A beautiful part-devotional, part-memoir, told as if being invited to come eat with her and share in her family’s traditional foods. A lovely and engaging book, and incredibly gentle, humbling, and uplifting read.

“The more willing we are to engage in our story, the more we find that God will redeem and heal those parts of our lives that feel disconnected so we can live from a place of wholeness rather than brokenness.”

In Dim Sum and Faith, Jenn invites readers on a journey of discovery as we explore our personal stories and how these narratives have shaped our spiritual lives. Using Psalm 139 as a framework, Jenn combines scripture with personal stories, providing readers with a roadmap for tracing the threads of our stories back to their roots and doing so honestly with God.

As an empathetic guide, she gently leads us through the terrain of our experiences, helping us understand how our unique stories mold our identities. I particularly love the book's focus on community, where gatherings around the table become sacred spaces for sharing our journeys and listening to one another with empathy.

The reflection questions at the end of each chapter offer a beautiful opportunity to pause, reflect, and absorb the richness of the message.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley and Intervarsity Press. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

In this gentle and articulate book, Jenn Suen Chen invites the reader to sit with her around the ‘dim sum’ table. We hear her very personal stories and join with Jenn on her life-long journey of spiritual formation. The book covers topics such as identity, rest, community and solitude, offering not only stories from Jenn’s life, but Biblical study and questions for individual or group reflection.

Dim sum is a meal that typically celebrates fellowship with friends and family around the table. The image of food being served in round containers in different rounds is a fitting analogy for the storytelling circles that the author takes us through in Dim Sum and Faith. Part personal memoir, part invitation into spiritual practices, and part explanation of cultural realities, this book whet my appetite for wanting to gather with other Christians and to share in the experience of hearing their stories. What makes Jenn Suen Chen's book even more meaningful to me is the visibility that she offers to Asian Christian women who may not always get to have a voice at the table. Recounting her own stories from her missionary experiences and family history, these retellings of the intersection between faith and culture captivated me most as I read along. I appreciate the vulnerability that is gently offered while making space for readers to participate in the journey.

In being new to the work of a spiritual director, it was a different experience for me to engage with the storytelling and self-reflective aspects of the book; however, when I shifted my perspective to reading each chapter as conversations taking place over a number of dim sum meals, the concepts came more easily to me. This book seems to be written as a progressive series of meals shared together, which means not everything has to be digested at once. If you're looking for an Asian perspective on the importance of storytelling within the Christian faith, Dim Sum and Faith is a reminder that God uses all of our stories for His glory and that there is value, redemption, and purpose to the experiences of Asian Christians.