Religion and Race: Can Megachurches Desegregate?

I haven't got time tonight to look at the issue surrounding the banning of Islam4UK and al-Muhajiroun. ( Islamist group to be banned.) In short I think its right, but with qualifications. It is provoking a lot of conversation.

Before I lose it I wanted to note an article in Time last week:  Religion and Race: Can Megachurches Desegregate?.

While I don't often talk about it just now  the conviction of ReconciliationTalk is that if as a Christian I am going to talk about  reconciliation in the world I better be doing it in my own life and in the church. Its my joy to be part of a very mixed church we are learning to walk together ina very diverse town. 

Back to the article. Its focussed on Bill Hybels Willow Creek Church in Chicago. I have gained a high respect for Hybel's since attending his Global Leadership summit (run by extension in many UK locations) the last three years. As well as good stuff on leadership, he always brings together a variety of speakers from church and way beyond (including speakers who are not Christian) and among them there is always a strong focus on justice and reconciliation related issues. Its a great article that is pretty realistic in where they have got to and the challenges.   

... David Campbell, a political scientist at Notre Dame ... says that "if tens of millions of Americans start sharing faith across racial boundaries, it could be one of the final steps transcending race as our great divider" — and it could help smooth America's transition into a truly rainbow nation. 

Hybels and his Willow Creek church are already headed down that path. Though Willow is not the most advanced example of multiracial church, it makes an excellent window into the new desegregation because of its size, its influence and the ferocious purposefulness with which Hybels has deconstructed his all-white institution. Willow may also be emblematic in that Hybels appears to have stopped short of creating a fully color-blind church. His efforts illustrate both the possibilities and the challenges that smaller churches may face as they attempt to move beyond black and white.

Read it for more. But what persuaded me to post on this was an interview with David van Biema of Time who wrote the article: Changing Colours. A self described secular Jew van Biema  was genuinely impressed by what he experienced. Edward Galbreath who interviewed van Biema wrote a very good little piece on God's Politics:  Time's Report on Race and Megachurches: The Backstory

A little background:  Galbreath describes the foundational influence of a bookpublished ten years ago and its impact on Hybels:

Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America by sociologists Michael Emerson and Christian Smith. The book’s thesis, as we summarized it then: Most white evangelicals deny the existence of any ongoing racial problem in the U.S., and many blame the media and African Americans who refuse to forget the past for any lingering racial conflict. And then the whopper: Evangelical theology, with its individualized worldview, actually hinders our progress toward racial reconciliation and social justice in America. Emerson and Smith’s work arguably did more to elevate the conversation about race among white evangelicals than any other book over the last 40 years.

Its instructive to read the article Galbreath wrote then based on a  discussion with several leaders: We shall overcome .

To conclude, in Biema's article he leads off with a remark by an African American couple. Its telling:  

Since Hybels decided 10 years ago to aggressively welcome minorities to his lily-white congregation, Renetta says, few sermons pass without a cue that he is still at it. "He always throws in something," she says. She's been around long enough to recall when this wasn't the case.

When I looked at the Willow web site I was struck by just that. On the front page are details of their current sermon series. Next weekend is the speaker is Effrem Smith, hip hop pastor from Minneapolis. One of the big challenges for any church going truly multicultural is to have a significant preaching cross over. Well the good folks at Willow certainly know when Effrem's there!  And they keep inviting him back!#

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This deserves a post of its own but I shall put it here. Where you get a mixed church you will bget mixed marriage. There a good article on that in todays Guardian: Comment is free:   Cross Cultural Marriage is no picnic.