The day Michael Brown died in a residential neighborhood last August changed everything for Leah Gunning Francis.
The 43-year-old Willingboro native had just returned from a children’s birthday party with her two boys when she clicked on the television to see chaos unfolding in Ferguson, Missouri, not far from her St. Louis home. On social media soon after, she saw images of the 18-year-old’s body in the street. The police-involved death of another unarmed black man was too much to bear.
“Seeing that, I instantly knew there needed to be a response,” said Gunning Francis, an associate dean and assistant professor at Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis. “I knew I wanted to be a part of it.”
The next day, the pastor’s wife joined clergy in a prayer vigil outside the Ferguson police station.
Gunning Francis has written a book documenting the civil unrest that followed.“Ferguson & Faith: Sparking Leadership & Awakening Community” (Chalice Press)describes how those events helped fuel the Black Lives Matter movement already underway, and how the young people’s call for social justice has affected the faith community.
With a forward written by Jim Wallis, a noted leader in progressive Christian circles, the book is the result of many hours of interviews with 15 clergy members and several youth leaders at the center of the protests.
Gunning Francis talked about her work during a recent phone interview from her home. The following account has been edited and condensed for brevity and clarity.