Jesus taught those who followed him to pray, "Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven." At
If you desire to grow in knowledge and experience in these areas, we invite you to read some of the following books that have become key resources for us:
- Divided by Faith, by Michael Emerson and Christian Smith
- United by Faith, by Karen Chai Kim, Curtiss Paul DeYoung, Michael O. Emerson, and George Yancey
- Race Matters, by Dr. Cornel West
- Crisis in the Village, by Dr. Robert Franklin
- Being White, by Paula Harris and Doug Schaupp
- The Covenant with Black America, by Tavis Smiley
- Yellow: Race in America Beyond Black and White, by Frank Wu
- The Hispanic Challenge: Opportunities Confronting the Church, by Manuel Ortiz
- The Heart of Racial Justice, by Dr. Brenda Salter McNeil and Rick Richardson
- Reconciliation Blues: A Black Evangelical's Inside View of White Christianity, by Ed Gilbreath
- Building a People of Power, by Robert Linthicum
- The Urban Christian, by Ray Bakke and Jim Hart
- Urban Ministry in a New Millennium, by David Claerbut
- Dismantling Privilege, by Mary Hobgood
- Engaging God's World: A Christian Vision of Faith, Learning, and Living, by Cornelius Plantiga
- Multicultural Ministry: Finding Your Church's Unique Rhythm, by David Anderson
"The Sea is so Wide and my Boat is so Small"
The most recent series at River City is named after the wonderful book by Dr. Marian Wright Edelman. A graduate of Spellman College and Yale Law School, she began her career in the mid-60s when, as the first black woman admitted to the Mississippi Bar, she directed the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund office in Jackson, Mississippi. In l968, she moved to Washington, D.C., as counsel for the Poor People's Campaign that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. began organizing before his death. She founded the Washington Research Project, a public interest law firm and the parent body of the Children's Defense Fund. For two years she served as the Director of the Center for Law and Education at Harvard University and in 1973 began CDF.
Dr. Wright Edelman composed a lengthy report entitled "The cradle to prison pipeline" that gives a sad snapshot of children in poverty today, but also gives clear and insightful steps we can take towards moving in the direction of justice.
We encourage you to read the report - the links are below for the English and Spanish versions. The third document is focused exclusively on the state of Illinois:
Cradle to Prison Pipeline report (English)
