Faith Unleavened

The Wilderness Between Trayvon Martin & George Floyd

In her powerhouse debut, Tamice Spencer-Helms exposes the leaven of whiteness that pervades so much of Christianity in America today. At a young age, the Black church introduced her to a God of love, empowerment, and joy. But an encounter with White Jesus set her on a path that nearly destroyed her faith altogether. Persistent police brutality against Black people, and the white church’s persistent excuses for it, forced Spencer-Helms to carefully identify how the idol of whiteness keeps Christians captive, and how we can burn the idol down. With brilliant prose and gripping storytelling, she takes us on the painful but liberating journey of extracting the leaven from spirituality, and rediscovering the parts of ourselves that a colonized Christianity seeks to suppress. This book will confront readers with the stomach-turning reality of constant injustice, but also delight and overwhelm them with the freedom of Christ.

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“Much has been written about the young white exodus from evangelical religion. Rarely have we been invited to journey alongside young evangelicals of color. Tamice Spencer-Helms takes readers by the hand and walks them through her exodus and liberation. We witness the scales falling from her eyes and see with her, for the first time, that the White evangelical waters she once found respite within are actually filled with the rotting bodies of theology and discipleship stunted and killed by White Jesus. Walk with Tamice through each stage of her healing and transformation, and encounter unleavened faith. This is a worthy read, indeed.”

Lisa Sharon Harper, president and founder of Freedom Road, LLC and author of several books, including The Very Good Gospel and Fortune

About the Author

Tamice Spencer-Helms

Tamice Spencer-Helms is a published author, speaker, and theologian based in Richmond, Virginia. After 16 years of full-time ministry, she founded Sub: Culture Incorporated, a nonprofit that provides holistic support and crisis relief for Black College Students.

In addition to her Bachelor’s degree in Religious Studies and Copywriting, Tamice has an M.A. in Contextual Leadership from Wheaton College and an M.A. in Theology from Fuller Seminary.
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Over the years, Tamice has been a change-maker and pioneer for young people in her community. Throughout her life, she has connected, supported, and ministered to countless young adults and college students. Her friendly and down-to-earth approach to public speaking and teaching, as well as her dedication to theological study, has helped empower and inspire people in her community and beyond.
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Tamice lives in Richmond with her spouse Ellison, her daughter Harlym, and her puppy Beacon. In her spare time, she loves to dissect and listen to Hip-Hop, watch documentaries, savor whiskey, eat Ellison's homemade pizza, and relax with her family.

Don’t miss out on what Tamice has planned next! Follow her on Instagram and Twitter, or subscribe to her Substack blog.

What readers say about Faith Unleavened

“Tamice is an incredibly important voice as someone who lives faith at the intersection of practitioner and theologian. Her reflections on historical events that have shaped this emerging generation is a gift to anyone who mentors young people of any racial background, since these events have shaped our ecosystem.”

Rev. Sandra Maria Van Opstal, Founder of Chasing Justice

“I learn so much from listening to stories unlike my own. In this memoir of evolving faith, Tamice bravely invites us into a journey that is tender but unflinching, heavy with grief and suffused with hope. I am challenged by the ways we disagree with one another, and even more challenged by the ways we agree.”

Gregory Coles, author of Single, Gay, Christian and No Longer Strangers

“In Faith Unleavened, Tamice Spencer-Helms vulnerably provides us with her exile experience in white evangelicalism and her courageous exodus out of it. Doing so, she offers a gift for the rest of us, inviting everyone to let go of white Jesus so we can encounter the living, liberating, and unleavened Bread of God. Read this book!”

Drew G. I. Hart, Associate Professor of Theology at Messiah University, Author of Who Will Be A Witness?, and Co-host of the InVerse Podcast

“We all need fellow sojourners on our path to a more beautiful, just world. Tamice Spencer-Helms is an ideal guide for those seeking to leave behind faith narratives of exclusion, violence, greed, sexism, exploitation, and racism rooted in white supremacy for narratives of reconciliation, inclusion, nonviolence, generosity, equality, and sustainability. Spencer-Helms displays a powerful, honest, and clarion voice in Faith Unleavened. This book is a must-read for all who care about the role of faith in a world seeking justice.”

Doug Pagitt, Pastor, Author, Activist, Executive Director of Vote Common Good

“Tamice Spencer-Helms guides us through the wilderness of a Black woman contorting herself to a white Jesus and into freedom as a Black woman fully seen and loved by herself and Jesus. Spencer-Helms shares her doubts and the obstacles to decolonizing faith with a vulnerability and honesty that made me flinch. She powerfully names how white supremacy gaslights all of us and she gives hope to those still on the journey.”

Kathy Khang, author of Raise Your Voice

“A faith cannot feed you until you have first wrestled with it and sat with the story it has yielded in your life. In Faith Unleavened, Tamice Spencer-Helms shares the story of her wrestling in the wilderness and the sustenance she found therein. May we all be courageous enough to trust God with our stories.”

Pastor Trey Ferguson, Founding President of Rebellion for Christ Ministries, Co-host of the Three Black Men podcast

“Everyone should read Tamice's story. She describes how white supremacist beliefs in Christian organizations deepen pain and self-hatred for people of color, especially when they are trying to minister from those frameworks. She illustrates how both over-rationalism and over-emotionalism in white evangelical theology(ies) hinder trauma processing instead of helping. She shows how shallow understandings of God, people, and society cause more problems than they solve. But Tamice helps us glimpse the glory of Christ in the Black Church!”

Mako Nagasawa, Founder & Executive Director of the Anástasis Center, author of Abortion Policy and Christian Social Ethics in the United States

“We all contend with a wilderness and on that journey, it’s necessary to choose what we consume. In Faith Unleavened, Tamice showed me a path I hadn’t seen and gave me nuggets of a better way to do community and life with one another. I’ve still so much to learn. Join me in the wilderness.”

Seth Price, Host of the Can I Say This at Church? podcast

“Tamice Spencer-Helms writes with honesty and courage about her confounding journey through white Evangelical Christianity. For the sake of future and current generations we need to listen and learn from her story. If you’ve ever felt betrayed by your faith or bamboozled by life, this book will inspire you to keep going. You matter, healing is possible, and together we can seek the love and justice of the kingdom of God.”

Mark Scandrette, teacher and author of The Ninefold Path of Jesus: Hidden Wisdom of the Beatitudes

“Tamice beautifully takes us along her journey in and out of whiteness. By weaving in her personal story, world and church history, and current events she leads us into our own personal exploration of what our experiences with whiteness, White Jesus, anti-blackness, and the Church have been like. This book bears witness to the death-dealing ways of a system that refuses to see people but insists on the superiority of its ways, politics, songs, ideology, and theology. Tamice’s journey out of the system gives me hope that redemption is possible—revolution is possible. So come on... let's get us some unleavened bread and have ourselves a revolution!”

Carol Ng’ang’a, Founder & Executive Director of Msingi Trust

“In this critical book, Tamice eloquently, and painfully takes us on a journey through racial trauma, faith deconstruction, all while allowing the grace to sit with discomfort. She brings forth her own story in a way that is undeniably brilliant. Take your time with each section of this poignant writing.”

Robert Monson, co-director of Enfleshed, co-host of the Three Black Men podcast

“To the image-bearers who have been told they were naked before and above being told they are Loved, let Tamice take your hand as a fellow sojourner of the wilderness in Faith Unleavened. Tamice sews history and scripture into a tapestry through the stitchwork of storytelling; inviting us into her painful, particular, and common experience as a Black woman in the white evangelical expression of Christianity. In this wilderness—I mean, right in the middle—Tamice sets an abundant table both for the collective and just for you. Here laughter and tears, sorrow and song beckon each of us to eat until we are full of the unleavened bread Jesus has provided.”

Nya Abernathy, founder of The Dignity Effect, writer at Of Earth & Of Stars

“This is the story of leaving behind a controlling, small religion, and going on the hunt for a faith that is big enough to hold everyone and everything. Within these pages is a memoir of liberation...not just for Tamice but for all of us.”

Scott Hall, Host of the White People Work podcast

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