D.E.I. Resource Page
At LBCF, we know our vision of Learning to Live and Love Like Jesus can’t exist without that first word, “learning”. In our attempts to ground our adoption in Christ we are always looking to grow in our knowledge of Jesus both in His word, in prayer and in the revelation of His living word through the Church. This development of thought and a mature mind is girded up and postured correctly as we know each others’ stories. This D.E.I. (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) resource page will provide you both with stories and history that move us closer to mind of Christ.
Whether it was the voice of the prophets calling God’s people to recognize their misalignment in God’s good plan, or the call through stories, meals, and ritual that Israel relived their rescue story out of Egypt, God’s people never neglect the imperative to remember. It is in remembering we can have faith when things feel hopeless, we can be humble when we are tempted to be prideful, and we can, with our fullness, both repent and celebrate.
In our conversations for the last 2 years around racial justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion, one of the repeating themes is the necessity to step forward into more understanding of each others’ stories and the broader narratives which underlay each of our experiences. We wanted to provide a starter-list of resources that are broad in their approach, tone, and focus - but are all focused on the central goal of the good news, in Christ, for all.
We hope that you will explore, enter in with curiosity, humility, and commitment to live out the others-focused love we see embodied in Christ and laid out in Romans 12. We do not need to be filled with shame that we are not where we need to be, but through repentance and a forward movement, we can celebrate the grace and love of community in our journey towards Christ.
BOOK RESOURCES
Latasha Morrison
In an era where we seem to be increasingly divided along racial lines, many are hesitant to step into the gap, fearful of saying or doing the wrong thing. At times the silence, particularly within the church, seems deafening.
But change begins with an honest conversation among a group of Christians willing to give a voice to unspoken hurts, hidden fears, and mounting tensions. These ongoing dialogues have formed the foundation of a global movement called Be the Bridge—a nonprofit organization whose goal is to equip the church to have a distinctive and transformative response to racism and racial division.
The Cross and the Lynching Tree -
The cross and the lynching tree are the two most emotionally charged symbols in the history of the African American community. In this powerful new work, theologian James H. Cone explores these symbols and their interconnection in the history and souls of black folk. Both the cross and the lynching tree represent the worst in human beings and at the same time a thirst for life that refuses to let the worst determine our final meaning.
The Half Has Never Been Told -
Edward E. Baptist
Americans tend to cast slavery as a pre-modern institution -- the nation's original sin, perhaps, but isolated in time and divorced from America's later success. But to do so robs the millions who suffered in bondage of their full legacy. As historian Edward E. Baptist reveals in The Half Has Never Been Told, the expansion of slavery in the first eight decades after American independence drove the evolution and modernization of the United States. In the span of a single lifetime, the South grew from a narrow coastal strip of worn-out tobacco plantations to a continental cotton empire, and the United States grew into a modern, industrial, and capitalist economy.
Bryan Stevenson
Bryan Stevenson was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice dedicated to defending those most desperate and in need: the poor, the wrongly condemned, and women and children trapped in the farthest reaches of our criminal justice system. One of his first cases was that of Walter McMillian, a young man who was sentenced to die for a notorious murder he insisted he didn’t commit. The case drew Bryan into a tangle of conspiracy, political machination, and legal brinksmanship—and transformed his understanding of mercy and justice forever.
Rescuing Jesus -
Deborah Jian Lee
In Rescuing Jesus, she ventures into the world of progressive evangelicalism, telling the stories of those at the forefront of a movement that could change the face and the substance of religion in the United States. These men and women are a young and diverse array of people—LGBTQ and straight; white, black, Asian, Hispanic, and indigenous—who are working to wrest political power away from conservatives.
VIDEOS TO WATCH
other great resources to explore…
PODCAST
