Trans Identity, Community, and Being in Solidarity with Dr. Miche van Essen

Reclaiming the Garden

In this episode (despite some technical difficulties on April’s end) we have a conversation with the Co-Executive Director of Operations for Transmission Ministry Collective, Dr. Miche van Essen! Miche shares about her faith journey of growing up Jewish and how she ended up meeting Jesus and became a pastor in an evangelical church. As she was coming into her identity as a transgender woman, she found the support groups at Transmission Ministry Collective and got very involved and is now stewarding the work of creating space for trans and gender expansive Christians (we love to see it!), and she talks about her experience in the organization. We also wrestle with what it means to be living on stolen Native land and how to be aware of the “invisible layers” of oppression that we all participate in. Anna also talks about some important Armenian history, we discuss the history of protests against war and the current University protests in support of Palestine, and April and Anna reflect on the incredibly racist and cringey “activity” in kindergarten where we dressed up as Native Americans (yikes!!!).

You can find Miche on Instagram @michevanessen. Find out more of TMC here: https://transmissionministry.com/

We have merch! Get your Bible Dyke Energy Tee and more here: https://www.redbubble.com/people/rtgardenpodcast/shop

Our social media: @reclaimingthegarden on Insta, @RtGardenPodcast on Twitter, and Reclaiming the Garden on Facebook. Our personal accounts: @thatpunchabletheaternerd, @April_TheWriter (April is on Twitter and Insta). Also, our podcast account follows a bunch of awesome folks + podcasts in the exvangelical/deconstruction world and progressive Christian world, so if you’re looking for more resources, that’s a great place to start!