photo courtesy millieholloman.com
I thought I might stir a few things up and offend a few people today. Here goes.
I just finished reading a very interesting article over at cnn.com about Why many Americans prefer their Sundays segregated. Take a look at this excerpt:
Americans may be poised to nominate a black man to run for president, but it’s segregation as usual in U.S. churches, according to the scholars. Only about 5 percent of the nation’s churches are racially integrated, and half of them are in the process of becoming all-black or all-white, says Curtiss Paul DeYoung, co-author of “United by Faith,” a book that examines interracial churches in the United States.
DeYoung’s numbers are backed by other scholars who’ve done similar research. They say integrated churches are rare because attending one is like tiptoeing through a racial minefield. Just like in society, racial tensions in the church can erupt over everything from sharing power to interracial dating.
DeYoung, who is also an ordained minister, once led an interracial congregation in Minneapolis, Minnesota, that eventually went all-black. He defines an interracial church as one in which at least 20 percent its membership belongs to a racial group other than that church’s largest racial group.
“I left after five years,” DeYoung says. “I was worn out from the battles.”
The men and women who remain and lead interracial churches often operate like presidential candidates. They say they live with the constant anxiety of knowing that an innocuous comment or gesture can easily mushroom into a crisis that threatens their support.
As The ROCK quickly approaches 20 years of leading a multi-racial church in a city that once traded slaves, I can relate to some of the issues presented in the article. We have had white people complain that our music was too black and black people who probably wish it wasn’t so white. White people have been disowned by their families for going to church with a n*#gger loving pastor. Black families have been disowned for attending a church with a honkey pastor. There have been times (not often) when black members of our church felt my passing them by without a hug was racially motivated.
In all of this, we rarely hear hispanic, asian, native american or other groups complain. I am afraid this may be a result of having not reached out and gotten close enough to get personal and that bothers me.
I refuse to pastor a church that is one sided and only reaches out to one demographic. I will not pastor a young church, old church, white church, black church, latino church, asian church, rich church, poor church or any other single classification. I will pastor God’s church. I believe every Sunday should look like heaven.
If it means talking and dealing with the real life issues. I’m in. I love that there are so many cultures and backgrounds at The ROCK. I am so grateful that we are a part of the 5% of churches in America that are truly multi-cultural AND we are not moving toward becoming all-black or all-white. We still have a very long way to go at The ROCK, but we will not rest until we are truly one body.
Go read the article and then come back and tell me what you think. What could we do to be more effective at becoming a mulit-cultural, multi-racial example of Christian community? Hit me with your best shot.
I think this article is proof that we as American Christians are often lazy, apathic and self centered. It is all about what is comfortable and what makes us happy on Sundays. That is why we, as the American church, are one of the last remaining evidences of our segregated history, why our nation now has legalized abortion, and why pray is no longer a part of our education system. We aren’t willing to be who God called the church to be because we are too concerned about what “we” want. I am glad to be a part of a church that is unwilling to settle and just be lazy.