FROM SEGREGATION TO INTERACTION
A small church in rural Kenya. People Groups Unreached: 32 (29.1%).
From Segregation to Interaction by Richard Coleman
IF I’VE HEARD IT ONCE , I’ve heard
it a thousand times: “Sunday is the most segregated day of the week.” When some of my brothers and sisters in Christ hear this oft-quoted statement, they assume the end game should be multiethnic churches comprised of members representing a variety of hues and ethnicities. They for good reason, see such congregations as counter to the troubling disunity within the Body of Christ, particularly as it exists in the United States. For, when a church is truly multicultural,1 a special oneness takes place. The world sees the power of Christ at work, and the congregation experiences the beauty and strength that each culture brings. After all, wouldn’t it be great to have fellowships here on earth that resemble the heavenly scene recounted by John the Revelator? Clearly, there won’t be segregation in heaven, so why should local churches be monocultural or monochromatic? Attacked with this line of reasoning, many an American pastor has been made to feel guilty over the lack of diversity within their churches. My guess is that white pastors have faced this critique at a greater frequency than their ethnic minority counterparts.2 This is understandable given our nation’s ugly history of racism, even and
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ANTHOLOGY / MAY 2018
especially within the church. However, is it fair to critique white pastors solely on the number of black and brown bodies in the pews? If so, what percentage would get them off the hook—5%, 10%, 25%? And then how many types of people are required for the pastor to pass the diversity test? At some point, it becomes subjective. I have had more than one conversation with such conscientious leaders who seem to feel a sense of shame that their best efforts have not led to an influx of diversity. Lest I be misunderstood, my intention is not to tell these pastors to stop trying. Rather, my hope is to encourage them to approach the task differently. There is another way. While I respect the view that the creation of multicultural churches is the answer to combat Sunday segregation, my thoughts are that multicultural churches are simply one way of tackling this age-old problem. And this solution will likely be the exception, not the norm. To all the pastors who have a bona fide call and passion to start a multicultural church, go for it! However, for the majority of leaders, such a church will never be a reality. And that is okay. For starters, people have preferences. These preferences are often core to how believers experience God. Basic anthropology would say that when it comes to spiritual matters, people move toward the forms that communicate meaning for them. For example, in the summer of 2013 I had a very memorable, Spirit-filled worship experience in Nakuru, Kenya with an ethnically-diverse group of Kenyans. During one particular time of worship, each ethnic group had
