DALLAS — An eye-opening feature series on The United Methodist Church’s five-year-long initiative to overcome racism in the United States has become a 52-page study booklet from its publisher, United Methodist Insight.
The four-part series crafted by Insight Editor Cynthia B. Astle and Editor-at-large John W. Coleman began June 19, 2025, on the fifth anniversary of the “Dismantling Racism” initiative begun by the United Methodist Council of Bishops.
The series takes a comprehensive look at how the anti-racism initiative, also known as “United Methodists Stand Against Racism,” has become an integral part of the worldwide denomination’s ministry in the United States. From its inception by the Council of Bishops in response to the high-profile murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, the initiative has been integrated in the ministries of nearly all 52 annual (regional) conferences and many church-wide agencies.
“We wanted to commemorate the initiative’s fifth anniversary on the significant date of Juneteenth, not realizing how deep and wide its participation has become,” said Astle, who founded United Methodist Insight as an online news-and-views journal in 2011. St. Stephen UMC in Mesquite, Texas, sponsors Insight.
“What we uncovered in our research was a stunning revelation – United Methodist agencies, conferences and local churches wholeheartedly have embraced the goal of eradicating racism with remarkable success in many places,” Astle said.
The booklet begins with Astle’s editorial describing the series’ findings, and includes all segments, both text and photographs. As experienced United Methodist communicators, Astle and Coleman also drafted several discussion questions for each segment to enhance the booklet’s value to readers. The compilation includes brief biographies of the writers, both of whom are longtime award-winning United Methodist communicators who have reported on the denomination at all its levels in the United States and internationally.
The booklet has been distributed digitally thus far to active U.S. bishops, United Methodist agencies, U.S. annual conferences and local churches featured in the series.
The study resource “Dismantling Racism Five Years Later” is available free online. Permission is granted in the copyright notice for the booklet to be reproduced without charge for churches’ use.
###
Contact:
Cynthia B. Astle
United Methodist Insight
4692232645
[email protected]
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RNS or Religion News Foundation.