My first job as a pastor was in a large church that had a multiracial congregation. Having grown up as a white kid in a mostly-white suburb, and then attending a variety of churches in the various parts of the country where I had lived until my late twenties, regularly interacting with such a rainbow congregation was a new experience for me. It certainly made for interesting dynamics and raised many questions in my mind about why churches were so segregated.
One of the conclusions I came to after doing some very informal research was that at that time a truly multiracial congregation was most likely to emerge in churches that drew substantially from military bases and retired military men and women. One of the many things that the military teaches its recruits is that when you’re engaged in battle, the color or ethnicity of the person battling alongside of you really doesn’t matter. That same mentality affected how military personnel participated in a community of faith.
You might expect that churches have become more multiracial in the past 20 years, but there has been surprisingly little change in the ethnic and racial composure of Protestant congregations during the past two decades. Our research in recent years continues to show that pastors’ descriptions of the make-up of their congregation indicate that America has few truly multiracial churches.
That came to mind recently when I read a new report from the Census Bureau regarding the racial and ethnic background of America’s children. The report noted that minorities currently represent nearly half of the children being born in the U.S. and that this year could be a “tipping point” during which the number of babies born to minorities outnumbers those born to whites. Link that fact with the notion that the combination of all “minorities” are expected to become the majority of our nation’s population within the next 40 years and you have a major challenge for the segregated Protestant churches of the U.S. For instance, in 2008 the Census Bureau reports that about 52% of all babies born in the U.S. were white, 25% were Hispanic, 15% were black, 4% were Asian, and roughly 4% were identified by their parents as multiracial.
The challenge is not just about getting people of different backgrounds to worship together. The ongoing segregation of the body of Christ also relates to how we minister to children; our understanding of family dynamics and how to assist families; the development of internal cultures within a congregation; our planning for a different racial and ethnic balance in all aspects of ministry; and even how churches assist congregants in thinking about matters of public policy such as immigration law, educational policy, and health care spending. (Consider, for example, that there are now more Hispanic women of prime childbearing age, and they tend to have more children, than is true among women of other races – and average of 3 children per Hispanic mother, compared to less than 2 per Caucasian mother and about 2 per black and Asian mother).
Demographers have been predicting this shift in the nation’s racial and ethnic balance for a couple of decades, so it may not be “news” but it certainly is a significant trend. Are we, as the Church, prepared to embrace this unfolding reality and to get in front of the curve in our thinking, planning and ministry?
April 27, 2010
George,
As a teen I had come to the realization, that my mostly wide, mostly middle class and above (which I wasn’t) church was not what the Kingdom of God looked like to any degree. It was after that, that I quickly began to focus on studying your books and others. I have come to realize, people will attend a church, based on what they can identify with on stage. If I am a wealthy, white pastor with a large family, living in a nice development, most likely that is the type of people that will come to my church and stay.
However the trick, is to not only cross over cultural borders and get rid of our parts of our culture that inhibits the Kingdom of God from other cultures, but also to have diverse leaders represented in the church.
I am preparing to Church plant in Huntington Beach California, what good would I be without a diverse church planting team? People need to see something they can identify with on stage – weather that be race, status or theology.
May 10, 2010
I agree with you on your comments. There is a problem some Pastors face. I am talking about those who truely is concerned about the true soul of the people. How Do You Reach Those Who Don’t “Look” Like You When You Feel That You Are Called To Truely Do So?
GOD BLESS
June 1, 2010
I believe that the souls of God’s people are won by his love and that His Word overrides culture, class, skin tone, national origin, academic knowledge, financial status and titles. Combined together they all represent what is temperal. We must focus on the 66 books in Bible and exercise faith in these matters through believing and trusting in the Lord and acknowledging His Word, It is like a two edged sword and as a Pastors or Individuals we are not alone. We can trust that when the Holy Spirit manifest through and the comforter will teach in all things through revelation knowledge. the Leaders of the Church should teach the importance of studying the scriptures and having a consistent Prayer life. It is our personal relationship with God the father, through Jesus that will renew minds and illuminate Biblical Truths. Then, and only then can growth in discipleship take place. Regardless to the differences in the way we look, I believe that the relevance of salvation is in the way we live accompanied by the Spirit knowledge and transitions made today will transition individuals into disciples that are Christ like with eternal lives.
July 13, 2010
Jeff, thanks for this blog. You couldn’t have describe my community any better. Being an assist pastor of a church who is looking to connect the disconnected. We are challenged with a congregation of mostly white on how do we reach out to people of different cultures. If you have any research that I could use as I’m preparing a message for August titled “The Church of Many Colors”, I would be very grateful.
Thanks again
April 29, 2010
Culture is something that Satan uses to generate discord and frustrate harmony. It is of pride and the worldly system.
I remember in US Marine Corps boot camp, our platoon was comprised of white, Hispanic, Afro Am black, Asian, American Indians…
The Dril Instructor said…were were GREEN (Marine)
True believers are in Christ and culture junk is just that.
Contention and discord are due to those not sanctified apart from the world>>>
1 JN 4:5
The challenge of a pastor is to keep their pew warmers so active for Jesus and their families that thye will wean themselves off of the world system >>TV etc. worldly friends
Most pastors are not trained or prepared to do this.
They are trained to ..kinda..counsel, nurture, perform shallow theological therapy or troubleshoot/damage control to give a pew warmer a false sense of security that they are saved.
Think of this…people come to church with spiritual terminal cancer and instead of seeing an oncologist, hear from an ENT pastor doctor and get a prescription for breath mints.
May 3, 2010
Jim thanks,
the analogy you make is radical–as is the gospel. Thanks for the reminder to me that I am not called to share breath mints to cover up the stench of sin. I am called to share the word that will kill the sinner in order that God can bring new life up.
pax
John
May 10, 2010
If we are led by the Spirit of God rather than a spirit of humanity then we can move in Spirit as One, embodying the image of God in our lives. The best example we have had of God embodied by this Son of Man and Woman called Yeshua or Jesus… even the Christ.
If we could just be One then those who are drawn by the Spirit will be without wondering if we are integrated enough. When we really move by the Spirit we will not deal with the temporal and superficial as a model for the Body of Christ.
Move in the Spirit by the Spirit, God will make it grow.
May 11, 2010
I have been a believer since I was five and went to a number of big churches here in So Cal and graduated from one of its leading Bible colleges. The influence of these churches has taught me that if I ever go to a church of any nature again, it will be a home church of 5-25 (max) people. The institutional church mimics the horrors of the American corporation, not the form of the church in the book of Acts. I just can’t fit in to any institutional church I have ever been in For me, at least, it is dead or dying. Let us bury it and find solace in home churches And as to the racial or ethnic composition of such home churches, that would depend on where one lives, and who one can trust.———————-30————————–
May 12, 2010
I can echo many of the previous remarks but in my continued search for truth, found the one that I had always looked for when I finally became a Catholic. The utmost peace and contentment at last as the historic church that Jesus built called me home!
May 21, 2010
Help! I’m looking for help explaining culture issues. After more than 45 years after MLK jr. Sunday morning is still the most divided hour of the week. I’m white. My church is primarily black/Hispanic/very little white. I’ve been there 6 years. Sensitivity training for Christians! That’s what we need! I studied sociology in college and NEVER thought I’d be a participant observer for REAL in my own country. SHOOT in my own BACK YARD! anyway, i’ll stop yelling
i’m passionate… world leaders and ceo’s have etiquette and protocol advisors why not the church?! We need it! It’s time to address the these cultural blunders and get rid of the ignorance. Help!
June 28, 2010
Last week I sat with a black Minister in the area, and parts of this piece, and the comments here, echo our conversation.
I do believe that the makeup of the leadership team is essential. Not only from attraction, and ability to empathize, but from a place of honesty and trust.
We all bring certain experiences, gifts if you will, along with us. And part of that is the place, and people, we come from.
Someone said that the Kingdom of God is not colorblind, it’s an explosion of color. And that unity is not monochrome, it’s prismatic. And that is the defining element missing in “church” today.
Somehow, some way, these walls must come down.
July 5, 2010
I am in leadership in a multiethnic and multicultural church in Fort Wayne, Indiana. There are several multi-ethnic churches in our town, but they either are “contemporary” churches or “black-gospel” churches, as far as worship style is concerned. We have a unique, though small, advantage in that we draw equally upon both heritages for our worship. This is not always easy, but we find that we learn from each other. Funerals, for example, have a very different set of paradigms between traditionally African-American Christians and those of European descent; one favors loud and pronounced displays of emotion, and the other more sombre, subdued, even suppressed displays. Because of this, we are constantly having to challenge our own comfort zones, and this, I believe, is the key to destroying the enemy’s stronghold of church segregation in this country. We must be willing to step out of our own comfort zones, and we must be slow to take offense.
December 25, 2010
As an Black pastor of a predominatly white congregation in the deep south, I am encouraged by what I see God doing in the area of breaking down walls and building bridges across racial lines in the body of Christ. This is happening not because ‘we get it’ but because “God has ordained it”. Lets continue to pray, work and dialog as we prepare for our part in the New Song Choir of Revelations 5:9: “And they sang a new song: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.”
October 4, 2011
You state “You might expect that churches have become more multiracial in the past 20 years, but there has been surprisingly little change in the ethnic and racial composure of Protestant congregations during the past two decades.” Do you know where this data came from? I am working on a research project about creating multiracial congregations and I’m coming up with very little hard data, mostly anecdotes.
December 14, 2011
Annika,
I’d suggest “People of the Dream” by Michael Emerson (also “Divided by Faith”). He’s a hard-data guy, and the first 50 pages I’ve read are excellent. He also has lots of footnotes, and those provide other bibliographic leads.