{"id":32273,"date":"2022-09-10T16:03:04","date_gmt":"2022-09-10T21:03:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/3-things-to-remember-when-pursuing-racial-diversity-in-your-church\/"},"modified":"2022-09-10T16:03:04","modified_gmt":"2022-09-10T21:03:04","slug":"3-things-to-remember-when-pursuing-racial-diversity-in-your-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/3-things-to-remember-when-pursuing-racial-diversity-in-your-church\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Things to Remember When Pursuing Racial Diversity in Your Church"},"content":{"rendered":"
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rawpixel photo – Unsplash<\/div>\n

By Joy Allmond<\/em><\/p>\n

Marcus Glass, pastor of New Seasons Church in Albany, Georgia, knows a thing or two about building a racially diverse congregation.<\/p>\n

When he planted New Seasons\u2014a predominantly African-American congregation\u2014in 2014, his church had an arrangement with Raleigh White Baptist Church, an all-white congregation, to share facilities.<\/p>\n

Times were alternated to accommodate both congregations, and New Seasons paid a monthly fee to Raleigh White\u2014which had dwindled to around 25 members, all over the age of 75\u2014to help with finances in the face of tithing shortfalls.<\/p>\n

Raleigh White is located in an area of Albany that had transitioned over the decades from a predominantly white community to a predominantly black one. So when New Seasons launched their church on Raleigh White\u2019s campus, they saw tremendous growth amid the decline of the older congregation.<\/p>\n

Glass\u2019 congregation dreamed of eventually merging the two congregations into one racially diverse church, but it would never happen. After a series of conflicts undergirded by racism, New Seasons left the campus of Raleigh White after Radium Springs Baptist Church, another predominantly white congregation, offered the use of their building.<\/p>\n

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Eventually, New Seasons merged with Radium Springs and the current church has around 150 members\u201420 of them white.<\/p>\n

Glass spoke with Facts & Trends<\/em> about both attempts at establishing a racially diverse congregation and what church leaders must consider when evaluating having this as a goal.<\/p>\n

Consider your context <\/strong><\/h3>\n

Glass says church leaders must have a community-oriented mindset when they approach cultivating racial diversity in their congregations.<\/p>\n

The Albany community in which Raleigh White found themselves had changed, and Glass felt this might be the right time to pursue a racially diverse congregation through the merging of churches.<\/p>\n

In this case, however, the other church resisted.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need to allow your context to dictate who you\u2019re going to become as a congregation,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cChrist died for the world. And He wants us<\/em> to love the world, as well. We\u2019re not here for our own \u2018country club comfortable\u2019 setting. So when the community shifts demographically, we need to shift with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The bottom line, Glass says, is we need to be oriented toward community rather than comfort.<\/p>\n

Re-examine your values<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Glass says sometimes churches that want\u2014and need\u2014to reach their changing communities need to re-examine their values.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes we get caught up in trying to stay afloat\u2014to continue business as usual\u2014that we don’t look back at our congregation\u2019s values to see why we started. Sometimes we can be operating off someone else\u2019s values and not realize it. We can\u2019t survive in the world today operating off values we didn\u2019t play a role in setting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Determining whether the congregation\u2019s values meet the need of the context should give church leadership insight on if and how to pursue racial diversity.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny church\u2014regardless of how long we\u2019ve been around or how steeped in tradition we are\u2014can work through change in any situation, if we can keep our eyes on what we were purposed to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Be open-handed<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Glass encourages church leaders to be bold enough to do something different to build a racially diverse congregation, should a church\u2019s context demand it.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost importantly, we must be churches oriented toward the great commission,\u201d says Glass. \u00a0\u201cWe need to meet people where they are, taking into consideration their struggles. We have to have a mindset of compassion\u2014and we need to loosen our grip on what we feel is \u2018ours.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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Joy Allmond<\/h2>\n

@joyallmond<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Joy is the executive communications manager at Lifeway.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n