Anti-Racism Resources
The North Carolina Conference Media Center recommends these books, DVDs, and online resources for your churches to use in their engagement with the work of anti-racism. Anyone involved with a United Methodist Church in the North Carolina Conference can borrow these resources through the mail, free of charge.
What We Believe
The Book of Discipline, The Book of Resolutions, and The Social Principles of The United Methodist Church include statements against racism. These foundational texts should be used in local church education and anti-racism work.
Read The Book of Discipline and The Book of Resolutions online.
Read The Social Principles online.
The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church, 2016, paragraph 5
The United Methodist Church proclaims the value of each person as a unique child of God and commits itself to the healing and wholeness of all persons.
The United Methodist Church recognizes that the sin of racism has been destructive to its unity throughout its history. Racism continues to cause painful division and marginalization.
The United Methodist Church shall confront and seek to eliminate racism, whether in organizations or in individuals, in every facet of its life and in society at large.
The United Methodist Church shall work collaboratively with others to address concerns that threaten the cause of racial justice at all times and in all places.
Social Principles: Racism, Ethnocentrism and Tribalism
We condemn racism, ethnocentrism, tribalism, and any ideology or social practice based on false and misleading beliefs or ideologies that one group of human beings is superior to all other groups of human beings. Additionally, we utterly reject laws, policies and social practices that marginalize, discriminate and/or encourage the use of violence against individuals, communities or other social groups based on perceived racial, ethnic or tribal differences.
Environmental Racism
We confess that the negative impacts resulting from the degradation of the natural world have fallen disproportionately on marginalized communities, including indigenous tribes, religious and ethnic communities, people living in poverty, and other vulnerable
groups.
We oppose policies and practices that relegate marginalized communities to a permanent underclass status and ignore indigenous and other sources of communal wisdom, which call for air, land, and water to be treated with profound respect.
Indigenous, Native and Aboriginal Communities
We support the rights of indigenous, native, and aboriginal communities and affirm that like all people they must be afforded the basic rights set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We condemn acts of genocide against indigenous peoples and call for government treaties and contracts with native and aboriginal peoples to be honored and enforced.
Migrants, Immigrants and Refugees
We affirm the dignity, worth and rights of migrants, immigrants and refugees, including displaced and stateless people.
We oppose all laws and policies that attempt to criminalize, dehumanize or punish displaced individuals and families based on their status as migrants, immigrants or refugees.
Book of Resolutions 3371: A Charter for Racial Justice
3374: Responsibilities for Eradication of Racism
3378: Racism and Economic Injustice Against People of Color in the United States
3379: Stop Criminalizing Communities of Color in the United States
Current Focus
May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Month. We recommend these books by Asian American authors.
Invisible: Theology and the Experience of Asian American Women
By Grace Ji-Sun Kim
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. More details.
Beyond Color Blind: Redeeming Our Ethnic Journey
By Sarah Shin
Showing us how to make space for God’s healing of our ethnic stories, Shin helps us grow in our cross-cultural skills, manage cross-cultural conflict, pursue reconciliation and justice, and share the gospel as ethnicity-aware Christians. More details.
Four Gifts:
Seeking Self-Care for Heart, Soul, Mind, and Strength
By April Yamasaki
Drawing on the ancient scriptural command to love God with our heart, soul, mind, and strength, Yamasaki helps readers think about the spiritual dimensions of attending to your own needs, setting priorities, and finding true rest in a fast-paced world. More details.
Spiritual Kaizen:
How to Become a Better Church Leader
By Grant Hagiya
“Kaizen” is a Japanese word that translates roughly, “to change or correct for the better.” Spiritual Kaizen works from the best secular and ecclesial models of leadership in order to draw out the best leadership practices available for current and future leaders of the church. More details.
Online Resources
Access these free resources online to supplement your work towards anti-racism and provide resources for your church members to share.
NC Conference Anti-Racism
View scripture, updates, podcasts, and more related to anti-racism work in the NC Conference.
UMC End Racism
View resources, action items, statements, and more from The United Methodist Church.
GCORR Library
The General Commission on Religion and Race offers videos, discussion guides, worship resources, and more.
Methodist History with Racism
The General Commission on Archives and History offers this workbook for study and discussion.
The Pentecost Challenge
Discipleship Ministries offers these liturgical resources for the church to decenter and dismantle whiteness, colonialism, and patriarchy in Christian worship.
Kids Curriculum about Racism
United Methodist Pastor Leanne Hadley offers, “Don’t Forget: A video book for kids about Racism
and the Kingdom of God.”
Podcasts
Learn about anti-racism while you are on the go. Add these to your podcast feed or listen online at these websites.
Deep Reckonings
By The North Carolina Conference of The United Methodist Church
On this podcast, you’ll hear personal stories from experiences with culture, race, and racism. Hear how these experiences transformed their lives. Listen now.
Faith and Race
By The Missouri Conference of The United Methodist Church
Help for predominately white churches to host constructive dialogue about faith, race, and the church.
Listen Now.
The Word is Resistance
By Standing Up for Racial Justice
White anti-racist Christians offer an anti-racist Word for other white Christians based on the Christian lectionary — though all are welcome to check it out. Listen now.
Online Videos
Watch these video series and recorded webinars to learn about racism and Christianity. Share these videos with your church and community.
Dismantling Racism Panel Discussions
United Methodist agencies host experts who come together to talk about the history of racism and what the church can do–both as a body and as individual members–to move toward racial justice. Watch now.
Vital Conversations
The General Commission on Religion and Race hosts these conversations to discuss and uncover the disparities of race, ethnicity, age, and socioeconomic status that are deeply embedded in our social fabric. Watch now.
Raise Up Your Voice Against Racism
The Asian American Language Ministry Plan, the General Board of Church and Society, and the New Federation of Asian American United Methodists came together to sponsor this webinar series. Watch now.
The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity
Authors Robert P. Jones and Jennifer Harvey discuss why and how Christians must confront the truths of our history and present so that we might salvage our faith and our futures. Watch now. Jones also wrote this article, 7 things white Christians can do to address white supremacy at church.
De-Colonizing the Church: A Commitment to Anti-Racism
Path 1 from Discipleship Ministries hosted these webinars focused on anti-racism and approaching church planting and community engagement through a de-colonization strategy. Watch now.
Race and Christianity
This video series and discussion guide by History Professor Sarah Ruble trace the history of race and Christianity in the United States. Watch now.
Small Group Studies
Start here with your small groups. These video-based studies connect the Bible and culture to show how Christians should respond to racism. Borrow the DVDs and accompanying leader and student books from the NC Conference Media Center, or watch the videos online with an Amplify subscription. We recommend beginning your conversations with a Conversational Covenant.
Justice or Just Us? The Biblical Call to Confront Racism
By Rob Fuquay, Nicole Caldwell-Gross, and Jevon Caldwell-Gross
Confronting racism is not just a social or political matter, but a theological one. These United Methodist pastors help you acknowledge the reality of racism in our world today, as well as our Christian responsibility to oppose it as individuals and together as the church. More details.
Fear of the Other: No Fear in Love
By William H. Willimon
Emphasizing the biblical mandate to receive others in their particularity and difference as gifts and mysteries bearing the grace of God, this study offers a strong critique of the privileged who all too often rush to language of reconciliation and evade the huge inequalities surrounding conversations and practices dealing with xenophobia and injustice. More details.
Dialogues On Race
Published by Sparkhouse
Seven authors present a variety of racial issues to open conversation. Each topic is packed with well-researched information but brought to life with the lived experience and stories of people at the center of the topic. Topics include the social construct of race, the Bible and race, dehumanization, Native Americans, women, the problem of racial reconciliation, and more. More details.
How to Fight Racism
By Jemar Tisby
By providing a series of hands-on suggestions for practice bolstered by real-world examples of change, Tisby offers viewers an array of actionable items to help them become proactive initiators of racial justice. It also provides a simple framework to help viewers consistently interrogate their own actions and maintain a posture of anti-racist action. More details.
Books for Discussion
These books present Christian perspectives on issues related to race and the experiences of people of color. Offer these selections for new or established book clubs, online small groups, or a churchwide conversation. We recommend beginning your conversations with a Conversational Covenant.
I’m Black. I’m Christian. I’m Methodist.
Edited by Rudy Rasmus
Ten Black women and men explore life through the lens of compelling personal religious narratives. They are people and leaders whose lives are tangible demonstrations of the power of a divine purpose and evidence of what grace really means in face of hardship, disappointment, and determination. More details.
The God Who Sees: Immigrants, the Bible, and the Journey to Belong
By Karen González
The author recounts her family’s migration from the instability of Guatemala to making a new life in the U.S. Here, too, is the sweeping epic of immigrants and refugees in Scripture. Abraham, Hagar, Joseph, Ruth: these intrepid heroes of the faith cross borders and seek refuge. More details.
Native Americans, the Mainline Church, and the Quest for Interracial Justice
By David Phillips Hansen
Using faith as a weapon against the darkness of injustice, this book will change the way you view how we must solve the pressing problems of racism, poverty, environmental degradation, and violence, and it will remind you that faith can be the leaven of justice. More details.
Learn the History
Go deeper as you educate yourself and your church about the history and experiences of people of color in the United States. Use these resources to follow-up on your beginning studies and invite deeper conversation.
Brown Church: Five Centuries of Latina/o Social Justice, Theology, and Identity
By Robert Chao Romero
Walking through this history of 500 years of activism and faith, readers will discover that Latina/o Christians have a heart after God’s own. More details.
An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States
By Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
This history of the United States told from the perspective of Indigenous peoples is an essential resource providing historical threads that are crucial for understanding the present. More details.
Disciplined by Race: Theological Ethics and the Problem of Asian American Identity
By Ki Joo Choi
This book reveals the critical importance of Asian American experience for contemporary theological debates on race. More details.
We’ve Come This Far By Faith: A History of Black Methodism in the Southeastern Jurisdiction
By The African American Methodist Heritage Center
This 32-minute DVD documentary captures the history of Black Methodism in the Southeastern Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church. More details.
Understand Bias
Help your church understand that we all carry hidden biases from a lifetime of exposure to cultural attitudes about age, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, social class, sexuality, disability status, and nationality. Yet, we strive to align our behavior with our intentions. Learn how we can be vulnerable to bias and offer tools to address it.
Host a Conversation
Open up a conversation about racism with your whole church and beyond to your community. These resources will provide you with what you need to lead with confidence and humility. We also recommend beginning your conversations with a Conversational Covenant.
Anxious to Talk About It: Helping White People Talk Faithfully About Racism
By Carolyn B. Helsel
Guilt, shame, discomfort, fear of being called a racist or saying the wrong thing are just some of the feelings that hold us back from the critical conversations happening around racism and racial equity today. Use this second edition to get better at having the hard conversations about racism. More details.
Holding Up Your Corner: Talking about Race in Your Community
By F. Willis Johnson
Discover this self-directed process of determining what role your church can play in your specific community. Learn how to use testimony and other narrative devices, proclamation, guided group conversations, and other tactics in order to own the calling and responsibility we have as Christians. More details.
“But I Don’t See You as Asian”: Curating Conversations about Race
By Bruce Reyes-Chow
Sitting in the sweet spot between lectures in academia and activism on the streets, Bruce invites readers into a salon-type of atmosphere to talk about race. He puts his own joys and struggles on the table for dissection and discovery in the hopes that people will reconsider their assumptions about race. More details.
Fearless Dialogues: A New Movement for Justice
By Gregory C. Ellison II
Ellison and his team create conversations among community members who have never spoken to one another, the goal of which are real, implementable, and lasting changes to the life of the community. These community transformations are based on both face-to-face encounter and substantive analysis of the problems the community faces. More details.
Build Relationships
Building relationships with people from different ethnic groups can be edifying and rewarding when there is the intention to put in the work. Use these books to take concrete steps towards building multicultural relationships.
Black & White: Disrupting Racism One Friendship at a Time
By Teesha Hadra and John Hambrick
Teesha Hadra, a young African American woman, and John Hambrick, a 60-year-old white man, use their story of friendship to show how racism can be disrupted when we risk forging friendships with those who do not look like us. More details.
Becoming All Things: How Small Changes Lead to Lasting Connections Across Cultures
By Michelle Ami Reyes
Reyes focuses on the concept of cultural accommodation in 1 Corinthians 9:19-23, and looks at the ways in which we need to adapt who we are in order to become all things to all people. More details.
The Colors of Culture: The Beauty of Diverse Friendships
By MelindaJoy Mingo
We must risk everything that we think we know about other cultures to initiate small steps toward befriending others. Mingo models reaching across cultures. Through vivid stories spanning several countries, she shows the beauty of diverse friendships in her life. More details.
Faithful Friendships: Embracing Diversity in Christian Community
By Dana L. Robert
Robert tells the stories of Christians who, despite or even because of difficult circumstances, experienced friendship with people unlike themselves as “God with us,” as exile, as testimony, and as celebration. She believes Christians have the responsibility—and opportunity—to be countercultural by making friends across lines that separate people from each other. More details.
Take Action
Conversation and education can lead to advocacy and justice work. These resources offer action steps for your church as a whole, its leadership, and its individual members.
There’s a Storm Comin’: How the American Church Can Lead Through Times of Racial Crisis
By Dr. Harold Dorrell Briscoe Jr.
Dorrell makes the case that the church must take proactive measures to prepare for racialized crises. Then, he gives churches practical steps to prepare for and respond to these crises that inflict trauma on the social fabric of America. More details.
Wait – Is This Racist? A Guide to Becoming an Anti-Racist Church
By Kerry Connelly with Bryana Clover and Josh Riddick
A “Be-It-Yourself” guide to anti-racism for churches and church leaders. This book guides church leaders and staff through an examination of all aspects of church life to help churches create an action plan that will take them toward not only becoming anti-racist but also actually doing anti-racist work. More details.
Worship Together in Your Church as in Heaven
By Josh Davis and Nikki Lerner
How can we offer worship that is authentic and engaging for all of God’s people, including longtime church members? The authors offer an empathetic, step-by-step approach, providing readers with knowledge, skills, and strategies to successfully introduce inclusive, multicultural worship in any setting. More details.
Who Lynched Willie Earle? Preaching to Confront Racism
By Will Willimon
How do pastors of white, mainline Protestant churches preach effectively in situations of racial violence and dis-ease? This book uses the true story of pastor Hawley Lynn’s 1947 sermon, a response to the last lynching in Greenville, South Carolina, to help pastors preach on race and violence in America, inviting and challenging the church to respond. More details.
For Children & Their Caregivers
Learn why we need to talk with children about race and how to do it. Use these resources to include children’s ministries in your efforts towards anti-racism.
The ABCs of Diversity: Helping Kids (and Ourselves!) Embrace Our Differences
By Carolyn B. Helsel & Y. Joy Harris-Smith
This book equips parents, teachers, and community leaders to address children of all ages on complicated topics of race, political affiliation, gender, class, religion, ability, nationality, and sexual orientation. More details.
Raising White Kids: Bringing Up Children in a Racially Unjust America
By Jennifer Harvey
How are we supposed to talk to children about race? This book helps parents, teachers, and churches enter into a dialogue about the impact of racism on our children and offers guidance for sharing our commitment to equity and justice. More details.
Hand in Hand: Helping Children Embrace Diversity
Published by Faith Alive Christian Resources
Help children in grades K-6 learn to appreciate and celebrate the diversity in God’s family with this flexible five-session course. Sessions address issues of differences, prejudice, inclusion, unity, and how to celebrate diversity. More details.
Luis y Mia / Mia and Luis
By Mónica Reyna y L.J. Zimmerman
This flip-over book tells the story of a cross-cultural friendship from each child’s perspective. It will help children ages 6-9 understand the importance of showing love to people who are different, apologizing when you’re wrong, forgiving one another, and making everyone feel welcome. Both stories are in English and Spanish. More details.
For Youth
Help youth to learn about other cultures and the impact of racism in our society. Use these resources to engage pre-teens and teenagers in stories that they can relate to at this stage of life.
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 for ages 8-12, Dr. Tisby helps kids understand how everyday prejudice affects them and what they can do to create social change. He explains the history of racism and 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. More details.
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. More details.
Walking in These White Man Shoes: Youth Explore Native America
By Ray Buckley
This mission study includes narratives of the history of what is now the United States told from a Native American perspective. Participants learn of the Native experience of trying to live in two worlds, one of which didn’t quite fit. Buckley also wrote a children’s version of this study, Creator Sang a Welcoming Song: Native America for Children. More details.
Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes (DVD)
Produced by George Levenson
Based on the true story of a Japanese girl who developed leukemia as a result of exposure to radiation. Her friend reminds her of the legend of folding 1000 cranes for a wish to come true. Sadako begins to fold cranes, is joined by friends and her community, and inspires a worldwide movement for peace. More details.
Borrow These Resources
The NC Conference Media Center can loan you the resources listed here through the mail. Anyone involved with a United Methodist Church in the North Carolina Conference can borrow these resources, free of charge.
More resources are recommended here:
More resources you can borrow from the Media Center: