Expanding the vision:

“Shame-reversal” is simply the storyline we see throughout the Bible where God meets Adam, the patriarchs, Hannah, Ruth, all those in Jesus’ genealogy, and all the people of faith in Hebrews 11. For each of these people, God meets them in their state of brokenness, weakness, emptiness, barrenness, rejection, and loss, and brings them to a place of honor.

“Essence” means shame-reversal is at the crux of the cross, which is how the 1st century saw the cross.

“Elevated” - Sadly, this “essence” is left out in the default Western-dominated  framework of the narrative. As in Paul’s metaphor of the body, and how greater attention needs to be directed towards marginalized members, shame-reversal aspects of the Bible needs to be elevated.

“Healing our communities” - Healing is holistic. Healing is embodied. Healing is transformative, connecting head to heart. Secondly, cultures of the world typically overly focus on our individual identity at the expense of the collective, or vise-versa. The Trinity models a healthy both/and, that is, healthy self-differentiation yet healthy interdependence on others.

Expanding the Logo:

What does "Kingdom Rice" mean? Look carefully at our logo. It's filled with rice, a common staple in the majority world. The "rice" in our name and logo centers this common staple and the people's they represent. It's a commentary on the fact that Europe is no longer the center of Christianity and that "Christianity has grown enormously in sub-Saharan Africa and the Asia-Pacific region, where there were relatively few Christians at the beginning of the 20th century." (see here). All our discipleship and evangelism tools should reflect this global reality, but it does not in seminary, nor on the field.

Where there's been an uptick of theological development and practice in recent years, its application in Christian spaces is still too rare. Wherever we've trained leaders in both Christian and secular realms, in classrooms, lecture halls, missionary organization, through our training materials and cohorts, participants experience our vision of a "renewed embodiment & expression of the Gospel" in very real ways.

"Rice" also conjures up a picture of a banquet, a place where  themes of hospitality, reciprocity, and seats of honor paint pictures of the Kingdom here on earth. These are the inviting pictures Jesus painted in his sermons. And he's offering that same honor to you and me today. Imagine being at this meal, with the greatest diversity you could possibly imagine. And imagine Jesus asking us to honor each other. Such is the meaning of "rice" and that's why the name "Kingdom Rice" encapsulates our vision. Everyone has a direct invitation to this table of honor.

Our logo centers San Francisco because the plethora of its diverse communities, both past and present, tells the stories of communities forgotten, shamed, and displaced alongside stories of advocacy, beauty, and healing. As advocacy happens, communities once shamed and forgotten are remembered, recognized, and honored.

Our logo also shows iconic San Francisco fronted by the gates of Chinatown because it's valuable to have a concrete anchor point and this community plays that role. By anchoring our mission to a distinctive 150 year long story of shame, racism and advocacy, survival, and honor, we've found that the 1000+ students, professionals, seminarians, and non-profits we've immersed in her streets are able to find their own stories of shame and honor in Chinatown's.

We uniquely tie the shame-reversal story of Chinatown to the biblical shame-reveral narrative. That is, we tie "earthy" shame-reversal stories to the "Kingdom." The ultimate shame-reversal narrative is found in the Gospels and the shame-reveral story of Jesus' death and resurrection.

Making these ties through personal, community, and biblical storytelling is a discipleship of the emotional life that facilitates personal and community healing. We've witnessed surprising reconciliation between races and generations, within churches, families, and more as a result of participating in our programs.

Click on our "Program and Events" page to get a snapshot of how we accomplish our mission.