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Cody Sanders

Biography

Cody J. Sanders (he/him) is an ordained Baptist minister (Alliance of Baptists and American Baptist Churches U.S.A.). He teaches in the areas of pastoral theology and spiritual care within congregational and community contexts, having taught on the adjunct faculties in this area in several other institutions, including Andover Newton Theological School and Chicago Theological Seminary.

Prior to joining the faculty of Luther Seminary, Sanders was pastor to Old Cambridge Baptist Church in Cambridge, MA, where he also served as American Baptist Chaplain to Harvard University, and Advisor for LGBTQ+ Affairs in the Office of Religious, Spiritual, and Ethical Life at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Sanders is a leader in the area of LGBTQIA+ spiritual care, writing and speaking frequently on the subject in churches and academic institutions. He is a practitioner of narrative theories of pastoral care and counseling, training clergy, students, and lay leaders in these skills of caregiving. His current research aims to build ministerial and congregational capacity to lead in cultivating caring communities amid climate collapse, political turmoil, technological acceleration, and the uncertainty of complex near-future scenarios for our life in the world.

His books include Corpse Care: Ethics for Tending the Dead with Mikeal Parsons (Fortress, 2023), Christianity, LGBTQ Suicide, and the Souls of Queer Folk (Lexington, 2020), A Brief Guide to Ministry with LGBTQIA Youth (Westminster John Knox, 2017), Microaggressions in Ministry: Confronting the Hidden Violence of Everyday Church with Angela Yarber (Westminster John Knox, 2015), and Queer Lessons for Churches on the Straight and Narrow: What All Christians Can Learn from LGBTQ Lives (FaithLab, 2013; translated into Japanese and Swahili). He has also edited resources for congregations on racial justice and LGBTQ inclusivity, including, Trouble the Water: A Christian Resource for the Work of Racial Justice edited with Michael-Ray Mathews and Marie Onwubuariri (Nurturing Faith, 2017), and Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth: A Resource for Congregations on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, 2nd ed. (Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America, 2013).

Playing church at six years old in a backyard chapel built by his father and grandfather at his childhood home in South Carolina, wearing a tiny robe and stole made by his grandmother, Sanders began nurturing a deep and abiding love for the church. That love for the church grew into a passion for educating clergy through contributing to the praxis of theological education and ministerial formation. He takes delight in every opportunity to share with congregations in preaching, worship leadership, and teaching.

Partial List of Speaking Topics:

  • LGBTQIA+ inclusivity, justice, and care
  • History and emerging trends in deathcare in the U.S., including green burial
  • Death, grief, and care of the dead within communal contexts
  • Developing lay leadership in congregational care and practical training in care skills
  • Microaggressions (bringing our intentional and unintentional communication into alignment with our expressed commitments of inclusivity, belonging, and justice)
  • Developing capacity for near-future thinking and praxis in ministerial contexts

Education

  • Ph.D., Brite Divinity School, Texas Christian University
  • M.Div., McAfee School of Theology, Mercer University
  • M.S. (Community Counseling), Mercer University
  • B.A., Gardner-Webb University

Featured Work

Book cover featuring artwork of huddled figures and title "Spiritual Care First Aid." Spiritual Care FIRST AID An All-Hands Approach for Church and Community Cody J. SandersSpiritual Care First Aid: An All-Hands Approach for Church and Community
Fortress Press (2025)

In this book, Sanders argues that spiritual care is inherently cultivated in every vibrant community–congregations and otherwise–and that every community member contributes to providing care for others. However, many congregation and community members lack confidence in their caring skills. In Spiritual Care First Aid, Sanders provides an accessible introduction to spiritual care characterized by mutuality, empathy, and compassion.

Recognizing that not everyone is a clinician, Sanders provides instruction in basic skills of spiritual care in a way nearly anyone can use. The book offers an approach of hearing, helping, and healing so whoever is near can serve as a spiritual-care first responder when and where needed. Readers will gain skills and confidence in their abilities to provide peer-to-peer care that contributes to their communities in life-sustaining ways.

Spiritual Care First Aid is an ideal training resource for seminary classrooms, particularly skill-building or pastoral care and counseling courses for non-clinicians. The book will also serve as a go-to field manual for lay ministry schools, congregations, and adjacent communities such as campus ministries and nonprofit organizations that train laypeople in spiritual care, as well as for pastors who desire to develop robust, practical care skills.