allows us to platform books that reflect and advance our values for Comprehensive Mutuality, Hopeful Witness, and Church in Mission. What our dear friend, Natasha, offers us in A Sojourner’s Truthis a creative and masterful representation of all three! The picture she paints is instructive to be sure, but how she paints it—as a strong leadership-savvy black Christian woman—is perhaps of even greater significance. There is much in this book that thoughtful church leaders of all stripes would do well to pay careful attention to!”

A Sojourner’s Truth is an African American girl’s journey from South Carolina to the United States Naval Academy, and then to her calling as an international speaker, mentor, and thought leader.

Intertwined with Natasha’s story is the story of Moses, a leader who was born into a marginalized people group, resisted the injustices of the Pharaoh, denied the power of Egypt, and trusted God even when he did not fully understand where he was going. Along the way we explore the spiritual and physical tensions of truth telling, character and leadership development, and bridge building across racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, and gender lines.

Jeff Crosby, InterVarsity Press publisher, said, “Natasha Sistrunk Robinson’s theological wisdom, her unique perspective as a woman of color, and her two decades of leadership experience in a wide range of settings shines through on every page of A Sojourner’s Truth. In a day when the very notion of truth is challenged, Robinson’s book is a captivating and instructive exploration of hard-fought, hard-won lessons through her own history and ours. I’m so grateful to have her voice in the InterVarsity Press publishing program and to learn from her journey.”

Missio Alliance and IVP first partnered together in 2016 to release a line of jointly branded books. With a number of IVP authors serving as key voices for the work of Missio Alliance, the two organizations formally decided to leverage the natural synergies that existed between them for the benefit of both the IVP books included and of the Missio Alliance audience.

Al Hsu, senior editor for IVP Books, said, “In today’s contemporary context, we increasingly need pastor/practitioners who can navigate both church and culture with theological savvy and pastoral insight. Missio Alliance provides those kinds of authors and books, and IVP is glad to cultivate such strategic voices.”

Other titles that came out of the InterVarsity Press-Missio Alliance partnership include:

• What Does It Mean to Be Welcoming: Navigating LGBT Questions in Your Church by Travis Collins
• Seven Practices for the Church on Mission by David E. Fitch
• God Is Stranger: Finding God in Unexpected Places by Krish Kandiah
• Emboldened: A Vision for Empowering Women in Ministry by Tara Beth Leach
• White Awake: An Honest Look at What It Means to Be White by Daniel Hill
• Paradoxology: Why Christianity Was Never Meant to Be Simple by Krish Kandiah
• Embrace: God’s Radical Shalom for a Divided World by Leroy Barber
• Faithful Presence: Seven Disciplines That Shape the Church for Mission by David E. Fitch
• The Church as Movement: Starting and Sustaining Missional-Incarnational Communities by JR Woodward and Dan White Jr.
• Redeeming Sex: Naked Conversations About Sexuality and Spirituality by Debra Hirsch

For more about the partnership with Missio Alliance visit ivpress.com/pages/ivp-and-missio-alliance.