Still The Most Segregated Hour In America
August 6th, 2008 · Posted in Christianity, Practical Christianity, Practical Ministry, Religion ·Someone once said that the 11:00 hour on Sunday morning is the most segregated hour in America. I believe it — it is rare to find a church that truly includes folks from different races.
This report from CNN shows that the national media is on to this also.
My question is — what can be done to make our churches more inclusive?
When I read the Gospels I see Jesus breaking down the racial stereotypes of that day. Why do we — who follow Jesus — have such a hard time with this? If we can’t be racially inclusive, at least we need to be more tolerant of folks of our own race who may see things differently than we do.
August 6th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
Several years ago we received training on cross-cultural ministry. This phrase was brought up a lot. One of the things they taught us is that it’s not necessarily a bad thing. Now, don’t mistake that for intolerance. The bigger picture is that there are different preferences and worship styles among many different people. That’s why we have different denominations and variances church-to-church (among other reasons).
What they showed us is that with any culture there are 3 types of people: those that have one cultural background but identify with another, those that can identify with both cultures, and those that only identify with the culture they are from.
Where we see a blended conversation it often has a larger percentage of the ‘cross-cultural’ folks or the ones that identify with the other.
The point of it all was that where separation can be good is among those who are of the third category and there is nothing necessarily wrong with that. However, strides should always be made to connect and understand the differences and appreciate them.
August 6th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
my name in the previous comment was supposed to show up, not just say ‘R’! Sorry.
August 6th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
Rob — You are right. My fear is that too many people don’t even make the strides to connect and understand the differences — or try to understand perspectives that are different from theirs — regardless of who has them!