In March 2021, The Nett Church helped guide an in-depth discussion surrounding our Baptismal Vow, the words we speak when a child or adult is baptized.

The Vow's text includes the following phrases:
  • In Baptism, we renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness.
  • We reject the evil powers of this world.
  • And we repent of our sin.
  • And we accept the freedom and power God gives us.

In accepting this freedom, we opened a respectful space for difficult conversations. To prepare for these conversations, a library has been put in place at the Bethesda and Berkmar campuses; and, the following resources are provided to allow those interested to read a book and facilitate or participate in a respectful conversation.

RESOURCES FOR ADULTS

books

Blogs / Educational Sites

Holding Up Your Corner - F. Willis Johnson
I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness Hardcover - Austin Channing Brown
Jesus and the Disinherited - Howard Thurman
The Color of Compromise - Jemar Tisby
Nobody Cries When We Die - Patrick Reyes
Them - Nathan McCall
Cut Dead but Still Alive - Gregory Ellison
The New Jim Crow
I’m Black - Rudy Rasmus
Be the Bridge - Latasha Morrison

RESOURCES FOR CHILDREN & YOUTH

books for Ages 0-2

books for Ages 3-6

books for Ages 6 & Up

Babies Around the World - PUCK
Antiracist Baby - Ibram X. Kendi
An ABC of Equality - Chana Ginelle Erving
Dream Big Little One - Vashti Harrison
All Kinds of People - Shelley Rotner and Sheila M. Kelly
Just Like Me - Vanessa Brantley-Newton
Together We Can - Caryl Hart and Ali Pye
What If We Were All the Same? - C.M. Harris
All are Welcome - Alexandra Pentold and Suzanne Kauffman
Whoever You Are - Mem Fox
What I Like About Me - Allia Zobel Nolah
A Boy Like You - Frank Murphy
A Girl Like You - Frank Murphy
The Skin You Live In - Michael Tyler
The Proudest Blue: A Story of Hijab and Family - Ibtihaj Muhammad
All the Colors We Are: The Story of How We Get Our Skin Color/Todos los colores de
nuestra piel: La historia de por qué tenemos diferentes colores de piel
- Katie Kissinger.
Intersection Allies: We Make Room for All - Chelsea Johnson.
I Am Enough - Grace Byers
Same, Same but Different - Jenny Sue Kostechi-Shaw
A Kid’s Book About Racism - Jelani Memory
I am Enough - Gracer Byers
Skin Like Mine - Latasha Perry
Ruby’s Birds - Mya Thompson
Who Did It First - Julie Leung
Say Something - Peter Reynolds

books for 1st - 3rd Grade

books for 4th Grade & Up

books for Teens

Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Boy - Tony Medina
When We Were Alone - David A. Robertson
Harbor Me - Jacqueline Woodson
What Lane? - Torrey Maldonado.
The Undefeated - Kwame Alexander
American Born Chinese - Gene Luen
Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You - Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
Just Mercy (Adapted for Young Adults): A True Story of the Fight for Justice - Bryan
Stevenson
Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood - Trevor Noah

videos