Rev. Christopher Marlin-Warfield

I am a pastor, an author, and a creator. My passion, my mission, and my calling is bringing people together to do good.

As a Christian, I believe in God’s steadfast love for all of creation, abundant grace for this broken world, and liberating power that frees creation from the powers of sin and death and everything that makes life less. As a practicing Christian, I strive to follow Christ into abundant and everlasting life in this world and the next, and I recognize that I am still—and will probably always be—desperately trying to get that right.

As someone who grew up in congregationalist churches, I believe in the priesthood of all believers: in the idea that everyone who tries to follow Christ is a minister by virtue of their baptism, and that we all have roles to play in nurturing God’s reign of love. The call that God has placed on my life has led me to serve as both a lay minister and as an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ. I spent the first twelve years of my career in nonprofit fundraising and communication. I currently serve as the pastor at First Congregational United Church of Christ in DeWitt, Iowa.

In 2019, Wipf and Stock published my book, Radical Charity: How Generosity Can Save the World (And the Church) through their Cascade imprint. Here’s the description from the back cover:

Right now, there is a movement in churches and nonprofits arguing that charity is toxic, that helping hurts, and that the entire nonprofit sector needs to be reformed to truly lift people out of poverty. These charity skeptics are telling Christians that traditional charity deepens dependency, fosters a sense of entitlement, and erodes the work ethic of people who receive it. Charity skepticism is increasingly popular; and it is almost certainly wrong.

Radical Charity weaves together research and scholarship on topics as diverse as biblical scholarship, Christian history, economics, and behavioral psychology to tell a different story. In this story, charity is the heart of Christianity and one of the most effective ways that we can help people who are living in poverty. Charity–giving to people experiencing poverty without any expectation of return or reformation–can save the world and help make God’s vision for the church a reality.

I’ve spent years creating and producing podcasts, videos, and other media for churches and other nonprofits. In 2024, I started creating videos on my own. While the library is small right now, I hope to grow it as time goes on. 

I also write posts and articles for this website. And, of course, I have an occasional newsletter.