Episode 55: Olive Us Connect

Oct 1

Written By Rachael Wade

An interview with Pricelis Dominguez

Pricelis unpacks connecting as the Body of Christ and how to be a sanctuary.

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The Seeds

Name: Pricelis Dominguez

Where do you call home: Bronx, NY

Relationship Status: Married

Season of Work: Seminary Student, Author, Entrepreneur, Minister at a Church

Hobbies: Cooking, plants, just sitting outside when it’s not hot outside, traveling

Jesus Journey: I grew up going to church with my family. The first time I said yes to Jesus was when I was 14 years old, and then at 17, I decided I didn’t believe in any of it anymore. At 23 years old, I returned to Jesus because of persistent friends and because God is kind. Since then, I’ve been all in.

The Branches

Considering the word “connect” and how Christ has called us to be connected as ONE BODY with many parts, talk to us about how individuals from different places, spaces, ethnic backgrounds, and socioeconomic levels can connect and function as the Body of Christ.

It all starts with dignity. If we see all people as image bearers of God, then we’ll dignify them, and if we dignify them, then we make room in our hearts and minds to learn from them, support them, welcome them, include them, be led by them, and connect with them. But dignity seems to be the missing part. Lack of dignity in the Body has led to uniformity, dehumanization, division, and disconnect. We have forgotten what Jesus thinks about others because we are so busy figuring out what Jesus thinks about us and Him having to say it repeatedly to us. I hope this doesn’t sound harsh, but we need to know we are already loved, seen, saved, and carried by God. There are seasons where we need to be reminded of that, but once we know, we know, and then from that knowing, we will then hopefully “Love your neighbor as yourself”(Mark 12:31). When we take that COMMANDMENT (not suggestion or encouragement) seriously, then things will be different and we will connect as we are meant to. This doesn’t mean it’ll be picture-perfect, but it does mean the peace of God will reign within His body.

Over the last few years, many in the Olive Us community experienced disconnection, rejection, and the Body of Christ not functioning properly in their local church bodies. This could all look many ways, but could you give some examples of what a “sick body” might look like?

A sick body, others, dehumanizes, shames, abuses, wounds, and marginalizes. A sick body lives out the way of the enemy. A sick body lives by the flesh - examples like those found in Galatians 5:19-21. But a healthy body is Galatians 5:22-23. A healthy body includes, welcomes, sees, loves, cares for, makes room for, and invites. Notice how the sick descriptions don’t represent Jesus, but the healthy body does. A sick body looks like the worst parts of the world. An example of this is the first church I worked for. It was a church plant in Harlem being led by two 25-year-old newlyweds from Florida who were given a church building with no accountability, no teaching of the Harlem community or history, and no vision for what a Biblical church is. They projected their White culture onto a predominantly Black community by not allowing gospel music to be a part of Sunday worship, taking no part in local justice work, and creating a toxic culture of Christian uniformity. On top of all of that, behind the scenes - they were spiritually abusive. This is just one example of many of what a sick body looks like even if from the outside it doesn’t ‘look’ sick, but to the world, it looks ‘successful.’ This is not connection; it’s business, it’s production.

You wrote a book released a few weeks ago, “Being A Sanctuary-The Radical Way For the Body of Christ to Be Sacred, Soft, and Safe.” Right off the bat in your introduction, you say:

“We’ve missed the radical invitation to live as the Body of Christ, deeply connected to one another, because our collective healing is integral to our individual healing.” (Pg. 5)

Is it too late to connect deeply with the Body of Christ and our churches? If not, how do we begin to do this?

If we’ve got breath in our lungs, it’s not too late. Praise God for that! But how do we begin? We must repent. One of the problems we face in the United States of America is a deep level of racism - socially and systematically. Although there are several reasons for it, I think one of the reasons we are still dealing with it is because of a lack of repentance. We have tokenized, become ‘woke,’ etc., in the name of ‘progression,’ but none of that is working because repentance hasn’t worked first. And since the Body of Christ is called to be sanctified, we should be different from the world. We get to do things differently and repent. Repent of how we have misused the Word, misrepresented Jesus, misunderstood the great commission, and missed the whole point and purpose of the gospel. We have missed it, but it’s never too late. A big part of my book is helping the Church see that this is an ‘all of us problem’ and in one way or another, most of us have contributed to the toxicity of the Christian faith or perpetuated either by acting like it’s not there, celebrating the toxicity, or acting like it’s not our problem. Once we realize the issue is all of our responsibility, then things will change. We do not belong to an individualized faith; we belong to a connected one.

1 Cor 12:26 says, “If one part sufferers, every part suffers with it, if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.” This sounds like being connected and committed to one another. You titled your book “Being a Sanctuary.” What does this mean, and what does it have to do with the importance of genuine connection within the Body of Christ? Is “being a sanctuary” and “being connected” different?

Being a sanctuary and being connected go hand in hand because being a sanctuary is to be like Jesus, and to be like Jesus, we must be connected to Him and His people. It’s not just one or the other. The problem is that we are either too connected to His people and not Him therefore, we become imitators of people who sin instead of the sinless man that is Jesus. The other side of that is those who only want to be connected to Jesus and not His people, which is a dangerous door that could lead to legalism, self-righteousness, judgment, lack of accountability, and the development of bad theology. Being a sanctuary is the willingness to be someone of the Word, someone who extends compassion to all people (whether you disagree with them or not), and be people who live justly. That is who Jesus was and is. In His word, compassionate with all and just.

For those who don’t feel like they belong anywhere or maybe have a hard time connecting to the church but want to, what advice would you give them? And for those of us who are already connected to a local church body, what part is ours to play in being a sanctuary and coming close to the one longing to belong?

I get it for those having a hard time connecting to the church. I’ve been there, and in some ways, I still am there, but I would say to you that there are thousands of healthy and faithful churches. It may not feel like it because of the headlines and your search journey - but they exist. We have to ask the Holy Spirit for patience in finding it. It took us eight years to find one! When you’re struggling to hope that the church will change, hold on to a friend’s hope or ask others to hope for you. You don’t have to pretend to hope. And for those who do belong to a church and get to be the Body for those wanting to belong, I would say is ‘open your eyes.’ These people are right in front of you; they may just not be saying it out loud. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you an open heart and mind to notice who is looking to feel seen, heard, and loved and meet them where they are. Not necessarily by inviting them to church (although you can do that) but just by inviting them to your life and coming into their life and showing them the church with your very presence in their life.

In your chapter, “Beloved before Anything,” you write this:

“If we consider who we are in Christ, which is beloved, then perhaps we can see that the invitation to love our neighbor as ourselves is an invitation to love others as beloved human beings. There are many ways to do this. One way is to be committed to the cause of Christ by helping to restore what humanity has broken.”

What kind of brokenness are we seeing in our churches, Pri, and how do we advocate and be part of God’s plan to redeem and restore all things?

I believe the brokenness we are seeing in the Church is a desire to use worldly metrics for success. We think if our churches are full and growing, then we have made it. But that’s a broken perspective. We need to restore and redeem that perspective; we need to return to the basics. It doesn’t matter how many people are in the seats on a Sunday or Monday to Saturday if they don’t feel beloved or aren’t treated as beloved.

I know this might be hard, but what are your favorite chapters in the book? Which were the hardest to write?

The hardest chapters to write were ‘Souls Over Sides and Stances’ because I was talking about some pretty tough topics that get people defensive and riled up. I was very careful about writing this chapter and how I worded things in there. My favorite chapters are “Go and Do Likewise” because they help people walk through the Samaritan story perhaps in a way they hadn’t considered before, and the first chapter ‘Selah will be our saving grace’ because it’s a practice that has healed, edified, grown me, and helped me a lot in the past few years.

Olive Us was created as an extension of the church for the Body of Believers. The ministry was created for women to share their in-process stories and be reminded they’re connected through Christ and not alone. Why is this important?

One of the hardest things in life is to feel alone. As someone who lives in NYC, a city full of millions of people, there have been plenty of times I have felt alone. But thankfully, many women in my life have dismantled and rebuked that thought with their presence, support, prayers, and love. We are all in process, and places like social media and even sometimes Sunday services don’t make room for us to show that about ourselves, but being connected with people beyond those specific moments and places is vital to us living transparent lives that are messy and filled with God’s mercy.

Olive Us Restored retreats will focus on rest, delight, connection, and growth. Why is this important for the Body of Christ and specifically for women?

I love that you’re doing retreats!!!! YAY! When I tell you, I’m TIRED. I AM TIRED! I feel that the enemy is stealing much of this current world’s rest, not just with overworking and grind culture but constant access to bad news and just the day-to-day difficulties of life. And in turn, that then steals our delight, connection, and growth within ourselves, with others, and with God. This is vital to our well-being. We can’t be sanctuaries well if we are tired. We can’t be witnesses well if we don’t delight in God. We can’t be evangelists well if we don’t connect with local people around us in our day to day. And we can’t be Christians who repent if we don’t grow towards that. It’s all important. It’s all needed. And it’s all essential to be done together.