As the title suggests, I will be listing several books that have helped me increase my knowledge on topics such as racial reconciliation and racial unity. Before I list the books, I want to talk about one specific book that I found extremely helpful and direct. Peace Be Still 978-1-950088-90-4 by Rev. Mark Crear, Ph.D., provides readers with valuable tools, real-life experiences, and factual data to help promote racial reconciliation and unity. Crear writes about the important role that our churches can play in fostering and promoting racial reconciliation among the American people. Understanding the critical situation of the current events, racial reconciliation, and racial unity, which was always needed, is one thing that can save the country from falling into chaos. The police officers, who have murdered innocent black people, need to be held accountable for their actions. Their badges should not be used as an excuse to treat them any differently than normal citizens. The police were meant to protect and serve citizens, not murder them. Here are some books to help you expand your knowledge of racial reconciliation and how our churches can help promote it:
1. Disunity in Christ: Uncovering the Hidden Forces that Keep Us Apart by Christena Cleveland
An eye-opening look inside the divisions, cliques, and conflicts of the church and the hidden reasons behind them.
2. Reconciliation Blues: A Black Evangelical’s Inside View of White Christianity by Edward Gilbreath
“[An] honest picture of both the history and the present state of racial reconciliation in evangelical churches...Charting progress as well as setbacks, his words offer encouragement for black evangelicals feeling alone, clarity for white evangelicals who want to understand more deeply, and fresh vision for all who want to move forward toward Christ's prayer "that all of them may be one."
3. Building a Healthy Multi-Ethnic Church: Mandate, Commitments, and Practices of a Diverse Congregation by Mark DeYmaz
“Through personal stories, proven experience and a thorough analysis of the biblical text, Building a Healthy Multi-ethnic Church illustrates both the biblical mandate for the multi-ethnic church as well as the seven core commitments required to bring it about.”
4. United by Faith: The Multiracial Congregation As an Answer to the Problem of Race by Curtiss Paul DeYoung, Michael O. Emerson, George Yancey, and Chai Kim
“A multiracial team of sociologists and a minister of the Church of God argue that multiracial Christian congregations offer a key to opening the still-locked door between the races in the United States.”
5. The Next Evangelicalism: Freeing the Church from Western Cultural Captivity by Soong Chan Rah
“[P]rofessor 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.”
6. Beyond Racial Gridlock: Embracing Mutual Responsibility by George Yancey
“Sociologist George Yancey surveys a range of approaches to racial healing that Christians have used and offers a new model for moving forward…[His] vision offers hope that people of all races can walk together on a shared path--not as adversaries, but as partners.”
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