Forged – Following Jesus into a New Kind of Family

About FORGED

The Jesus Way calls us into community with others to form a new kind of family—a forged family.

In an era when our relationships with our families of origin are more complicated than ever, pastor T. C. Moore shows us how following the way of Jesus can lead us to forged families that are authentic and life-giving.

Our forged families are the ones who love us for who we are and show up for us when we're in desperate need. Our forged families are the ones with whom we're worked through conflict. Our forged families make us who we are, strengthen our faith, and sustain us through life's many challenges.

Forged weaves together stories from the author's over twenty years of experience with urban, multiethnic ministry all over the U.S., principles from scripture, and his own experience as an ex-gang member turned church planter to propose a way of approaching faith in community that rejects hierarchical, bureaucratic structures in favor of formative, inclusive friendships that last.

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About the author

T. C. Moore

is a graffiti artist and theology nerd. He’s the lead pastor of Roots, a Moravian community, and serves court-involved youth and young adults with restorative justice practices. Since Jesus liberated him from gang-life as a teenager, T. C. has developed mentoring programs, planted churches, and worked in community-based nonprofits all across the country for over two decades. He’s a graduate of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary's Center for Urban Ministerial Education in Boston and he lives in Saint Paul, Minnesota with his wife, Osheta, and their three children.

Endorsements

Rev. Dennis Edwards, PhD

Dean of North Park Theological Seminary and author of Humility Illuminated

Wow! T. C. Moore has given us a gift by sharing his life—which includes jaw-dropping experiences along with a wealth of knowledge gained through his voracious appetite for reading. Yet Forged is more than a collection of stories and lessons about life, it is a prophetic call for followers of Jesus to live genuinely as siblings in the faith. Forged is also an invitation to all who have been beaten down, who wonder if they truly belong anywhere, or who feel as if no one cares about them, to know that there is such a thing as loving community. Read this book and give away copies because we all need the challenge and the encouragement that T. C. Moore offers us.

Scot McKnight, PhD

Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary

The news media center stories of abuse in churches today but in T. C. Moore's Forged I found an oasis of good news. T. C. Moore's story of faith is a story of family — family not there, family failing to be what family is designed to be, discovering the kin(g)ship established by Jesus, and growing into pastoring churches into churches as families. In Forged we do not read an idealistic, cookie-cutter model of the church but of real people forging real relationships with real struggles finding that a forged, kinship family is the context for human realities. Forged will challenged church leaders and stimulate seminary classrooms into thinking about what God wants churches to become — families.

Dr. Soong-Chan Rah

Professor of Evangelism at Fuller Theological Seminary

T. C. Moore has written an important book that is essential reading for the American church at this time. Moore engages in the prophetic practice of truth telling, expressing theological truth to a broken ecclesial reality. The church needs to heed Moore’s call for a more theological vision of family and the family of God. This book demonstrates the full positive possibility of pastoral theology, offering real life stories, Biblical reflection, and theological application for a necessary re-forming of our ecclesiology.

Michelle Clifton, PhD

Director of Prison Education, Lewis University, and author of Angels, Worms, and Bogeys

Pastor T. C. Moore's ability to reflect on the gospel as it relates to life is impressive and inspiring! His story-telling, biblical acumen, and love for people shine throughout the book. His is a perspective rooted in experience, and his own story, as it informs his ideas, is compelling. As a theologian and social ethicist, I highly recommend this book for pastors, seminary students, and lay people who are interested in challenging traditional Christian views of family and forging a new, gospel-centered, reality.

Rev. José Humphreys III

Author of Seeing Jesus in East Harlem & Ecosystems of Jubilee

In Forged, Moore exposes our society's’ utopian notions of community, and the brittle limitations of the nuclear family as gospel. Through riveting stories grounded in scriptures, a robust theology, and cultural humility, Moore beautifully depicts what Jesus intended all along: For the web of true kinship to tether us by the Spirit’s generous invitation for all. For followers of Christ, this ever-forging family can compel us into new rhythms of life together; wading together through the waters of redemptive conflict with resilience; dismantling the walls of hostility formed by racism. Forged will awaken us to the potential of family all around us. Read this book with your community, both formed and newly forged, and never settle for a vision that is less than what God intended for the family.

Rev. Stephanie O'Brien

Lead Pastor of Mill City Church and author of Stay Curious and Make a Move

Forged is the book we need for this moment. Never in history have humans had so many options for connection—and yet, belonging is at an all-time low. T. C. Moore weaves together his own story with the urgent questions of the moment: what does a chosen family look like in a world that celebrates individualism and self-reliance? Why does rugged individualism leave us feeling not empowered but exhausted? Forged shows us how to cross the lines that divide us and live counter-culturally as a unified family. This book is a captivating story that begs us to join in.

Mason Mennenga

YouTuber and podcast host of A People's Theology

Following Jesus isn’t just about getting into heaven but about being a part of a new kind of family. In a time when many Christians are concerned about what is happening to the family, T. C. Moore shares the many ways followers of Jesus are to be a part of a new kind of family that loves no matter what.

Rev. Dan Stringer

Pastor, InterVarsity Team Leader, and author of Struggling with Evangelicalism

T. C. Moore writes with an exquisite blend of street cred, crisp wisdom, theological nerdiness, and heartfelt hope for the planet. In the best possible way, this book will expose your unexamined assumptions about what Jesus says (and doesn’t say) a family is supposed to be. Disguised as a page-turning, mid-life memoir drawn from a stirring life story spanning New Orleans, Boston, Los Angeles, and the Twin Cities, Forged is a must-read for followers of Jesus living in post-pandemic times.

Dr. Jer Swigart

Co-Founder and Executive Director, Global Immersion and author of Mending the Divides

Moore offers a compelling invitation to move beyond indifference to interdependence.

Drew Hart, PhD

Associate Professor at Messiah University and author of Who Will Be A Witness?

In Forged, T.C. Moore invites us to join him on a compelling journey, in a way that will resonate with readers' own struggles, hopes, and questions. Through memoir and scriptural reflections, Moore intertwines the threads of transformation, justice, belonging, and radical love, inviting readers to embark on a profound exploration of kinship in Christ that transcends social boundaries. This book will resonate with both doubters and disciples of Jesus, offering a transformative vision for community in Christ. I've known T. C. for about a decade now and this is precisely the kind of gift I would expect him to put into the world. Read this book!

Rev. Craig Atwood, PhD

Professor of Moravian Theology at the Moravian University School of Theology

This is a deeply autobiographical book that beautifully illustrates the good news of Jesus Christ. It should be read alongside Howard Thurman’s Jesus and the Disinherited. T. C. Moore’s journey from an abusive childhood through drug abuse and gang membership to being a pastor could have been told as a stereotypical story of evangelical conversion. Instead, it is a powerful meditation on the meaning of Christian community, especially becoming siblings in the Spirit. Moore’s passionate criticism of popular American religiosity and other abusive structures of American society are timely, but the true heart of the book is how God’s grace forges misfits, outcasts, and the disenfranchised into a family that is stronger than biology.

Rev. Glen A. Guyton

Executive Director, Mennonite Church USA and author of Reawakened

Through a captivating narrative, Moore illustrates the transformative power of an extravagant gift and its impact on one's sense of worthiness and belonging. The author weaves together themes of grace and covenant, revealing a deeper understanding of God's love and our purpose. Forged reminds us that grace is not mere charity; it forges a covenant family, empowering us to embrace our true potential.

Jenai Auman

Writer, artist, and author of Othered

Honest, authentic, and compassionate, T.C. Moore gives voice to the deep rifts that preclude people from belonging in the American church today. Moore draws from the wisdom of his own forged family story to encourage hospitality and extend hope to readers. His storytelling paints a picture to help all understand the radical, counter-cultural welcome of Jesus.

Thomas Jay Oord, PhD

Doctoral Program Director at Northwind Theological Seminary and author of The Uncontrolling Love of God

The view of family many entertain does not fit the belonging central to the family of faith. T. C. Moore points out potential idolatries associated with the nuclear family and proposes an alternative vision of family forged in response to God’s love. Using personal stories and cultural connections, Moore calls for the families of love we desperately need and desperately need to become.

Joshua Tom, PhD

Associate Professor of Sociology at Seattle Pacific University

Forged could not arrive at a more urgent time. Identity, belonging and Christianity are concepts in flux, and Moore steps into the moment with a book that invites the reader to consider the promises and demands of Christ's kingdom in the 21st century. Moore eschews the individualism endemic to American Christianity and demonstrates why the new forged family of Christ's Gospel matters. Insightful, piercing, and indispensable.

Rev. Kurt Willems

Lead Pastor at Brentview Church in Calgary and author of Echoing Hope

T. C. Moore’s Forged left me moved by vulnerable storytelling and inspired by a Jesus-centered vision of a family bigger than biology. On each page the transformative power of the gospel is on full display—even as I admit to differing theologically in a few instances. One part prophetic provocateur and another part pastoral guide, T. C. Moore’s Forged invites us to put its title into action: to forge a family, with Jesus, for the sake of the world!