One of the most come things I hear when I speak with ministry leaders about being intentional about diversity is:

We welcome ALL people to join our church.  We are not “racist!”

And while today, in the 21st century, this sentiment may very well be true, there still lingers (often overlooked) the perpetual residue of separatism that is preserved by “how” we administer our ministries.  By way of our established social networks, cultural preferences, excluding styles of worship, and an absence  of any diverse representation from the platform (to say the least) we unintentionally foster more division than we do diversity  within our ministries.

Here are 15 “Do-able” ways that you can naturally foster more cultural diversity within your ministry.

Be The Solution!

• 1. Hiring people of different ethnic and cultural heritage on Pastoral team
• 2. Hiring staff of different ethnic and cultural heritage
• 3. Presenting diversity on Worship Team from the platform (i.e. music leader)
• 4. Having people of diverse heritage and background on the Board of Elders
• 5. Hiring interns of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds
• 6. Encouraging a multi-racial church congregation
• 7. Developing cross cultural relationships within the community
• 8. Partnering with a sister church in the urban areas of the city
• 9. Staging a city-wide church swap where 3 or 4 participating churches of different races agree to go through the same series (pastors would collaborate) and each weekend the congregations are encouraged to visit a different church during the series. Promote a spirit of inclusion by integrating diverse cultural forms and expressions of worship into weekend schedule.
• 10. Hosting multi-cultural events
• 11. Creating small groups where the DVD series and teaching included different people of different churches. Participating churches would encourage their small groups to join together with small groups of other churches for the series.
• 12. Inviting other Pastors of different races to speak from your pulpit
• 13. Providing monies and assistance to the ministries that focus in this particular arena of diversity. (Example: Dream of Destiny)
• 14. Providing scholarship monies for Bible Colleges that are recruiting students of differing ethnic backgrounds.
• 15. Providing financial assistance to students that desire to go in to ministry, but attend a church other than your own. Reach out to neighboring churches to locate these young people that need sponsoring.

Ethnic Blends, byr Marl DeyMaz.
“Ethnic Blends describes what effective local churches in the twenty-first century will look like, and shows us how to create them, together as one, beyond race and class distinctions.” –Miles McPherson, Senior Pastor, The Rock Church, San Diego

Ethnic Blends is a prophetic, Christ-centered road map that offers practical, pastoral wisdom on how to form multi-ethnic congregations. Mark DeYmaz and Harry Li are redemptive voices crying out in a wilderness of homogeneity for the church in all its ethnic diversity to be one as God is one. I thank God for their biblical vision and mission and firmly believe that Christ’s church will bear more authentic witness to the world that God has sent his Son the more we heed the authors’ multi-ethnic church claims. –Paul Louis Metzger, PhD, Multnomah Biblical Seminary, author of Consuming Jesus: Beyond Race and Class Divisions in a Consumer Church

The Color Of Church, by Rodney M. Woo
In this thought-provoking book, Rodney Woo establishes a biblical foundation for multiracial ministry, provides a clear picture of the current reality of the relationship amongst the races in our society and churches, and offers practical guidance to help implement multiethnic ministry. Woo takes the reader step-by-step through the multiracial transformation of a congregation.

Divided by Faith by Michael O. Emerson and Christian Smith has an ingenious, troubling argument. “[E]vangelicals desire to end racial division and inequality, and attempt to think and act accordingly. But, in the process, they likely do more to perpetuate the racial divide than they do to tear it down.” Emerson and Smith, who conducted 2,000 telephone surveys and 200 face-to-face interviews in preparing this book, argue that evangelicals have a theological world view that makes it difficult for them to perceive systematic injustices in society. In particular, evangelical emphasis of individualism and free will seem to predispose them to believe that most racial problems can be solved if individuals will only repent of their sins. Therefore, many well-meaning strategies for healing racial divisions (such as cross-cultural friendships) carry within them the seeds of their own defeat. Divided by Faith also includes a brilliant, concise history of evangelical thought about race from colonial times to the civil rights movement.

One Body, One Spirit: Princliples Of  Successful Multiracial Churches, byr George Yancey
As society diversifies, local churches find themselves interacting with people from every tribe and tongue. But not every church is equipped to handle the realities of ethnic and racial diversity in their congregational life. Sociologist George Yancey’s pioneering research on multiracial churches offers key principles for church leaders wanting to minister to people from a variety of racial and cultural backgrounds. Insights from real-life congregations provide concrete examples of how churches can welcome people of all heritages, giving them a sense of ownership and partnership in the life of the church.

Building A Healthy Multiracial Church, by Mark DeYmaz
Through personal stories, proven experience and a thorough analysis of the biblical text, Building a Healthy Multi-ethnic Church illustrates both the biblical mandate for the multi-ethnic church as well as the seven core commitments required to bring it about. Mark DeYmaz, pastor of one of the most proven multi-ethnic churches in the country, writes both from his experience and his extensive study of how to plant, grow, and encourage more ethnically diverse churches. He argues that the “homogenous unit principle” will soon become irrelevant and that the most effective way to spread the Gospel in an increasingly diverse world is through strong and vital multi-ethnic churches.

Cultural Intelligence: Improving Your CQ To Engage A Multicultural World, by David A. Livermore
Twenty-first-century society is diverse, and Christians must be able to understand other cultures and communicate effectively between and among them. Following up on the bestselling Hurt: Inside the World of Today’s Teenagers, this new addition to the Youth, Family, and Culture series explores the much-needed skill of Cultural Intelligence (CQ), the ability to work effectively across national, ethnic, and even organizational cultures. While rooted in sound, scholarly research, Cultural Intelligence is highly practical and accessible to general readers. It will benefit students as well as guide ministry leaders interested in increasing their cultural awareness and sensitivity.

In One New People, by Manual Ortiz persuades us of the benefits in fellowship and outreach that we can experience by crossing racial, ethnic and cultural lines. He urges readers not just to put aside their differences but to celebrate them and to embrace them–to use them in a way that draws them closer to each other and closer to God.

What Color Is Your God, by James Breckridge is a dynamic look at multicultural America, this primer shows ministers and others how to honor ethnic differences and avoid pitfalls when presenting the gospel.

United By Faith, by Curtis Paul DeYoung
As America grows ever more ethnically diverse, Christian churches remain racially homogeneous. This state of affairs must end, argues this earnest blend of religious moralizing and social science; indeed, church integration is so central both to the Christian mission and to racial equality at large that “the twenty-first century must be the century of multi-racial congregations.” The authors, professors either of sociology or “reconciliation studies,” base their claims on theology, church history and sociology. They look back to the diversity and cosmopolitanism of the early Church as a model for contemporary Christians, and trace the legacy of racism and segregation in American churches and attempts to overcome them. Drawing on questionnaires, interviews with church members and leaders, and on-site studies of four racially mixed congregations, they probe both the promise and pitfalls of church integration.

People Of The Dream, by Michael Emerson
People of the Dream argues that multiracial congregations are bridge organizations that gather and facilitate cross-racial friendships, disproportionately housing people who have substantially more racially diverse social networks than do other Americans. The book concludes that multiracial congregations and the people in them may be harbingers of racial change to come in the United States.

Bonus:

Crossing The Ethnic Divide, by Kathleen Garces-Foley
While religious communities often stress the universal nature of their beliefs, it remains true that people choose to worship alongside those they identify with most easily. Multiethnic churches are rare in the United States, but as American attitudes toward diversity change, so too does the appeal of a church that offers diversity. Joining such a community, however, is uncomfortable-worshippers must literally cross the barriers of ethnic difference by entering the religious space of the ethnically “other.” Through the story of one multiethnic congregation in Southern California, Kathleen Garces-Foley examines what it means to confront the challenges in forming a religious community across ethnic divisions and attracting a more varied membership.

The Elusive Dream: The Power Of Race In Interracial Churches, by Korie L. Edwards
In The Elusive Dream, Korie L. Edwards presents the surprising results of an in-depth study of interracial churches: they help perpetuate the very racial inequality they aim to abolish. To arrive at this conclusion, she combines a nuanced analysis of national survey data with an in-depth examination of one particular church. She shows that mixed-race churches adhere strongly to white norms. African Americans in multiracial settings adapt their behavior to make white congregants comfortable. Behavior that white worshipers perceive as out of bounds is felt by blacks as too limiting. Yet to make interracial churches work, blacks must adjust their behavior to accommodate the predilections of whites. They conform to white expectations in church just as they do elsewhere.

By Brad Dupray

Dream of Destiny is casting a vision for Christian churches and churches of Christ across America to increase their evangelistic outreach through ethnic diversity in ministry. Dudley Rutherford, senior pastor of Shepherd of the Hills Church in Porter Ranch, California, challenged Byron Davis to spearhead the venture as a member of the staff at Shepherd. Byron left a career in pharmaceutical sales to join the church staff. He was a member of the U.S. National Swim Team from 1994 to 1996, was an eight-time All-American swimmer at UCLA, and was a U.S. Olympic team alternate in the butterfly. Byron and his wife, Annett (who plays on the AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour), have been married 14 years and have two children, Mya and Victoria.

For more information about how you and your church or ministry can be more effective in fostering ministry through diversity, visit www.dreamofdestiny.org.

How was the “Dream of Destiny” concept born?

Shepherd of the Hills Church had gone through a transformation. If you compared 1998 to today you would see two different congregations. Dudley (Rutherford) has always had a heart for diversity, not just diversity for diversity’s sake, but seeing the downside of homogenous groupings and how we’re missing out on God’s master plan if we allow social norms to drive the protocol of our services. He said, “Byron let’s see if we can create something that would equip and empower other churches and ministries in our brotherhood to be intentional about diversity.” So he asked me to come on board to be the architect and craft what this thing would look like.

What does it look like?

Dream of Destiny is a movement that encourages ministries to do three things: number one, reach and raise young people of diversity, empowering them to be leaders in the Christian church movement. Number two, for ministry leaders to diversify their inner network, their core network. And number three, reach ever-changing communities for Christ. Those are the three pillars. How we do it splinters into different projects and initiatives that reach into each of those lanes.

What is the goal of Dream of Destiny?

The ultimate goal is to be a catalyst for diversity within the Christian church/church of Christ movement in North America. If we could take a snapshot 25 years from now and compare it to a snapshot of the Christian church today, our hope is it would be as different as Shepherd from 1998 to 2010, where there is a rainbow of colors, backgrounds, and ages—all fellowshipping together in one community.

How would you describe the diversity of Shepherd of the Hills Church?

About 20 percent of those living in the city of Porter Ranch are nonwhite, about 3 percent being African-American. But the demographic of our church is about 55 percent minority and about 45 percent Caucasian. I think the reason that’s happened is Shepherd has developed a reputation within the community of being a very welcoming church, not just in heart, but in procedure. Meaning when someone comes in, even if they don’t see their own color from the pulpit they’ll still see a very distinct blend of diversity from the platform. That’s done intentionally.

How so?

We make sure everyone—from our worship band to our associate pastoral team, through our staff and volunteers—illustrate diversity.

If an African-American feels comfortable seeing African-Americans in leadership, why not simply attend an African-American church?

That’s a kingdom question. One of the big barriers any church or ministry has to overcome is the natural inertia toward homogenous clustering. A ministry has to present something compelling enough that it inspires or motivates someone to release that initial social comfort. But there is a more insidious and devastating downside we need to be aware of.

The downside being . . .

Homogenous clusters, especially in the church, tend to perpetuate stereotypes, prejudices, and fears that work against spreading the gospel to all nations.

So this really is a Great Commission matter.

The bottom line is evangelism. Too much of the church has surgically removed the “go” part out of the call. “Go and make disciples of all nations.” We’ve cancelled that out when we choose to stay comfortable in homogenous clusters.

We have historically been a Caucasian movement. How do we diversify? How do we create something out of nothing?

This is the challenge! There is art in this process and that is why I stress that Dream of Destiny cannot be seen as a stand-alone ministry but a movement that ministries embrace and own locally in their own community. Every leader will have to own and be responsible for addressing those three pillars right where they are.

You’re saying we have to work together.

We tend to hoard resources in silos. There are resources, information, and opportunities that one church will not know exists because it’s not in the same network as another homogenous church. Problems that could easily be solved in one community go unsolved because they not only don’t have access to the resources, they don’t even know the resources are available! The left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing.

How can a ministry like Dream of Destiny provide the necessary networking reference point?

It’s so important for ministry leaders to be intentional about diversifying their network, their core inner-circle network. Because when we know, like, and trust each other, we can share resources. If I have a job opportunity or an extra two tickets to the North American Christian Convention, I can give what I have to someone who may be in need and vice versa. If these relationships don’t exist it’s impossible for each of us to leverage the others’ strengths, minimize our own weaknesses, and benefit the kingdom at large.

How does someone sign on to become a part of the dream?

Our online headquarters, www.dreamofdestiny.org, offers resources and a helpful social community that will facilitate a leader applying the three pillars. But ultimately it comes down to each leader allowing God to really bolster the burden and sense of urgency of this matter in his own heart.

If a person has that sense of urgency, what is a practical way to move toward action?

It starts there with getting a fresh look at what your community truly looks like. A practical first step is to go to www.zipskinny.com to get a fresh, up-to-date snapshot of the demographics of the community you serve.

Don’t most people have a pretty fair idea of what their community looks like?

I find when speaking to leaders that many of them are operating without updated information. They’re assuming their community only looks African-American or only looks white. But when they cross-reference zip codes that are in the database with what’s current on zipskinny.com, they’re always surprised to see how different they are. “Wow, we have that many Latinos in our community? I didn’t know. Wow, there’s this Korean opportunity just five miles from the church. I didn’t know.”

So you get a look at your community. What’s next?

The second step is to transition from having a welcoming heart that’s based on an attraction model. Churches will say “we’ll welcome anyone in,” but what they don’t recognize is you’re making some assumptions. First, that a person would actually come on their own volition—“come and see”—when the mandate or the call for the day is to “go and be.”

What does “go and be” mean?

I don’t know when it happened, but over the last 25 years we have stopped the intentionality of reaching others with the gospel and turned to more tools, programs, and events to hopefully attract someone to our church. It’s my conviction that diversity will happen organically when more and more Christians are intentional about engaging others with the gospel.

Engaging them in what ways?

It’s being intentional about evangelism on your block, at your local supermarket, and at the high school football game. Everywhere the community meets, believers should be present to engage their neighbors with the gospel—especially neighbors who look different than they do. With the increase and the dynamic change of the landscape of America comes the greater gap between the churched and the unchurched.

Who is doing a better job of exemplifying diversity, the church or the unchurched?

The unchurched are doing a better job of diversity because they want to capitalize on, and recognize the advantages of, diversity. Hollywood sees value in putting more Latinos on the screen because they are attracting a greater Latino audience. Music recognizes and embraces hip-hop because they see it’s crossing cultural barriers and reaching everyone. More people means more money regardless of what those people look like. It seems like the Christian church is the last at recognizing our advantages in our diversity.

So we need “spiritual entrepreneurship”?

Church planters and most pastors have entrepreneurial spirits, but I think we get so bogged down by trying to maintain the status quo that we undermine the very nature God wired us for. So, in effect, we’re fighting against ourselves, trying to stay comfortable. This is evidenced in our ever-decreasing ability to reach North America. When God calls us to step out of our comfort zones and step up, there’s a greater call he has on our life.

How can an ethnic worker in a ministry maintain his cultural identity while trying to work in a ministry where he or she is clearly a minority?

The feeling of being overwhelmed and out of place is natural in the short run, but we’ve got to remember this is a marathon, not a sprint. During the time where minorities will start to attend your church or you hire a minority and he or she is the only one on staff, there will be a lot of friction points. As you start to see more and more diversity take place in your ministry, you’re going to experience even more friction points. In music, in styles of worship, in how long the pastor preaches, all the way down to how the congregation interacts with the speaker during the service. Different people will naturally bring different expressions of worship into the same place.

How does the church address those friction points?

My encouragement is to welcome and encourage them and not be afraid of them. I believe churches are already experiencing diversity opportunities but they’re sometimes extinguishing the fire when these friction points pop up.

How do you fan the fire?

By being open to our differences, celebrating our differences, and not seeing logistical matters as either/or, but to start seeing them as and/and. For instance, why do we have to always sing hymns out of the hymnbook? Or, why does a message have to be 26 minutes where you have two songs and close in prayer? We have to stop confusing the administration of our ministry with authentic ministry itself.

How does Dream of Destiny open opportunities?

One of the resources we have at dreamofdestiny.com is a membership community. The goal is to leverage this global village, where ministry leaders whose network may not naturally be diverse right now can actually become diverse by engaging in the community. On the site you can meet and connect with others via messages, e-mails, and special interest groups that you can create within the community. You can be as intentional as you want about engaging and fostering relationships with other ministry leaders who don’t look like you.

What tools exist on the site that churches and ministries can use to increase diversity?

We have what we call being a “Five Star Ministry” or a “Five Star Church.” We give five basic things they can do. Click on “Five Star Leader” and then there are five “low-hanging fruits” you can pick that will start to turn the ship in the direction of fostering unity through diversity in a more natural way.

How can the church move toward racial diversity in lay leadership? What if there are no qualified spiritual leaders who would reflect diversity?

They can leverage the community by sending out a wire asking for help. Just like we do with Facebook or Twitter—“Hey does anybody know if this restaurant is good?”—they can utilize the mind share of the community. If people are intentional about doing those five things on the site, they are going to experience ways to work through friction points and they’re going to start seeing change.

What are the benefits to a church or ministry being a part of the Five Star Initiative?

You get access to ministry resources designed to help your ministry accomplish what you want it to. An immediate benefit is your church and your Web site gets promoted and gets put on the radar of other churches, other Bible colleges, and other parachurch ministries that are part of our brotherhood. So your church has a direct link; when someone scrolls down the Five Star Initiative they see your name, and they can click on your link and be taken directly to your Web site.

What do you see as the long-term objective for the site?

Our goal with the Five Star Initiative is to get 500 of the 5,000 ministries in our brotherhood on board. We believe we can create a tipping point where this thing can take on its own life if we can get 500 of those 5,000 ministries being intentional about doing these things on a regular basis.

Brad Dupray is senior vice president, ministry development, with Church Development Fund, Irvine, California.

By Dudley C. Rutherford

At the midway point of Martin Luther King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech on the footsteps of the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963, he mentioned the white people in attendance that day. Most are not aware there were many white people who participated in that momentous march on Washington, D.C., and others are even less aware that King addressed that segment of the crowd in his memorable monologue.

In the midst of this poetic oration he says, “For many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny.” It is from this one, powerful statement that we started a ministry called Dream of Destiny.

Dream of Destiny (www.dreamofdestiny.com) is designed to help churches, colleges, and parachurch organizations become more intentional in including people of all races and nationalities.

Not Welcome?

It is no secret most of our churches around the country continue to struggle in becoming more diversified, even as almost every other segment of society becomes integrated. It is a blight upon the Christian church that we have not addressed this problem sooner. Many people of color do not feel welcomed in our churches and in our conventions. And who can blame them? They see themselves represented in the world of sports, among music and entertainment stars, and in the nation’s highest government offices. Yet the vast majority of our churches remain lily white; for too many it’s still true that Sunday morning worship is the most segregated hour of the week.

And if any entity or organization should be combating this problem of segregation, it is the church of Jesus Christ. We should boldly and proudly reflect the church we see in Acts 2 as well as the picture of Heaven in Revelation 7:9: “After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb.”

The question is not, “Why aren’t our churches like that today?” Asking why will never solve the problem. Asking why tends to keep us in the past and will never catapult us into the future. And quite frankly, I have been in too many meetings where we sit around complaining about history, and it seems we get stuck in the pain of our past rather than reveling in the possibilities of tomorrow.

The better question is, “How can we solve this problem?” The greater question is “What can my church and/or I do to make a difference with regard to racial diversity?” The answer to that question is amazingly simple: It is to be unpretentiously intentional.

A Five Star Plan

If we could be deliberate and purposeful in our intentions to build and create diversity within our churches, we could change the landscape of our fellowship. Instead of lagging behind in this critical issue, we could set the example for the rest of the world.

It’s almost embarrassing that such a monumental problem could be solved by some simple intentionality—yet that is exactly the case. Dream of Destiny is hoping to make this happen. We have set a “Five Star” challenge in an effort to find 500 churches in the next 24 months to commit to the following five things:

• Diversify your platform.

This is the place to start. Make sure those who lead, sing, preach, or pray reflect the reality of Revelation 7:9. I have told our worship service coordinators I want our stage to look like a rainbow; I want to see every color represented. Whenever a visitor of color shows up in one of your services and sees someone on the platform of the same nationality, the visitor will take note and quickly conclude he or she is welcome.

Be consistent in this area. Do not let a single weekend go by where the people on stage are all from one particular race.

• Diversify your promotional and marketing materials.

This is not difficult. Almost every commercial you see today is using pinpoint intentionality in advertising. Companies include Asian, Latino, or African-American men, women, and children in their billboard, magazine, and television ads. These companies and organizations are marketing to all people groups, wanting all to use their brand.

Perhaps the easiest change to make is to look at your bulletin covers, newsletters, Web sites, and special event advertisements. Meet with those producing these materials and ask them to come on board to make sure all promotional materials reflect Revelation 7:9.

• Diversify your staff and boards.

In every organization, things always flow from the top down. Take a look at your staff. Take a look at your board. Are there ways to hire staff or choose board members who reflect the world in which we live? I know in some cases this might not be possible, but in reality our churches will not change until our staff and our boards change.

One of our major goals and efforts at Dream of Destiny is to help raise up men and women of diverse ethnic backgrounds for leadership roles in churches and ministries.

• Underwrite scholarships for future pastoral candidates.

We suggest putting some funds aside each month to provide scholarships for students of color who desire (but perhaps can’t afford) to go to Bible college for the purpose of entering the ministry. We are working with churches and trying to coordinate giving scholarships to students of diverse backgrounds; we desire to help send them to Bible colleges that will also match these resources.

• Provide or host internships with the local church.

Would you be willing to host an intern at your church? We have students who would love to come and serve as interns. We believe such service will give them invaluable experience and increase the possibility that many of them eventually will be hired on a full-time basis.

Just 10 Percent?

We all understand diversity can’t multiply overnight. But we know these five steps will move us in the right direction. We have more than 5,000 churches in the Restoration Movement. Is it possible that just 10 percent of our churches will be intentional in these five areas? What a difference it would make!

Nearly 50 years after Martin Luther King’s historic speech in Washington, it’s no longer simply “I have a dream,” it’s WE have a dream. Will you join us in our effort to make that dream a reality?

Dudley Rutherford is senior pastor of Shepherd of the Hills Church in Porter Ranch, California, serves on Standard Publishing’s Publishing Committee, and is the 2011 president of the North American Christian Convention.  For more great articles like this please also check out Christian Standard.

Some 50 years ago Martin Luther King Jr. pierced the church’s soul by pointing out that the most segregated hour in America was 11:00 Sunday morning.

Things sure have changed in the five decades since, haven’t they? I mean, we gather at all sorts of hours other than 11 am Sunday these days.

But about that other part . . .

Let’s just ask ourselves a brutally honest question: Why are Christian churches and churches of Christ among the last bastions of society to remain predominantly white?

Once we answer that one, we must tackle an even tougher question: Is God OK with that?

Keeping Up with Culture

Of course no one keeps official statistics on the racial or culture breakdown of Restoration Movement congregations. But if you look at our major gatherings or talk to those who have visited many of our local churches, the generalization that we’re a substantially white fellowship rings true—with some notable exceptions.

“America’s culture is more open to diversity and multiculturalism than ever before. Blacks, whites, Asians, and Latinos can be found together side by side with one another in our society,” said Daryl Reed, lead minister of DC Regional Church of Christ near Washington. “Churches and various church families for the most part haven’t kept up with our culture.”

Mike Bowling, pastor of Englewood Christian Church just east of downtown Indianapolis, said, “We’re a suburban and rural movement. And because we’re a suburban and rural movement, we just don’t relate well to urban and ethnic people . . . and it’s sad because our movement has something to say to other churches.”

Still, even the most ardent critics readily concede that Restoration Movement churches are not filled with blatant racists or segregationists. So what’s causing the problem?

Ben Cachiaras, senior minister with Mountain Christian church near Baltimore said some leaders fear taking an active role because they think the issue is political or have grown weary of talk about tolerance, playing the race card, affirmative action, immigration policies, or sensitivity training.

But the real problem is more basic: Many of us are failing to intentionally reach out to people of other races and cultures.

“Leaders have to go beyond saying, ‘I would welcome a church that had African-Americans in it if it would happen,’” said Cachiaras, who has begun an exchange program with Reed and DC Regional.

“This is an issue that’s near to the heart of God. And I’m not sure we’ve been convinced of that . . . a unity movement really ought to be a racially diverse movement. You can’t pretend you’re a unity movement if everybody’s the same skin color or nationality or gender.”

Not Prejudiced, Not Intentional

A passionate advocate for multiculturalism in our churches, Dudley Rutherford, senior pastor of Shepherd of the Hills Church north of Los Angeles and president of next year’s NACC, said he knows most of the leaders in the Christian church.

“I don’t think there’s a prejudiced bone in their bodies. But they’re not intentional. . . . If week after week after week after week, everyone on your stage is white, you’re not being intentional,” he said.

“So you can be someone who’s not prejudiced, but your church will never be diverse. Having no prejudices is not enough. It takes being not prejudiced, plus intentionality for your church to begin to take on a different color.”

At Shepherd, an insistence on multicultural greeters, worship team members, prayer leaders, and publication covers has paid off. “Now what happens is a snowball effect.

“I’ve got people leaving all-African-American churches and coming here because they like the diversity,” Rutherford said. “There comes a point when you’re intentional long enough it just takes over and it becomes a part of your identity.”

‘Not Like Us’

Even children notice.

By the time Ron and Terri Foltz returned home after nearly five years working in a Philippine orphanage, they had grown accustomed to the feeling of being a minority. So when the two elementary-school-age Filipino children they adopted remarked about how few people in their Ohio church looked like them, they could understand.

“When you are a multiracial family, it changes how you perceive things,” said Terri, an attorney who is now superintendent of a Christian school.

Ron noted that even though he was the principal of another Christian school and a deacon, on several occasions they found out about birthday parties that their sons had not been invited to—after the fact.

The Foltzes’ older son was a teenager at the time of the 2001 terrorist attacks. While he and Terri were standing in line at a grocery store on 9/11, a woman in line in front of them called him a “raghead” and wanted to know how he felt about what “his people” did.

That’s when a key shortcoming of a mostly white church hit home.

“There’s no one he could relate that experience to,” Terri said. “It’s not that anybody at church did anything wrong, it’s just that your kid is saying no one looks like us.”

Nobody looked like John M. Fuller when he entered St. Louis Christian College. Fuller, now 56, became the school’s first black full-time student.

He later served at Westlane Christian Church in Indianapolis, which had a blend of races, and in 1992 founded New Paradigm Christian Church on the city’s north side as a more deliberate attempt to reach a multicultural audience.

New Paradigm used billboards with the theme “this is not the church you grew up in” with pictures of a black male and white female. Leaders discovered that when they went door to door with a racially mixed team it piqued people’s interest in the church, which eventually grew to about 250.

But Fuller has found the push for racial reconciliation a lonely, often frustrating path, and he readily admits to becoming “tired of grinding the same ax.”

“Many people are surprised I’m with the Christian church because they don’t know any black Christian church preachers,” he said.

Yet Fuller grew up in the Christian church and has a brother and two sons in full-time ministry. His heart burns with Jesus’ prayer in John 17 that believers become one so the world will know God sent his Son.

“One of the reasons we don’t have a more convincing witness is because of the racism and the separation,” Fuller said.

“Our church has shown historically a choice to do the easy pickin’s when it comes to the harvest. If I want to grow a church to 1,000, the fastest way to do it is through a homogeneous church, black or white. That’s been one of the church growth principles, and it’s really a principle of the unredeemed nature of man. It should never have been a principle and a practice of church growth.”

Ironically, Fuller now serves Washington Shores Church of Christ in Orlando—an almost-all-black church that is loving but reluctant to reach out to whites.

“If this movement survives, it will survive like our church buildings have ‘survived’ in the city: Our people have moved out and other people have moved in,” he said.

“I don’t have a problem with a church out in the boonies that represents their community. But I do have a problem with a movement that intentionally targets going to the boonies and leaving the city. (People say), ‘Well I don’t have any people of color in our area.’ Yeah, but why are you in that area?”

Uncomfortable Words

These are uncomfortable words for many of us. A workshop on racial relations at this year’s NACC went even further, talking about the need for white Christians to come to grips with such concepts as institutional racism and white privilege.

Marque Jensen, founding pastor of North Minnesota Christian Fellowship who is now with Sanctuary Covenant Church in Minneapolis, said if he acknowledges the inherent benefits he’s enjoyed by being white, he gets “a lot of grace” from black believers. Whites need to take time to listen to the stories of blacks’ struggles; otherwise, it’s akin to telling a rape victim to just get over it.

Jensen said that growing up in a safe neighborhood, he was always taught the police were his friends. But when he began working with people from predominantly black neighborhoods, he quickly realized that is far from a universal perception.

The coleader of the workshop, former Sanctuary senior pastor Efrem Smith, said even those trying to be a New Testament church must “understand how socially conditioned we are about race and class.”

But he added that he also has to help his fellow African-Americans work through displaced anger and tell them they “can’t force white people to walk on eggshells.”

After Smith spoke to a main session of the NACC, dozens stood to accept his invitation to lead on racial reconciliation.

Developing Leaders

But how can church leaders commit to diversifying their staffs when it’s so hard to find minority graduates of our Bible colleges? And how can Bible colleges diversify their student body when few churches send them minority students?

Thankfully, this cycle is being broken. During an NACC breakfast for Dream of Destiny—a multipronged effort to bring multiculturalism to New Testament churches—several college leaders reported not only record enrollment but record numbers of minority students studying to become ministers.

D. Clay Perkins, president of Mid-Atlantic Christian University in North Carolina, has decided to worship with a black congregation, Rehoboth Victory Christian Church.

“There is a shortage of preachers, especially African-American preachers,” he said. “So if I can nudge one or two young men into ministry by attending an African-American church, then so be it.”

Byron Davis, who leads Dream of Destiny, said building multicultural church staffs will become even more important in coming decades as whites become a minority in the United States.

“We no longer have the excuse of saying we can’t find students of color,” he said.

But as this first new wave of multicultural students nears graduation, college leaders wonder if Christian churches or churches of Christ will hire them.

“How do we recruit any of these students with any kind of promise they’ll get a job?” asked David Faust, president of Cincinnati (Ohio) Christian University and executive editor of The Lookout.

He and other presidents say they don’t think our churches know what’s coming.

Changing Neighborhoods

But churches in rapidly changing areas had better realize what’s coming; their neighborhoods’ demographics are shifting. Should the church move on, wait to die, or take the more difficult route—change?

Steven C. Chapman, senior minister of First Christian Church of Chicago, has watched his neighborhood transform. Because of Chicago’s residency requirement, municipal workers must live within the city limits, so they often wind up in First Christian’s neighborhood in the southwestern corner of the city.

“As communities transitioned, we found ourselves behind the eight ball,” he said. The church already had moved once, in the 1950s. But this time, the elders declared that “white flight” would be a sin.

“We were forced to become a multiracial church,” Chapman said.

From a virtually all-white congregation in the early 1990s, First Christian is now about 50 percent African-American, 30 percent white, and 20 percent Latino.

“The church in the city is a good case in point for what will happen to the church (as a whole) if we don’t reach across racial barriers for the sake of the kingdom,” he said. “As whites fled the cities in the ’50s, the churches soon followed. That exodus left the city in the hands of declining churches or ill-equipped storefront pastors.”

At one of our movement’s early megachurches, Bowling’s 115-year-old Englewood church in Indianapolis, attendance dropped from more than 1,000 in the early 1970s to less than 200 in the next 20 years. For a time the area around Englewood was among the national leaders in home foreclosures and state leaders for abandoned housing.

But the church, located in what was once a Ku Klux Klan stronghold, decided to stay put and transform itself even as the neighborhood around it was radically changing.

“They never moved, never even had a discussion about moving when a lot of churches did,” Bowling said. “They just looked each other in eye and said this is where we need to be.”

Currently, the congregation of about 200 collects an offering of about $200,000 annually, but its nonprofit community development corporation’s budget is $1.4 million. The church is completing a $6.5 million conversion of an adjacent school building into 32 units of housing—including many designed for people with serious mental illness, low income, or those who need social services. The church, which is about 30 percent minority, also operates a large day-care center, preschool, and kindergarten.

“When it comes to racial reconciliation, we’ve just always said we are reconciled in Christ, and if there’s a problem, it’s a problem that brothers and sisters have,” Bowling said.

Reed of DC Regional said church leaders must be proactive in a rapidly changing world. “Local congregations and assemblies should prepare in advance for different types of people moving into their community, and not wait until their community changes its complexion.”

“Leaders must develop awareness first. If a church’s leadership is apathetic to this concern, it will not happen.

“Leaders must change the way they think about this issue. If it’s important to God, it should be important to them.”

So, bottom line, what’s the way forward?

“It’s easy and difficult at the same time. All we have to do is start practicing New Testament Christianity,” said Fuller of the Washington Shores church in Orlando. “God will take care of the rest.”

Darrel Rowland is an adult Bible fellowship teacher at Worthington (Ohio) Christian Church and public affairs editor of The Columbus Dispatch.
(this article is a re-post from Christian Standard Magazine)

(This is a re-post from Scott  Williams over at Big Is The New Small [dot] com).
I think it’s a great idea.  I’m in!  Are you?

Christmas is just a couple of days away and it’s not only “The most wonderful time of the year…” its the busiest day for application downloads on smart phones and smart devices.  Share The Bible Day will help people engage with the Bible, as well as increase the number of FREE applications being downloaded on iPhones, iPads, Android Devices, Blackberry’s and smart phones of your choice.

My personal favorite Bible app is the FREE YouVersion Bible app that has been downloaded by millions and millions of people.  Those millions of people have engaged in reading the Bible for Billions of minutes.  The App has been in the Top 10 FREE iTunes applications in recent days. (Currently #11 as I type this post.)  How cool would it be for the App to be #1 on Christmas Day when people around the globe open up their new devices and download their application of choice.

Share The Bible:

• Post it to your Blog, Twitter & Facebook (Use #Bible hashtag)
• Share scripture through your YouVersion account via connecting to Twitter and Facebook
• Tell a friend, take a few minutes on Christmas and do your part to Share The Bible

Note: As a little “extra” incentive to get the word out, my friends at YouVersion are giving a few lucky winners who post it online their choice between an iPad, an iPhone 4, or a Nexus S! (Click here for details.)

Read The Bible:

2011 can be your year to get a fresh start reading the Bible. Check out the Reading Plans online at our website, or directly in the Bible App on your device. All you need to get started is the Bible App and a free YouVersion account. Want a little extra support in meeting your goal? When you’re at YouVersion.com, sign up for progress update emails for yourself or an accountability partner.

What are you waiting on Start Your Plan and Get Ready To Share The Bible!

Will you share the Bible on Christmas Day?  Leave a comment and say “I’m In!”

On this video Mark DeYmaz, pastor of Mosaic Church in Little Rock Arkansas, and author of Ethnic Blends, lays out a very clear and compelling biblical mandate for why the body of Christ represented in our churches must embrace and reflect diversity.

Enjoy!