Sarah Bessey
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Sarah Styles Bessey (born 1979) is a
Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...
Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
author and
blogger A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...
. She has written four popular books and is the co-founder and cohost of the progressive Evolving Faith Conference and podcast.


Background and personal life

Sarah Styles was born in Regina and grew up in
Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...
and
Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...
before attending
Oral Roberts University Oral Roberts University (ORU) is a Private university, private Evangelicalism, evangelical university in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Founded in 1963, the university is named after its founder, Charismatic Christianity, Charismatic Christian preacher Oral ...
in
Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa ( ) is the List of municipalities in Oklahoma, second-most-populous city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the List of United States cities by population, 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The po ...
. She grew up attending church during the charismatic renewal movement in Western Canada. She married Brian Bessey in 2001 and they lived in
Tulsa Tulsa ( ) is the second-most-populous city in the state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tul ...
before moving to
Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...
, where he attended
Regent College Regent College is an interdenominational evangelical Christian College of Christian studies, and an affiliated college of the University of British Columbia, located next to the university's campus in the University Endowment Lands west of Va ...
before becoming a pastor. They have four children and live in
Calgary, Alberta Calgary () is a major city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a Metropolitan area, metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the List of ...
. Bessey began deconstructing her Christian faith after experiencing a
miscarriage Miscarriage, also known in medical terms as a spontaneous abortion, is an end to pregnancy resulting in the loss and expulsion of an embryo or fetus from the womb before it can fetal viability, survive independently. Miscarriage before 6 weeks ...
, which she says meant "I didn't really have the option to choose the intellectual and spiritual dishonesty of pretending that I was fine." This led to her seeing faith as always "growing, changing and evolving". In 2013, she said she "cherished" her role as something of an outsider to
American evangelicalism In the United States, evangelicalism is a movement among Protestant Christians who believe in the necessity of being born again, emphasize the importance of evangelism, and affirm traditional Protestant teachings on the authority as well as the ...
. In 2014, she described herself as "too liberal for conservatives, too conservative for liberals." Bessey was a member of a
Vineyard A vineyard ( , ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines. Many vineyards exist for winemaking; others for the production of raisins, table grapes, and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is kno ...
church, however in 2019, she shared on
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that her family had left due to her support for the full inclusion of
LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...
people in the church. In 2021, she shared that she had returned to a local church.


Writing career

Bessey began blogging in 2005 to keep in touch with friends and family. Over the subsequent years, this led to numerous speaking engagements and the writing of her books. Bessey said, "The internet gave women like me — women who are outside of the usual power and leadership narratives and structures — a voice and a community ... Blogging gave us a way past the gatekeepers of evangelicalism." Blog posts by Bessey that received wide attention and commentary include a 2013 article, "I am Damaged Goods", about the place of
purity culture Purity culture was a movement in the 1990s within Christianity which emphasized sexual abstinence before marriage. Components Purity culture places a strong emphasis on abstinence from sexual intercourse before marriage. Women and girls are to ...
within Christianity, and her 2019 posts "Nope, Not Going Home" in response to evangelical pastor
John F. MacArthur John Fullerton MacArthur Jr. (born June 19, 1939) is an American pastor and author who hosts the national Christian radio and television program ''Grace to You''. He has been the pastor of Grace Community Church, a non-denominational church in ...
asserting that Beth Moore should "go home" and not preach, and "Why everything you know about the Nativity is probably wrong", dealing with Western misconceptions and
whitewashing Whitewash is a paint-like covering of hydrated lime or a cheap white paint. Whitewash or whitewashing may also refer to: Racist practices * Whitewashing (beauty), modifying the skin tones of photographs of nonwhite people in mass media * Whitew ...
of the
Nativity of Jesus The Nativity or birth of Jesus Christ is found in the biblical gospels of Gospel of Matthew, Matthew and Gospel of Luke, Luke. The two accounts agree that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Palestine, in Herodian kingdom, Roman-controlled Judea, th ...
. Bessey said the title of her 2013 book, ''Jesus Feminist'', started as "a bit of a joke" when people asked her what kind of
feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...
she was. The book outlines how she is a feminist because of the Bible and the way Jesus is "subversive" in turning power structures and household codes on their head. Her 2015 book, ''Out of Sorts'' is a
memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autob ...
of her own faith crisis and return. In 2017, Bessey started a
Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
thread with the hashtag "Things Only Christian Women Hear" that saw hundreds of responses sharing experiences of
sexism Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but primarily affects women and girls. It has been linked to gender roles and stereotypes, and may include the belief that one sex or gender is int ...
in Christian communities. Bessey was a close friend of fellow writer
Rachel Held Evans Rachel Held Evans (née Rachel Grace Held; June 8, 1981 – May 4, 2019) was an American Christian columnist, blogger and author. Her book ''A Year of Biblical Womanhood'' was a ''New York Times'' bestseller in e-book non-fiction, and ''Searchi ...
, speaking at her funeral, and writing a
eulogy A eulogy (from , ''eulogia'', Classical Greek, ''eu'' for "well" or "true", ''logia'' for "words" or "text", together for "praise") is a speech or writing in praise of a person, especially one who recently died or retired, or as a term o ...
with
Jeff Chu Jeff is a masculine name, often a short form (hypocorism) of the English given name Jefferson or Jeffrey, which comes from a medieval variant of Geoffrey. Music * DJ Jazzy Jeff, American DJ/turntablist record producer Jeffrey Allen Townes * E ...
for ''
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''. Bessey co-hosts the Evolving Faith Conference, an annual gathering of young
progressive Christian Progressive Christianity represents a range of related perspectives in contemporary Christian theology and practice. It is a postmodern theological approach, which developed out of the liberal Christianity of the modern era, although progressive C ...
s she co-founded with Held Evans in 2018. They expected about 200 people to attend the first conference in
Montreat, North Carolina Montreat is a town in Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 723 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Asheville metropolitan area. The town is best known for Montreat Conference Center and Montreat College, and for ...
, and had 1,400 attend. Jeff Chu joined them as co-organizer for the October 2019 conference, which became "in part a consolation for readers, friends and devotees of Rachel Held Evans" after her sudden death in May that year. Bessey and Chu also host ''The Evolving Faith Podcast''. Bessey's 2020 book ''Miracles and Other Reasonable Things'' explores the pain and trauma she experienced from a serious car accident and her recovery through both a miraculous healing encounter with two priests in Rome and continued medical treatment and self-care. Her 2021 book, ''A Rhythm of Prayer'', a ''
New York Times Bestseller ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. John Bear, ''The #1 New York Times Best Seller: intriguing facts about the 484 books that have been #1 New York Times ...
'', is a collection of prayers by other women writers. One prayer in the book, "Prayer of a weary Black Woman" by Professor
Chanequa Walker-Barnes Chanequa Walker-Barnes is an American theologian and psychologist. Her research as a clinical psychologist has focused on African American health disparities, and as a womanist theologian she has written about the myth of the "StrongBlackWoman" an ...
, provoked controversy from
conservative Christians Conservative Christianity, also known as conservative theology, theological conservatism, traditional Christianity, or biblical orthodoxy is a grouping of overlapping and denominationally diverse theological movements within Christianity that se ...
on
social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...
due to its opening words, "Dear God, please help me to hate White people", with some calling for
Target Target may refer to: Warfare and shooting * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artille ...
to remove the book from stores. Bessey defended Walker-Barnes, saying "While some may consider this to be a provocative start to a prayer, its intentional extraction from the rest of the prayer obscures its context and the biblical model it is based on ... Our sister is bringing her weariness and her anger over the real sin of racism to God." Bessey has been chair of the board for a charity called Heartline Ministries
Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...
since 2017.


Books

* * * *


References


External links


Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bessey, Sarah Living people 1979 births Writers from Regina, Saskatchewan Oral Roberts University alumni Canadian Christians Canadian bloggers Canadian women bloggers 21st-century Canadian women writers 21st-century Canadian non-fiction writers Christian bloggers Proponents of Christian feminism