The Diverse Church

I suppose this post couldn’t come at a better (or worse) time. This past week we have seen two African-American men killed by police and a sniper kill 5 policemen in Dallas, TX. It seems that racial tensions are at an all-time high. Even in the church! And that’s where I want to focus our attention this week. You see, the church has a desire to be diverse. Even in times of racial division, the church has a desire to be culturally diverse. According to a survey by LifeWay Research, 85% of all Protestant pastors believe that the local church should strive to be racially diverse. Yet that same survey showed that only 13% of Protestant churches actually had more than one predominant racial or ethnic group in their congregation.

Where is the disconnect? I believe that it’s in the execution, not the desire. You see, racial or cultural diversity does not just happen. It has to be intentional. I’ve heard many a pastor proclaim that “Anyone is welcome to attend our church! We want all people to feel welcome here!” But the reality is that their church is not open to all. Unless all like what they offer. And what they offer is not for “all”.

For example, I am welcome to shop at Abercrombie & Fitch. They would not turn away my business. In fact, they would take my money as readily as any other department store. The problem is, I don’t like their clothes. I could ask them to change the style (and size) of clothes they offer, but they’re not likely to do so. Why? I am not in their target market. You see, Abercrombie & Fitch state in their marketing plan that “The concept of this product is to provide the target market which are males and females between the ages of 14 and 20 years old clothing that allows them to be comfortable and casual while still looking stylish and trendy…” While I am all for looking stylish and trendy, I’m not really looking to for the same style and trendiness that a 14 to 20-year-old is.

The same is true of your church. While it may be true that all people are welcome, do you make your church comfortable for people of diverse backgrounds?

Diversity has to be intentional. And we should be intentional. In a world where racial tension is higher than ever, we should set the example. We should work hard to create churches that are full of people who are different than we are. Of course, there will be communities that are almost exclusively one particular culture. There will be people who attend churches which are predominately one culture because they enjoy the style of church that that particular church has. That doesn’t make the individual racist. It means that they are attending a church that they can support and participate in culturally.

Let’s begin by creating a little diversity in THE church, not necessarily your church. How can we create diversity while at the same time preserving unity? Start by reaching out to churches who are different than you. Here are 3 simple ideas that will work for creating both diversity and unity in the church:

1. Invite a pastor from a culturally different church to lunch. Sit down and just discuss some of the ways in which your churches are different. Discuss some of the ways that your churches are the same. Discuss some of the challenges that each of you are facing in trying to impact your community with the gospel. Just talk. Pick up the phone and call. You know that church people never turn down free food! What have you got to lose? Call.
2. Invite a culturally different church than yours to partner with your church for a night of worship. Maybe call that same pastor you had lunch with. Put your worship leaders in touch with each other. Combine your teams and have a night of worship at one of your churches. It doesn’t really matter which one. You will each learn a little about the other as you sing songs from each church. You may even like some of the songs you haven’t heard before! There is something exciting that happens when people come together to worship God. Even more so when people who are different unite to worship the same God!
3. Partner with a culturally different church than yours in outreach. It may be something as simple as handing out bottles of water in the park to thirsty families or serving meals at the local shelter. You could even partner to do something like VBS. Take volunteers from both churches and open the VBS up to each church to participate in. Both churches share the load as well as the reward. In fact, some churches with fewer resources or volunteers may not even be able to have a VBS. Invite them to join your church.

Diversity doesn’t just happen. If we are not intentional in creating it, we won’t have it. We may have come to this country on different ships but we’re all in the same boat now!

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