This summer, I committed to reading about racial justice issues in the United States. Race is part of each of our national identity, and our racial identity determines how we experience the world around us. Racial justice leads us to celebrate differences in each other as a strength and as part of God’s creative design of the world. But in children’s ministry, as in many other areas of our society, we have tended to lean into the flawed concept of colorblindness. When our efforts are focused on sameness, we create a normal that does not recognize differences at all but instead emphasizes only the predominant (majority) group of people. This spills over into many aspects of our society, including our children’s ministry programs, resources, and discussions.
This webinar addresses the issues of racial justice from the perspective of three women: a minister/racial justice advocate, a children’s minister, and a children’s ministry professor. Our goal is to help leaders navigate racial justice conversations in our children’s ministries and embrace antiracism actions as often as possible. We want all of God’s children to be welcomed, accepted and loved for who they are — beautifully different, image-bearers of God.
Why do we need to have conversations about racial justice?
It is easy to make assumptions about the terminology used to describe race issues in our country. These assumptions often inhibit healthy conversations about difficult topics. Terms within the webinar may be unfamiliar to some of the listeners. Or, the listener may assume that they know what the word means to the speakers. Often, these assumptions lead to anger or rejection of the entire conversation. Often, in the webinar, the context of these terms will help the listener know what is meant by the word. I have also found the book How to be An Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi to be helpful in understanding terminology with the historical, social, and political context of our nation.
Children’s ministers and church leaders seek racial diversity and declare that we love all of God’s children. But, without racial justice, we may not notice that children’s ministry resources more often than not use images of white children, white families, and white Bible characters in their media resources. Children’s ministry resources do not reflect the diversity within the church.
In the book Bridging Theory and Practice in Children’s Spirituality: New Directions for Education, Ministry, and Discipleship, two essays address racial diversity issues in children’s ministry resources. Even though very young children notice skin color and other differences, rarely are these differences discussed in children’s ministry materials. Much of this grows from the concept of colorblindness, which we will briefly discuss in the webinar.
Racial justice conversations lead to much-needed change. But, churches must also be careful not to get bogged down in discussions, training, and seminars about racial diversity and fail to embrace the action necessary for racial justice. (See Austin Channing Brown’s book.) This webinar, and the resources that I will post below, will give children’s ministry leaders an ample amount of ideas to take action for racial justice within their ministries simple steps that make a difference.
Webinar Participants
To contact:
- Brittany Paschall, Educator, Minister, Organizer and/or Ministry Associate, All Saints Church of Christ. Click here for the sermon referenced in the webinar. Follow Brittany: @btpaschall, btpaschall.com, Collective: @freedomtimeco Freedom Time Collective freedomtimeco.com. Brittany provides consultations, diversity and inclusion workshops, and curriculum development. See Brittany’s website for a full list of services.
- Jennifer Schroeder, Children’s Minister, North Atlanta Church of Christ, Facilitates Intercultural Competence workshops and conversations with both churches and organizations.
- Shannon Rains, Assistant Professor of Children’s Ministry, Lubbock Christian University.
Resources
The resources are articles, podcasts, books, and webinars that either I have read or that have been recommended to me by trusted others. This list is not comprehensive, and I will update it as I find additional material.
Antiracism Blog Posts
These posts provide information about a variety of resources for parents, ministers, and other leaders.
Your Kids Aren’t Too Young to Talk About Race: Resource Roundup (Pretty Good Design, Oct 13th)
Ted Talks/Podcasts/Webinars/Sermons/Seminars
- Brittany T Paschall – Sermon: Seduction of Segregation https://youtu.be/lxOTKf5jz7oDr. Tanya Smith Brice – Reconciliation Reconsidered (2016)
- Dr. Tanya Smith Brice – Reconciliation Reconsidered Part 1 (ACU Summit 2017 audio file) https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/sumlec_audio/5340/
- Dr. Tanya Smith Brice – Reconciliation Reconsidered Part 2 (ACU Summit 2017 audio file) https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/sumlec_audio/5375/
- Dr. Thema Bryant-Davis https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/sumlec_audio/5397/ (ACU Summit 2017 audio file)
- Dr. Thema Bryant-Davis https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/sumlec_audio/5372/ (ACU Summit 2017 audio file)
- The Danger of a Single Story: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Books
- Wes Crawford – Shattering the Illusion: How African American Churches of Christ Moved from Segregation to Independence
- Dr. Richard Hughes – Myths America Lives By: White Supremacy and the Stories that Give Us Meaning (University of Illinois Press, 2018)
- Patricia C. McKissack, Fredrick L. McKissack Jr., et al. – Let My People Go: Bible Stories Told by a Freeman of Color (1998)
- Latasha Morrison, Daniel Hill, et al. – Be the Bridge: Pursuing God’s Heart for Racial Reconciliation (2019)
- Austin Channing Brown – I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness
- Chanequa Walker-Barnes – I Bring the Voices of My People: A Womanist Vision for Racial Reconciliation
- James H. Cone – The Cross and the Lynching Tree
- Dr. Dolores S. Jones – Sisters in the Wilderness
- Robin Dianglo – White Fragility, Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk about Race
Children’s Books
- Antiracist Baby: Ibram X. Kendi
- Archbishop Desmond Tutu – Children of God Storybook Bible (2010)
- Lucy Bell and Natasha Rimmington – Frolic Preschool Bible (Frolic First Faith) (2017)
- Joanna Rivard and Tim Penne – The Tiny Truths Illustrated Bible (2019)
- Jelani Memory – A Kids Book about Racism (2020)
- Matthew Paul Turner and David Catrow – When God Made You (2017)
