Racial tension and conflict has flooded the news lately. Rather than point fingers and cast blame, I submit THE answer is quite simple. Not easy or quick, but transformational.

Racial (I prefer using the word ethnic) tensions exist in large part because we don’t listen to one another. It’s hard to understand someone who is different without knowing them. How many ethnically and culturally different people do we really know?

My Multiethnic Story

My father is half Chinese, hence my last name is Choy. My step sister is half African-American. My grandfather was an immigrant from China, my grandmother’s parents and grandparents were immigrants from the Czech Republic.

I’ve always had friends who were from diverse backgrounds. I played football in high school and many of my teammates were from diverse ethnic background. In college some of my closest friends were from other countries. The same is true about my wife.

The neighborhood we live in is in one of the most diverse cities in America (read more HERE). Our next door neighbors are from Vietnam, Ethiopia, Russia, Peru, Ecuador, and Washington, DC! That’s just on our block!

THE Problem

Could the problem of racial tension exist because of the ongoing segregation of churches? What about education, economic issues, power, and all manner of injustices?

Superficial change is not the answer. Hearts must change. The golden rule applies now more than ever. We must become a people who truly love our neighbors as ourselves. And if you haven’t looked out the window lately it’s likely that your neighbor doesn’t look, act, think, or live like you!

THE Answer

In April 2015 I attended the Kainos multiethnic leadership conference. Sociologist Dr. Michael Emerson shared five benefits of multiethnic churches. As a church planter of a multiethnic church (Restoration Church in Gaithersburg, MD) I was tuned in. Below is an adaptation from Dr. Emerson’s talk. This, I believe, is THE answer!

Dr. Michael Emerson speaking at Kainos April 2015

Dr. Emerson started with this quote from Dr. Benjamin May’s. Dr. May’s was a pastor, president of Morehouse College, author, and mentor to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

“I hold, nevertheless, that my overall critique of the local church is accurate, and that it will be a sad commentary on our life and times if a historian writing in the year 2000 can still truthfully say that the most segregated institution in the United States is the Church of the Living God.”

Published shortly before his death in the 1960s. page 264 of his book, Born to Rebel: An Autobiography

The sad commentary that Dr. May’s was concerned with is still being written!

Segregated Churches Are Problematic

At least four problems are perpetuated in segregated churches:

1. They reproduce inequality. The have’s and the have not’s don’t change when we worship in churches with people like us. The cycle of inequality continues spinning.

2. Separation of friendship networks. People with resources tend to have friendship networks with people with resources. And vice-versa.

3. Strengthen racial division. We feel safe with people who look, think, act, and live like us. When we stay around people like us we only strengthen the divisions among us.

4. Heighten political conflict. If we’re surrounded by people in a church that are all red or all blue we limit our perspective. In that setting we tend to demonize the other side, cast stones, and turn deaf ears to those who have different views.

Good News!

The standard sociological definition of a multiethnic church is one in which no more than 80% of the congregation is one ethnicity. According to that definition the US has grown from 7% multiethnic in 1998 to 13% in 2012. My guess it’s grown closer to 15% in 2015. We’re making progress.

Here are the 5 benefits of multiethnic churches

1. Social ties. Multiethnic churches open access to friendships with people we may never otherwise develop.

2. Organizational home for multiracial families and people. The multiracial demographic is growing significantly.

3. Group formation and solidarity. A unified multiethnic church has immense potential to organize groups that impact their community and world.

4. Altered racial attitudes. It’s impossible for racial biases to stay the same when your close friends and coworkers in the church are from diverse background.

5. Reduced inequalities: economic, social, spiritual. Proximity and access to economic, social, and spiritual resources change the landscape of the culture and society like nothing else can. Where else will this happen if it doesn’t happen in multiethnic churches?

Dr. Emerson says, “Religion has immense potential to reduce racial inequity and division.” At the same time, “We’ve never seen an institution more segregated than the church!”

Planting new multiethnic churches and helping existing churches become multiethnic is one of my driving passions. If this movement does not succeed I fear the legitimacy of our Good News message will continue loosing ground and become irrelevant.

Referring to multiethnic churches, Dr. Emerson concludes:

“Such congregations, in addition to whatever else they do, must be part of a movement toward equality for God’s people, or the movement will have failed.”

QUESTION: Does your church reflect the diversity of your community? Why do you think that is or is not happening?

After years of preparation that included doctoral studies, reading stacks of books, attending conferences, church planting boot camp, and formal church planter assessments… we’re stepping forward to be part of Restoration Church in Gaithersburg, Maryland!

God uses people. He uses people like us, and people like you! Imperfect, yet in the Restoration process! Jesus makes all things new. And while we won’t be completely new until we join Him in heaven, we can be Restored into a vibrant relationship with Him. Broken relationships between people can also be Restored.

Next Step

Our goal is to raise 50% of my monthly financial support by May. That enables me to continue raising support full-time so I can be released to my calling to pastor Restoration Church.

SERVING YOU

1. Pulpit supply
2. Speaker for a conference or seminar on…
   1. Leadership issues or, more specifically leading or becoming a multiethnic church
   2. Marriage
   3. Parenting
   4. Youth group
3. Sharing our story and experience with anyone who might be encouraged by it

Click HERE to contact me and let’s talk about how I can best serve you.

Will you join us? Leave a comment or send me a message if you’d like to connect.

The biblical rationale for a multiethnic church is strong. But there are other reasons. Here are two you should consider.

1. Demographics are Shifting SIGNIFICANTLY

There are massive shifts in diversity in America. It is increasingly difficult to say there is little diversity in most places. For example, in November 2005 the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education noted the sweeping changes in the U.S. workforce:

The U.S. workforce (generally ages 25 to 64) is in the midst of a sweeping demographic transformation. From 1980 to 2020, the white working-age population is projected to decline from 82% to 63% (see figure 1). During the same period, the minority portion of the workforce is projected to double (from 18% to 37%), and the Hispanic/Latino portion is projected to almost triple (from 6% to 17%).

While Caucasians are still a large majority, most live in areas where more than 20 percent of the population is non-White. If the church should be a reflection of the community, then most churches should reflect the increasing diversity. When possible, churches should make intentional effort to be multiethnic.

In a November 2013 WSJ article, Conor Dougherty states,

Whites will comprise less than half of the U.S. population by 2042, about eight years earlier than previously thought, according to a report to be released by the Census Bureau.”

In the same article William Frey, senior demographer at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank added,

We are going to become more diverse in more parts of the country and in more of the age structure sooner.

Gerardo Marti, in his case study on Mosaic Church LA A Mosaic of Believers
(Erwin McManus) says,

The United States continues to become more and more diverse in every societal sphere, bringing a new challenge of integration to both civic and religious organizations.

He goes on to cite three major demographers who suggest that by the year 2050, and some say sooner, America will have no single majority group. The changing face of most domains of society is feeling this shift. However, the majority of churches in America do not yet reflect this new reality.

Consider what McIntosh and McMahan say in their book Being the Church in a Multi-Ethnic Community,

The new ethnic marketplace is forcing government, businesses, and churches to rethink how to speak the language and adopt the culture of the new multi-ethnic and multicultural reality.

The multicultural and multiethnic reality cannot be ignored.

2. Multiethnic Churches are Beautiful

For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.

In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.

QUESTION: Does your church reflect the demographics of your community? Why or why not?

“It is appalling that the most segregated hour of Christian America is eleven o’clock on Sunday morning.”

How does that make you feel? Is there still a problem with churches being “segregated?”

I’ve been pastoring in two immigrant churches for the last 12 years. That experience taught me a lot. It’s also fueled my passion for multiethnic ministry. Not to mention being 1/4 Chinese, 1/4 Czech, having a half African-American sister, and growing up in a diverse community. My life is multiethnic!

NOTE: As long as immigration flows into the US immigrant churches need to serve them. However, the next or second generation usually wants a more diverse experience. Especially when growing up in a diverse community.

What does multiethnic mean? My concise definition* of the term “multiethnic church”:

A multiethnic church is defined simply as having a minimum of 20 percent of its make-up being from one or more ethnicity outside the majority. Thus, a multiethnic church would not have more than 80 percent of any one ethnicity.

*based on the definition used by the authors of United by Faith: The Multiracial Congregation As an Answer to the Problem of Race. This definition is the standard used by the Mosaix Network. They state: “Mosaix promotes the goal of seeing 20% of local churches achieve 20% diversity by 2020.”

McIntosh and McMahan devote an entire chapter in their book Being the Church in a Multi-Ethnic Community to defining the multiethnic church. They provide the most exhaustive overview of definitions and perspectives. They admit,

That the study of this topic is still in its infancy is evidenced by the fact that many people use a wide variety of terms to describe roughly the same phenomenon. At least four terms are used to describe churches where the people come from diverse background: multinational, multiracial, multi-ethnic, and multicultural.

Should your church be multiethnic? I don’t know. Here is the first of three things to consider.

1. Biblical Rationale for a Multiethnic Church

• Matthew 22:34-40: Loving God and our neighbors as ourselves is the core of the Christian faith. “Who is my neighbor?” Luke adds in Luke 10:29. Jesus then tells the parable of the Good Samaritan. The mono-cultural Jewish leaders were not the ones justified in Jesus’ eyes. The multiethnic man who in the eyes of the religious leaders was less than a whole person was. Luke seems to make the point that loving one’s neighbor involves crossing boundaries, which often includes ethnicity and culture.

• Matthew 28:18-20: Jesus emphasizes his desire for people from “all nations = ethnicities” to become disciples. While this includes an emphasis on overseas missions. It is a call for those who live in diverse areas to make intentional efforts to reach people from other ethnicities with the gospel.

• John 17:20-23: Jesus prays for a oneness and unity between all Christians. This should be applied in a diverse and multiethnic context.

• Acts 1:8: witnesses “in Jerusalem, to Judea, Samaria, and then around the world with the gospel.” The rest of the book of Acts describes how that was accomplished.

• 1 Corinthians 12:12-27: The Apostle Paul calls the church to humble cross-cultural interdependence.

• Galatians 3:28: The Apostle Paul calls the church to bring Jews and Gentiles together in one body. People from one background have something important to offer people from other backgrounds and vice-versa. Christena Cleveland notes,

“We are called to participate in the reconciling work of the cross, that tore down racial, gender and class divisions.”

• Ephesians 2:14-16: The Apostle Paul describes the “wall of separation” between Jews and Gentiles being torn down in Jesus. In Jesus they are reconciled as one body. The language of this passage argues strongly for a multiethnic church wherever possible. The barriers that existed between Jews and Gentiles before Jesus have been torn down. Therefore, barriers between all ethnicities have been torn down.

Later this week I’ll share the other two things to consider. Demographics and Beauty.

QUESTION: Does your church reflect the diversity of your local community? Why or why not?

I asked, “What do senior pastors do to identify and recruit leaders in multiethnic churches?” Derwin Gray, Lead Pastor of Transformation Church answered, “For 93% of them, nothing!” That bothers me, how about you?

Leadership is vital in every organization. As John Maxwell has aptly stated many times, “Everything rises and falls on leadership.” The impact of leaders is significant across every domain of culture, whether in business, non-profits, sports, or the church. In his book Cracking Your Church’s Culture Code, Samuel Chand emphasizes the importance of identifying the right leaders:

Having the right staff members and top volunteers is crucial to fulfill a church’s vision. Eric O. Long, general manager of the Waldorf Astoria in New York, observes that finding, recruiting, selecting, and placing outstanding staff are becoming more difficult in our society, but good selection yields amazing results. In an interview for Leaders magazine, Long observed, “Our organizational-development team recently made a presentation to our executive staff, sharing the results of several well-documented studies. It revealed that one great team member had the impact of multiple [mediocre] team members, and in some cases the ratio was as high as 8:1.”

In Aubrey Malphurs’ book, Leading Leaders, he writes about the importance of finding quality leaders and how significant that is in attracting more leaders:

Quality leaders shy away from bad boards, especially those packed with spiritually unqualified good old boys or good old girls. However, quality leaders are attracted to properly functioning boards with carefully thought-through processes led by spiritually mature people who want to have serious, spiritual impact in their ministry communities.

A plethora of literature addresses leadership issues. However, little has been written on the topic of identifying and recruiting leaders. Add to that the dearth of literature written to address leadership in multiethnic churches.

With the massive shifts in diversity in America, it is increasingly difficult to say there is little diversity in most places. For example, in November 2005 the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education noted the sweeping changes in the U.S. workforce:

The U.S. workforce (generally ages 25 to 64) is in the midst of a sweeping demographic transformation. From 1980 to 2020, the white working-age population is projected to decline from 82% to 63% (see figure 1). During the same period, the minority portion of the workforce is projected to double (from 18% to 37%), and the Hispanic/Latino portion is projected to almost triple (from 6% to 17%).

While Caucasians are still a large majority, most live in areas where more than 20 percent of the population is non-White. If the church should be a reflection of the community, then most churches should reflect the increasing diversity.

This series will be an attempt to encourage more dialog & resource leaders to turn the tide. The need for more and better leaders is obvious.

The question is, “What are we doing to address that need?”

I’m especially curious to hear from and engage with those leading, planting, or wanting to be involved in multiethnic churches.

Tomorrow I will write about the rationale for multiethnic churches. Followed by the three essentials for identifying and recruiting leaders to lead them.