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Faith Formation: Identity & Diversity

Resources including: Children & Family Curricula & Storytime; Confirmation/Affirmation of Baptism; Denominational Resources; Tween & Teen Mental and Spiritual Health; Sexuality & Identity; and Online/At-Home Tech

Welcome

Welcome to The Ministry Lab's curated list of resources for Talking with Children about Identity and Diversity. Here you'll find:

  • Books and Downloadable resources that are authored by, affirm and celebrate diverse identities
  • Additional Book Lists from trusted sources
  • Blogs, Podcasts & Articles to spark conversation
  • Websites & Curricula to deepen and broaden at-home and at-church learning and growth

If you don't find a resource to fit your need, don't hesitate to consult with The Ministry Lab's director, Emily Meyer, who is happy to assist you.

Children's Books - Asian American & Pacific Islander Voices

Brown Girls Rule     Brown Is Beautiful     Drawn Together     Enlighten Me     Eyes That Kiss in the Corners     Hats of Faith     The House Before Falling into the Sea     I Am Golden     Little Dreamers: Visionary Women Around the World     LOVE OF THE HALF EATEN PEACH, A timeless tale of ancient romance and enduring tradition     My Mother's Tongues     My Name          Say My Name     Sora's Seashells     Watercress     We Who Produce Pearls  

Children's Books - Black Voices

          Black Boy Joy     Black Girls Unbossed: Young World Changers Leading the Way     Black Is a Rainbow Color     Black Magic     Brown Girls Rule     Daddy Why Am I Brown? A Healthy Conversation About Skin Color and Family.          God's Holy Darkness     Hats of Faith     I Affirm Me          I Am Perfectly Designed     If My Hair Had a Voice     I'm Still Here (Adapted for Young Readers) by Austin Channing Brown     Juneteenth for Mazie     Little Dreamers: Visionary Women Around the World     Magnolia Flower     BL_MyDivineNaturalHair_Cover_9781506494012c     A Place Inside of Me          Sing, Aretha, Sing!     The Snowy Day - Wikipedia     Cover of Something Happened in Our Town: A Child's Story About Racial Injustice (large)     The Spark in You     Stella's Stellar Hair     Sulwe     Amazon.com: When I Fly with Papa (9781634891158): Claudia May, Jena  Holliday, Jena Holliday: Books  

Addresses issues children might hear about in the news and may not understand; straightforward and kid-friendly explanations of tough topics; includes ideas for what they can do to help make the world a better, fairer place. Each book has a glossary and additional resources.

The series includes: Culture and Diversity; Rights and Equality; Protecting the Planet; and Rules and Responsibilities.

Children's Books - Different Abilities

Addy's Chair to Everywhere               The Boy Who Loves to Lick the Wind Trade Book (Paperback)     The Boy with Big, Big Feelings          Brown Girls Rule     The Different Tree Trade Book (Paperback)     Emma's Awesome Summer Camp Adventure: A Charley and Emma Story     Look Inside God's Big Plan     I Am Extraordinary by Stephen Curry     

                           accompanied by God's Big Plan Board Book.

A Head Full of Birds     I Am Perfectly Designed          Nick and the Brick Builder Challenge     Violet and the Jurassic Land Exhibit     Loving Kindness     Mara Hears in Style          Poppy's Perfect Crayons     When Charley Met Emma     When We Are Kind            

Email_Banner_DisabilityPrideMonthBeaming Books' Disability Pride Month book list includes main characters with limb differences, hearing differences, emotional challenges, and more.

Children's Books - Diversity

               The Book of Belonging by Mariko Clark                    

                           accompanied by God's Big Plan Board Book.

     God's Holy Darkness     Hats of Faith     I Am God's Dream by Matthew Paul Turner    I Am Perfectly Designed          Little Dreamers: Visionary Women Around the World     Loving Kindness     Mi Tierra Trade Book (Hardcover)     Mira and the Big Story (read by the author)     My Name          Sora's Seashells               We Are a Class     What You Need to Be Warm     When We Are Kind     A Year of Celebraciones            

Children's Books - Gender/Sexuality/Identity

A Costume for Charly     Look Inside The Dress in the Window          Free to Be Fabulous     Frizzy Haired Zuzu     The Kid with Big, Big Ideas     LOVE OF THE HALF EATEN PEACH, A timeless tale of ancient romance and enduring tradition     Not He or She, I'm Me          Cover of They’re So Flamboyant     

Children's Books - Indigenous Voices

     Autumn Peltier, Water Warrior     Berry Song (Caldecott Honor Book)     Forever Our Home                Grandma's Tipi                    Keepunumuk book cover     Magnolia Flower     My Powerful Hair          No Place Like Home     On the Trapline     Main_rainbow_weaver_fnl_jkt     Remember by Joy Harjo     Still This Love Goes On     Summer's Magic by Kaitlin B. Curtice, Eduardo Marticorena                    Main_when_the_shadbush_pbk_cvr  

Children's Books - Latine Voices

     Barrio Rising     Bright Star     Brown Girls Rule     God Is Just Like Me     Cover of The Heart of Mi Familia     I Love You Mucho Mucho     Latinitas     Little Dreamers: Visionary Women Around the World     Lupita's Brown Ballet Slippers     Cover of Marvelous Maravilloso: Me and My Beautiful Family (medium)     Mi Tierra Trade Book (Hardcover)     Night Stories: Folktales from Latin America: A Toon Graphic - Liniers     Run, Little Chaski!     The Secret of the Plátano     When Moon Blooms     Zonia's Rain Forest

Adults & Youth Books

Hardcover The Amen Effect: Ancient Wisdom to Mend Our Broken Hearts and World Book     BUILDING LASTING BRIDGES          Go Your Own Way     Incantations Embodied     Sistering | The Art of Holding Close and Letting Go (Dickey and Neff)     Slow Burn: Reclaiming Yourself after Everything Burns to the Ground     210215_FrontCover-01.png          When Kids Ask Hard Questions, Volume 2: More Faith-Filled Responses for Tough Topics     When We Belong

Other Book Lists

BL_PrideMonth2023_Photo2Personal Transformation

It can be difficult to love ourselves and others when we live in a society that isn't always affirming of queerness. These books inspire us to overcome our fears and transform more fully into the person we are meant to be.

Building Faith's Picture Books for Antiracists provides an overview for:

  • Seeing the Beloved Community
  • Celebrating the Joy in Everyday Life
  • Building Empathy
  • Practicing Love & Kindness
  • Social Justice
  • Embracing a Vision
  • Hope for All

The MN Annual Conference UMC's Rev. Dana Neuhauser offers this list of Books That Can Build Empathy for BIPOC Communities.

Rev. Kelly Sherman Conroy of Nativity Lutheran Church created this Indigenous Peoples Resources list for all ages.

Build Empathy by Normalizing Differences with These Children’s Picture Books on Disabilities     Picture Books that Celebrate Diversity

13 Books about Race and Diversity from PBS Kids for Parents is fantastic.

Beaming Books offers 10 Books That Celebrate Our Many Differences which includes topics such as ableism, age, race, culture and ethnicity, and gender and sexuality identities.

Mattress Advisor's Bedtime Stories in response to We Need Diverse Books (a nonprofit working for more diversity in children's books):  The list is available in full or broken into these categories:

Blogs, Podcasts & Articles

THIS set of slides on pronouncing a name from a culture that is not your own is very useful and practical - and helpful when you want to be hospitable and welcoming whether in your building or your neighborhood.

Websites & Curricula

Find books, curricula, prayer, music, and worship elements (including a full sermon), and community organizations and businesses grouped to help congregations take next steps in antiracism work, creation care, and addressing intergenerational mental health and well-being in the WaterThreads - Woven Together: Water, Community, Well-Being. Available online and via requested download for member congregations - who should email: ministrylab@unitedseminary.edu - for access.

Embrace Race offers a number of resources:

  • toolkits for study and teaching
  • support for adults caring for children (and others) affected by racialized trauma
  • podcasts and webinars to empower and encourage all ages in meeting white nationalism, white supremacy, and racialized violence

Honor God's DiversityHonor God’s Diversity - God calls us to honor diversity that God has created in our world by diving deep beyond just accepting diversity. When we recognize and celebrate the different gifts, abilities, and voices in all creation, we honor the diversity in the world God has created.

With age-specific and intergenerational/full congregation curriculum available (click here and scroll down).

R-Squared

What Is Critical Race Theory and What Christians Should Know

includes:

  • GCORR REAL TALK video to learn more about Critical Race Theory

  • Critical Race Theory Infographic Series download

  • Christian Voices on Critical Race Theory
  • More Christian Perspectives (additional resources)
  • How White Christians Can Learn from Critical Race Theory

Who Is My Neighbor? - MennoMedia’s 2019 VBS curriculum

Compassion Camp: Be Kind. Be Loved. Be You. is an At-Home/Virtual VBS where kids and their families explore what it means to have compassion for others, ourselves, and the world. Geared toward preschool-age children and K-5th graders, it is incredibly flexible, adaptable, and fun for the entire family, older siblings included.

Hispanic Heritage Month

Reading Lists for Children

In Our Library - Tweens & Teens

Parable of the Brown Girl: The Sacred Lives of Girls of Color     The Sacred Selves of Adolescent Girls  -     Edited By: Evelyn L. Parker          This Is My Body     Who Am I?: Exploring What It Means to Be... book by Katherine Paterson     When Kids Ask Hard Questions: Faith-filled Responses for Tough Topics     Stolen: Is Social Media Stealing Your Identity? (Softcover)  -     By: Jessica Fralin

In Our Library - Children

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