In the Coracle

The Multiracial Congregation - a few thoughts

May 11, 2008 // Tags: books, Faith, race

My current read is “United by Faith: The Multiracial Congregation As an Answer to the Problem of Race” . In the introduction, the authors establish their thesis: “Christian congregations, when possible, should be multiracial.“

The definition of a multiracial church - and the rarity of such a thing - is remarkable:

If we define a racially mixed congregation as one in which no one racial group is 80 percent or more of the congregation, just 7.5 percent of the over 300,000 religious congregations in the United States is racially mixed. For Christian congregations, which form over 90 percent of congregations in the United States, the percentage that are racially mixed drops to five and a half. Of this small percentage, approximately half of the congregations are mixed only temporarily, during the time they are in transition from one group to another. (p.2)

It’s been said that Sunday mornings are the most segregated moments in America - clearly the research bears this out.

The book takes a theological and historical approach to the issue of race in the congregation, including look ing at rationales for racially homogenous churches, responding to those rationales, and hen proposing practical advice on having multiracial congregations.

Looks like it’s going to be a very good read.

This issue is one that I’m passionate about. My story - briefly - is that I grew up in western Montana after being born in Los Angeles. My dad early in life was very much a racist. He was a lineman whose service area was Watts, post-riot. Montana for him was a haven (although the native Americans there did give him a target). He was converted to faith - and friendship with those same Natives - in a radical experience. But still, I can remember being on my high school basketball team, and there was exactly one black player on all the teams we played through the entire year. Montana wasn’t then a hotbed of racial diversity. It’s a bit more so now, but times changes slowly.

And yet, I grew up - in that same area - a passionate jazz fan. Researching jazz musicians gives a Montana kid an eye opening. I learned about social justice in college, reading all of Martin Luther King’s writing after “discovering” him in a sociology class. I visited New Orleans and then parts of Alabama just after graduating from college, and when I was in Selma, Alabama reading the sign on the bridge at the edge of town about the voting rights marches, a truck full of white guys threw glass bottles at me. I realized that what I was experiencing was racism, but only a sliver of what others experience.

Yet, I’ve always lived on Seattle’s east side, which is fairly homogenous, and for the last 10 years in North Bend, which when we moved here was very much so (this is thankfully changing). In our church plant, we aggressively pursued a multiracial mix, but found it very hard to achieve.

When our church closed, we visited several, but were very comfortable with Ohana Project (as I’ve written here many times before). One of the many reasons that we love OP is the racial and ethnical diversity there because this diversity teaches me in ways I can’t otherwise learn as easily. I hear stories I don’t normally hear.

And when we lead a church again (hah, I just said ‘when’, not ‘if’, didn’t I?.. Huh, interesting) - when, I want to make sure that my white guy voice isn’t the only one heard, and that my story isn’t the normative one. Theology is best done in community (a mantra for me), and this must include diverse cultural perspectives as well.

I firmly believe that the Kingdom of God is diverse, and our churches should be too.

I’m looking forward to this book. More to come.

(Here’s an article to a 2007 story in the Seattle Times about intentionally racially diverse congregations.)

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Introduction

Welcome! I'm Pat, and I'll be your host here. Please comment on what you see here. I am a lay missionary to North Bend on the east side of Seattle, a husband, dad to 2 kids, a software test architect for DeepRockDrive, a web software company that does live, interactive concerts streamed over the Internet. I'm also a failed and (quite possibly future) church planter and a Doctor of Ministry student with Bakke Graduate University, and usually on this blog we discuss Christian spirituality (especially of the Celtic, post-Evangelical, post-Charismatic and neo-monastic flavors), photography, motorcycles, and other oddball things.

About the Coracle

The ancient Celts traveled in coracles - handmade, wooden framed and hide-covered boats, to journey where the trinitarian God led them. Though the transportation was simple, the journey was profound. This image is an illustration of the way I experience God's guidance - an invitation to travel with him on his paths, not mine; at his pace, not mine.