We believe that the good news of Jesus has the power to transform lives.

We believe that followers of Jesus are all being transformed in Christ-likeness in our attitudes, character and behaviors. 

We believe that living out the gospel in our community means willingness to engage in issues that are important to our world.

 

These resources are offered as a way that we can all become educated in the area of racial justice & reconciliation. Education is a first step. Our heart is to start with these resources to educate ourselves as we step out in faith to engage our community in this arena, being transformed into Christ-likeness in all things. We offer resources containing different perspectives, believing that the Holy Spirit works in our hearts to effect the change that God desires in each of us. In that respect, CEC does not endorse or align with EVERY perspective of EVERY book listed. They are offered as resources for learning and growing in this particular arena of life.

 

Books:

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• Beyond Racial Division: A Unifying Alternative to ColorBlindness and Racism by George Yancy. 

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• Kingdom Race Theology by Tony Evans

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• Oneness EmbRACEd by Tony Evans

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• Rediscipling the White Church: From Cheap Diversity to True Solidarity by David Swanson Before white churches can pursue diversity, he argues, we must first take steps to address the faulty discipleship that has led to our segregation in the first place.

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• Be the Bridge: Pursuing God's Heart for Racial Reconciliation by Latasha Morrison

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• Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell:  -  “Something is very wrong, Gladwell argues, with the tools and strategies we use to make sense of people we don't know. And because we don't know how to talk to strangers, we are inviting conflict and misunderstanding in ways that have a profound effect on our lives and our world.”

  • Note: Not technically an anti-racist book, but the premise is indirectly involved in this issue. He uses a lot of data and stories to walk through his point, but starts off the book with a racist/police scenario where a white cop arrests a pulls over a black woman, then ends up arresting her, setting up the major question on how, how often, and where do we make assumptions of people and how does that play into our interactions as an individual and a society.​

 

• “The Next Evangelicalism” – In this book professor and pastor Soong-Chan Rah calls the North American church to escape its captivity to Western cultural trappings and to embrace a new evangelicalism that is diverse and multiethnic.

 

• “The Warmth of Other Suns”  – Best Seller chronicles one of the great untold stories of American history: the decades-long migration of black citizens who fled the South for northern and western cities, in search of a better life.

 

• “The Color of Law”  - about how Jim Crow and redlining laws shaped our country purposely against black people - (part of why the generational wealth gap is so bad between white and black).

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• “Between the World and Me”  - in a “letter” to his son, author talks about what it means to be black in this country.

 

• “The New Jim Crow”  - it’s been a popular book for a while. About mass incarceration in America (and it’s a good book to partner with the “13th” documentary and/or “Just Mercy”).

 

• “White Awake: An Honest Look at What It Means to Be White” – “you may be white, but don't let that lull you into thinking you have no culture. White culture is very real. In fact, when white culture comes in contact with other cultures, it almost always wins.”

 

• “The Color of Compromise” – Equal parts painful and inspirational, it details how the American church has helped create and maintain racist ideas and practices. 

  • The Color of Compromise Video Study

  • Study Guide (Coming December 2020)​

 

• “Unsettling Truths: The Ongoing, Dehumanizing Legacy of the Doctrine of Discovery” -  In this prophetic blend of history, theology, and cultural commentary, Mark Charles and Soong-Chan Rah reveal the far-reaching, damaging effects of the "Doctrine of Discovery."

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• Confronting Injustice without Compromising Truth - Thaddeus William

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• Why Social Justice is Not Biblical Justice - David Scott Allen

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• Rethinking Social Justice - Darrow L Miller

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Video:

• 13th (Netflix) - In this thought-provoking documentary, scholars, activists and politicians analyze the criminalization of African Americans and the U.S. prison boom.

 

• Just Mercy (Amazon Link) - A powerful and thought-provoking true story, “Just Mercy” follows young lawyer Bryan Stevenson and his history-making battle for justice. Currently free on most streaming services. (Also a great book)

 

• Selma (Amazon Link)  – based on the 1965 Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches initiated and directed by James Bevel and led by Martin Luther King Jr., Hosea Williams, and John Lewis. Free with Amazon Prime

 

• The Uncomfortable Truth (Amazon Link) –  When the son of Civil Rights Hero, Joan Trumpauer Mulholland, dives into the 400 year history of institutional racism in America he is confronted with the shocking reality that his family helped start it all from the very beginning.

 

• Phil Vischer, the creator of "Veggie Tales"  - Video in which he provides a lot of data and historical facts to answer the questions "Why are people protesting?" and "How did we get here?" 

 

• Video by Tim Keller on Racism and Corporate/ Structural Evil

 

• Why We Must Remember – Understanding America’s Race Problem

 

• The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross (6 Part PBS Series)

  • Here is an excellent PBS six-part documentary. For our celebration of Juneteenth, I would recommend the first several episode about slavery and reconstruction.

 

• Segregated by Design (An Illustrated Short Movie)

  • In Richard Rothstein’s book Color of Law, he outlines the pervasiveness of segregation in our country and the government’s role. This is a summary of that book. It is worth seventeen minutes of your time.

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Voices of Faith:

• D.A. Horton

• Latasha Morrison

• Tony Evans

• Leroy Barber

• Austin Channing Brown

• Monique Duson - Center for Biblical Unity

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Organizations:

• NAACP   (local and national)

• Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ)  (local and national)

• Campaign Zero