May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. We are highlighting books in our collection written by Asian American authors to honor their significant contribution to the work of the church. For a full list of resources related to AAPI Month, view our Asian American Ministry Resources pathfinder.
A Worship Workbook: A Practical Guide for Extraordinary Liturgy
By Gerald C. Liu & Khalia J. Williams
Extraordinary Christian worship is honest and versatile in its expressions of diverse liturgy. A Worship Workbook introduces crucial and under-examined liturgical and social concepts for students and leaders of worship. Each chapter offers a brief lesson, teaching new skills and inspiring creativity for honest, faithful, and versatile worship leadership. Learn more.
Becoming All Things: How Small Changes Lead to Lasting Connections Across Cultures
By Michelle Ami Reyes
Michelle Reyes offers a poignant discussion on the challenges surrounding cross-cultural relationships in America today, including the reasons for cultural difference, stereotyping, appropriation, gentrification, racism, and more. Seeking to deconstruct these things in our own lives, 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. Learn more.
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. And she shares the story of her heritage, her family history, her immigration, and her own experience as an Asian American woman. Learn more.
The Great Coronavirus Pandemic and Messages from the Prophets
By Doman Lum ; Foreword by Gerald C. Liu
As we witness the mounting illness and death toll of the coronavirus, the messages of the Old Testament prophets offer comfort and truth. Doman Lum crafts twenty-one sermons which preach the good news of God’s love. It is for the individual, family, community, and nation who seek spiritual counsel in the midst of the pandemic. Learn more.
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. The book challenges readers to move beyond conventional perceptions of Asian Americans as model minorities and to confront the ways in which Asian Americans are socially restrained by whiteness. Learn more.
Holy Living Series: Study
By K. Kale Yu
The Holy Living series brings a fresh perspective on the spiritual disciplines, enabling us to apply their practices to our current lives. This book challenges our preconceptions of study and offers practical steps on how to develop the habit of study. Study fills us with God’s words, and the more we study, the more of God’s words fill our hearts and minds and inform our thoughts, words, and actions. Learn more.
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, pastor and author April 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. She weaves together personal stories, biblical and theological insights, questions for reflection, and practical ideas for self-care. Learn more.
Beyond Colorblind: Redeeming Our Ethnic Journey
By Sarah Shin
Ethnicity and evangelism specialist Sarah Shin reveals how our brokenness around ethnicity can be restored and redeemed, for our own wholeness and also for the good of others. Showing us how to make space for God’s healing of our ethnic stories, Shin helps us grow in our crosscultural skills, manage crosscultural conflict, pursue reconciliation and justice, and share the gospel as ethnicity-aware Christians. Learn more.
Spirituality of Gratitude: The Unexpected Blessings of Thankfulness
By Joshua Choonmin Kang
God invites us to enter into the world of thankfulness at every moment in our lives, even in the hard times—perhaps especially then. Pastor Kang writes, “Gratitude heals us and holds us, tethering us to one another, offering us joy and strength.” This book has fifty-two short chapters that can be read in weekly sabbath reflection or daily devotional use. Learn more.
Outside the Gate: A Study of the Letter to the Hebrews
By Roy I. Sano
According to the Epistle to the Hebrews, Christians are always to be on the move. Christians are to go voluntarily into a kind of exile and to become strangers and sojourners on this earth while doing God’s will “outside the gate” of the mainstream society. Bishop Sano examines this theme and its meaning for the original audience and Christians today. Includes discussion questions and group activities. Learn more.
“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 directly addresses cringe-inducing words and diversionary tactics, but rather than stopping there, 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. Learn more.
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.” All of us can grow and develop into more effective leaders and we can do this at any time during our careers. 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. Learn more.
Converge Bible Studies: Practical Prayer
By Joseph Yoo
Using passages from both the Old and New Testaments, Joseph Yoo takes a look at how and why we pray, how to handle what we perceive to be unanswered prayer, and how to learn to hear and recognize God’s voice. Primary Scripture passages from the Common English Bible are included for ease of study, as are questions designed to encourage both personal reflection and group conversation. Learn more.
Many Colors: Cultural Intelligence for a Changing Church
By Soong-Chan Rah
Borrowing from the business concept of “cultural intelligence,” Soong-Chan Rah explores how God’s people can become more multiculturally adept. From discussions about cultural and racial histories, to reviews of case-study churches and Christian groups that are succeeding in bridging ethnic divides, Rah provides a practical and hopeful guidebook for Christians wanting to minister more effectively in diverse settings. Learn more.
Request These Resources
These resources can be borrowed for free by anyone involved with a United Methodist Church in the North Carolina Conference. We will mail them to your home! All you need to do is fill out the Resource Request Form.