Kingdom Rice

Leadership training reimagined through honor-shame narratives

We train professionals in ministerial, secular, and academic spaces (e.g. medical, theology, therapy, urban, ethnic studies students and more) to better lead in our urbanizing, diversifying, and globalizing world.

Learn More

Leadership Training needs rebalancing to center honor-shame narratives

Even in 1946, WWII anthropologist Ruth Benedict said that "shame is an increasingly heavy burden in the United States and guilt is less extremely felt than in earlier generations.”

Social Media has changed the landscape of the whole world. Shame has now taken centerstage. Brené Brown calls it a "silent epidemic" because it's silent yet affects everyone.

"From online bullying to Twitter takedowns, shame is becoming a dominant force in the West." - Andy Crouch

"Christian theologians have 'rarely if ever stressed salvation as honoring God, exposure of sin as shame, and the need for acceptance as the restoration of honor'" - Bruce Nicholls, founder of the “Evangelical Review of Theology"

Two Words describe our honor-shame centered training:

Imagine ...

Your community and organization dismantling power dynamics and hierachy.
Empire aspects of historic Christianity replaced by the vulnerability and empathy of Jesus.
Walls lowered between generations, cultures, and rival groups.
Increased engagement with those unfamiliar to you, across lines that are generational, ethnic, social, and more.
Seeing ethnic neighborhoods outside of the default consumerist (and sometime exotic) lens.
Applying honor-shame scholarship to your immediate contexts
Enlarging your circles where the vulnerable and shamed are centered, blessed, & honored

Embody ...

We excavate the narratives that have shaped how we see ourselves, others, and our Higher Power
Our programs help us identify the inherent biases we all carry
Jesus himself embodied love, grace, and mercy across social and ethnic lines while elevating those most marginalized. We've applied this narrative to organizations and schools regardless of faith background.
Embodiment means our training is aimed beyond the cognitive and the behavioral to our very instincts.

Learn How

A 3-minute introduction to an honor-shame narrative

Credit: Jeffrey Chung, a KR volunteer

Snapshots from the field...

HOME – BELONGING – RESTORATION – EMBRACE

September 23, 2023

by Pastor Andrea Wong of Hong Kong When people first meet me, they often ask, “Where is home for you?” A seemingly simple, yet complex question… You see, ordinarily, my default is to say: Hong Kong. It’s where I was born, where I’ve spent most of my life, but also where I currently reside. But…

Both in Heaven; Why not here on earth?

April 26, 2020

So far, two people who have had an impact on my life passed away during this world-changing COVID-19 pandemic. I’ve been a part of both of their communities, but never at the same time because I’ve not found a space where BOTH these two men would be welcomed and fellowshipping together here on earth, not the…

Sharing love with San Francisco’s interfaith worshipping communities

July 30, 2015

On a recent Sunday morning, I took my family to church as I do most Sundays. But this Sunday was different. After our worship service, bicyclists began gathering outside my church from San Francisco’s diverse inter-faith community. I welcomed everyone to my church and began my role of presiding over this first-ever inter-faith service on wheels.…

As an Anglo-American pastoring a majority Asian-American church, Steve’s perspective has shaped my ministry and me in profound ways: 1) to open my eyes to greater degrees the structures of power and privilege within American society, and the way that many in our community experience that; 2) the way that the Kingdom of God subverts the bondage of guilt, shame and fear through the Gospel. I am so grateful for the ways that God has met us as we’ve committed to mutual submission.

Sean Curtis

Former pastor of The Great Exchange Covenant Church, San Francisco

Kingdom Rice rethinks and restructures paradigms and systems in light of Kingdom values with a prophetic voice. They provide a theological and cultural big picture and education and development to every level of the organization. They integrate emotional health, theology and cultural dynamics in all aspects of life and ministry.

Various members

Epic Movement’s Leadership Development Team

Steve’s ministry gave me such a shock, in the best way possible. Sitting in class with our missions training students I was learning things I hadn’t heard before. Things like how the gospel relates differently throughout the world, and that when we push the guilt/righteousness mindset we are not relating Christ to other cultures. I was woken up to the reality that culture gives others a different perspective, and that it is good. Steve taught how the ‘honor/shame’ culture of Asia depicts a beautiful view of the Kingdom of God. The students learned to step into another culture, to understand their thoughts and what Christ would want to do in the lives of those we would be sharing with.

The students were given the opportunity to re-write their testimonies so they related to the Asian culture we would be sharing with, and it had such a deep impact. I saw students who had no words to share the gospel before Steve’s teaching able to relate what God has done in them to a culture they never knew before. I experienced a new and deeper friendship with people I had met on previous missions trips simply because I tried a new way of relating to their culture. The best part of working with Steve is that he doesn’t just teach from book material, but he invites others into living out what he shares. He brings everyone into an interactive format that is taught and experienced throughout his ministry. Through Steve’s teaching everyone was better equipped to share the gospel in a culturally relevant way.

Kassi Palmer

Discipleship Training School, Youth With A Mission, San Francisco

Drawing from the most grand of honor-shame narratives, the narrative of Jesus shunning shame unto honor, we've been invited to train faith-based, non faith-based, academic, and community organizations.