‘Unlearning and relearning my history’

Kirsten Rees is an American-born mother of three and founder of All Being Wellness, which helps women to explore their body’s unique health story. She is married to Marvin Rees, mayor of Bristol from 2016-2024 and now a Labour peer in the House of Lords. She shares honestly about her journey away from American Republicanism to embracing a faith and life that is open to grappling and questioning

“Context is important,” Kirsten Rees shares. “I am a white, middle-class, American woman. I grew up in the white evangelical Church, which is very much aligned with conservative Republican American political standing – Christian nationalism rather than the true origins of the Christian faith.” 

This introduction is important for Kirsten; she is aware of her privilege, and of the way her upbringing has shaped her worldview and faith perspective. She’s aware that, had she continued along the evangelical, Republican trajectory on which her early years were formed, she may have been another voice urging on the American political conversation against abortion and gay marriage; she could have been another woman voting in “the epitome of patriarchal misogyny, underpinned by white supremacy”, as she puts it. But life has taken Kirsten on a different journey, one that has opened her eyes to the nuances of God and the complexities of life; a journey that’s nudged her away from her evangelical Republican upbringing and towards a faith that says it’s OK to ask questions, to explore differences and embrace contradictions.