Anti-Racism

Over the past year, the NC Conference Media Center has added 24 new resources for the work of anti-racism and multicultural ministries including 5 resources for youth and children’s ministries.

These new additions include small-group studies, training programs, devotionals, and books for discussion and personal growth in understanding. When using these resources in groups, we recommend beginning with a Conversational Covenant.

Review the list below and request to borrow any titles of interest to you. The NC Conference Media Center is open to anyone involved with a United Methodist Church in the North Carolina Conference, free of charge.

This list is ordered by when the resource was added to our collection with the most recently added resources listed first. Often, but not always, this is the order of publication date.

1. The People Called Metodista: Renewing Doctrine, Worship, and Mission from the Margins by Edgardo Colon-Emeric. This book tests whether renewal of doctrine, worship, and mission can happen by looking to the experience of Methodists in LatinX and Latin American ecclesial contexts. In true Wesleyan spirit, this renewal does not confine itself to Methodism, but the people called metodistas share in the movement’s fundamental calling to reform the church universal in its mission to the world
   
2. Confronting Whiteness Participant’s Guide: A Spiritual Journey of Reflection, Conversation, and Transformation by W. Benjamin Boswell. This 9-session study is an intentional spiritual journey of anti-racism to aid people racialized as White to identify and dismantle their Whiteness. The facilitators need to have previous experience as a participant in Confronting Whiteness and a readiness to engage in the inner work necessary for transformation. Additional support is available through The Upper Room.
   
3. Translating the Bible into Action: How the Bible Can Be Relevant in All Languages and Cultures by Margaret Hill & Harriet Hill. This textbook is a key resource in helping church leaders encourage people to communicate with God in their own language and to discover that Christ wants to make himself at home in their world. By identifying common barriers that prevent people from engaging with Scripture, the authors explore the ways churches can maintain unity in Christ and celebrate the diversity of their membership.
   
4. Learning Our Names: Asian American Christians on Identity, Relationships, and Vocation by Sabrina S. Chan, Linson Daniel, E. David de Leon, and La Thao. A team from East Asian, Southeast Asian, and South Asian backgrounds explores what it means to learn our names and be seen by God. They encourage us to know our history, telling diverse stories of the Asian diaspora in America who have been shaped and misshaped by migration, culture, and faith. Includes discussion questions.

5. Psalms for Black Lives: Reflections for the Work of Liberation by Gabby Cudjoe-Wilkes & Andrew Wilkes. The Psalms speak truth and inspiration not only to their immediate community, but also to the growing number of people doing the holy, demanding work of pursuing justice, undoing structural racism, and building a society that truly values Black lives. This book includes thirty devotions and also daily discussion questions to support small-group study and a guide for congregational and community groups who want to embody the words of the Psalms together.
   
6. The Psychology of Christian Nationalism: Why People Are Drawn In and How to Talk Across the Divide by Pamela Cooper-White. How do we overcome polarization in American society? In three brief, incisive chapters Pamela Cooper-White uncovers the troubling extent of Christian nationalism, explores its deep psychological roots, and discusses ways in which advocates for justice can safely and effectively attempt to talk across the deep divides in our society.
   
7. Responding to Christian Nationalism Curriculum by The Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty. Here is a 3-lesson curriculum that corresponds with the “Democracy and Faith Under Siege: Responding to Christian Nationalism” webinar. The curriculum informs a deeper dive into the dangers of Christian nationalism and is intended for churches and other small discussion groups.
   
8. Indigenous Theology and the Western Worldview: A Decolonized Approach to Christian Doctrine by Randy S. Woodley. Randy Woodley critiques the worldview that undergirds the North American church by dismantling assumptions regarding early North American histories and civilizations, offering a comparative analysis of worldviews, and demonstrating a decolonized approach to Christian theology. Written in an accessible, conversational style that incorporates numerous stories and questions, this book exposes the weaknesses of a Western worldview through a personal engagement with Indigenous theology.

9. The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together by Heather McGhee. McGhee embarks on a deeply personal journey across the country from Mississippi to Maine, tallying up what we lose when we buy into the zero-sum paradigm–the idea that progress for some of us must come at the expense of others. In unlikely places of worship and work, McGhee also finds proof of what she calls the Solidarity Dividend: gains that come when people come together across race, to the benefit of all involved.
   
10. Straight White Male: A Faith-Based Guide to Deconstructing Your Privilege and Living with Integrity by Chris Furr with William J. Barber, Melissa Florer-Bixler, Robyn Henderson-Espinoza, and Matthias Roberts. With an emphasis on confession and redemption, Furr invites other privileged men to reconsider the ways they live, work, believe, and interact with others. Alongside Furr’s perspective, essays from contributing writers who lack various types of privilege offer insights on how particular types and combinations of privilege (and the lack thereof) shape the way we move through the world.
    
11. Faithful Antiracism: Moving Past Talk to Systemic Change by Christina Barland Edmondson & Chad Brennan. The authors take confidence from the truth that Christ has overcome the world, including racism, and offer clear analysis and interventions to challenge and resist its pernicious power. This book will equip readers to move past talk and enter the fight against racism in both practical and hopeful ways.
    
12. God is a Black Woman by Christena Cleveland. Theologian, social psychologist, and activist Christena Cleveland recounts her personal journey to dismantle the cultural “whitemalegod” and uncover the Sacred Black Feminine, introducing a Black Female God who imbues us with hope, healing, and liberating presence. She invites us to take seriously the truth that God is not white nor male and gives us a new and hopeful path for connecting with the divine and honoring the sacredness of all Black people.

13. Called to Reconciliation: How the Church Can Model Justice, Diversity, and Inclusion by Jonathan C. Augustine. This book argues that the church’s work in reconciliation can serve as a model for society at large and that secular diversity and inclusion practices can benefit the church. It offers a prophetic call to pastors, church leaders, and students to recover reconciliation as the heart of the church’s message to a divided world.
    
14. Wait-Is This Racist? A Guide to Becoming an Anti-Racist Church by Kerry Connelly with Bryana Clover and Josh Riddick. Intentionally interactive, practical, and biblically based, this book guides church leaders and staff through an examination of all aspects of church life, including leadership, preaching and liturgy, music, small groups, buildings and grounds, and more, to help churches create an action plan that will take them toward not only becoming anti-racist but also actually doing anti-racist work. Offering educational tips, powerful stories, and insightful questions, the authors will accompany you through this necessary work so that your church can truly become a justice-oriented organization that leans more fully into the kin-dom of God.
    
15. Invisible: Theology and the Experience of Asian American Women by Grace Ji-Sun Kim. Grace Ji-Sun Kim examines encounters with racism, sexism, and xenophobia as she works toward ending Asian American women’s invisibility. She deploys biblical, sociological, and theological narratives to empower the voices of Asian American women. As Asian American women work toward a theology of visibility, they uplift the voiceless and empower the invisible, moving beyond experiences of oppression and toward claiming their space in the kin-dom of God.
    
16. Healing Haunted Histories: A Settler Discipleship of Decolonization by Elaine Enns and Ched Myers. Part memoir, part social, historical, and theological analysis, and part practical workbook, this process invites settler Christians (and other people of faith) into a discipleship of decolonization. How are our histories, landscapes, and communities haunted by continuing Indigenous dispossession? And how might we practice restorative solidarity with Indigenous communities today?

Youth & Children

17. The Gospel in Color for Kids: A Theology of Racial Reconciliation for Kids by Curtis A. Woods and Jarvis J. Williams. With vibrant illustrations and engaging text, this book explains how a false idea of race brings about suffering and division, and why the good news of Jesus Christ brings about the reconciliation the world needs. The accompanying Parents’ Guide equips parents to provide their children with a biblical perspective on race and racism while celebrating the gospel’s power to bring about reconciliation.
    
18. Church in Color: Youth Ministry, Race, and the Theology of Martin Luther King Jr. by Montague R. Williams. Montague R. Williams unearths and examines the realities of race in multiracial and multiethnic youth ministries in the United States. Placing these findings in dialogue with an in-depth and nuanced engagement of Martin Luther King Jr.’s theological aesthetics, Williams guides congregations to embrace a discipleship that recognizes, remembers, and wrestles with the realities of race, racism, and racial identity.
    
19. How to Fight Racism: A Guide to Standing up for Racial Justice: Young Reader’s Edition by Jemar Tisby with Josh Mosey. In this adaptation of How to Fight Racism for young readers ages 8-12, Dr. Jemar Tisby helps kids understand how everyday prejudice affects them and what they can do to create social change. He explains the history of racism in America and why it is so prevalent, as well as uses Christian principles to provide practical tools and advice kids can use to develop and maintain an anti-racist mindset and make a positive difference in the world.
    
20. Let Justice Roll Down: Young Reader’s Edition by John M. Perkins with Priscilla Perkins. John Perkins endured racism, police violence, and the death of his brother at the hands of a deputy marshall, yet he was able to return good for evil, love for hate, and progress for prejudice. Now young readers will discover the transforming faith that allowed him to respond with miraculous compassion and become a leader of the Civil Rights Movement.
    
21. When Kids Ask Hard Questions, Volume 2: More Faith-filled Responses for Tough Topics edited by Bromleigh McCleneghan & Karen Ware Jackson. This book addresses 30 tough topics, offering theological perspectives and suggestions for comforting and spiritually guiding children. Topics include identity, race, and ethnicity; immigration; social change and social justice; and more. The NC Conference’s own Rev. Rhonda Grant Jordan contributed a chapter.

Coming Soon!

These three books are on order and will be available for borrowing when they are published. You can request to borrow them now and receive them when they are available.

22. Beyond Welcome: Centering Immigrants in Our Christian Response to Immigration by Karen González (October 2022). A Guatemalan immigrant, González draws from the Bible and her own experiences to examine why the traditional approach to immigration ministries and activism can be at best incomplete and at worst harmful. By advocating for putting immigrants themselves in the center of the conversation, González helps readers grow in discipleship and recognize themselves in their immigrant neighbors.
    
23. The First Advent in Palestine: Reversals, Resistance, and the Ongoing Complexity of Hope by Kelley Nikondeha (October 2022). Reading the Advent narratives of Luke and Matthew anew, in their original context, changes so much about how we see the true story of resistance, abusive rulers and systems of oppression, and God coming to earth. Throughout her explorations, Nikondeha features the stories of modern-day Palestinians, centering their voices to help us meet an Advent recognizable for today.
    
24. A Just Passion: A Six-Week Lenten Journey by Esau McCaulley, Sheila Wise Rowe, Tish Harrison Warren, Ruth Haley Barton, Terry M. Wildman, and Others (November 2022). Injustice is rampant around us. It is also present within us. To better confront oppression in the world, we must own that reality and look to Christ our liberator. This collection of short readings, breath prayers, and Scripture passages from the First Nations Version guides readers through a six-week journey of repentance, lament, worship, and healing.

More Resources

We continually highlight other books, websites, online videos, podcasts, DVDs, and more on our Anti-Racism Resources page. You can find a complete list of the NC Conference Media Center resources on this topic in our Anti-Racism pathfinder.

Featured image is by James Eades on Unsplash