Sadly, the American church culture has not changed much on the issue of segregation. Only 3-5% of churches that claim to be Bible-believing churches are multi-ethnic. To be a multi-ethnic church, a church cannot have one ethnic group make up more than 80% of the congregation. Now hear me, if your church is in an area that is not multi-ethnic, then it is impossible to be multi-ethnic. Here in Ballantyne area of South Charlotte the ethnic breakdown is as follows:
- 70% White, 13% Asian, 10% Black, 5% Latino, 5% Bi-racial.
What kind of statement do we, as Christ-followers, make to the world when we say Jesus loves the world . . . but our churches are segregated? Not a very good one. At theGathering, along with a few other churches in Charlotte, we want to join God in creating churches that are multi-ethnic; not because it is cool, but because it is Biblical.
According to Rev. 7:9, around the throne of Jesus, a multi-ethnic group of people will be worshipping Him. And Jesus said to "Do on earth as it is in heaven." So if multi-ethnic worship takes place in heaven, then it must take place in our churches.
Friends, it's hard work. But after 22 months, theGathering is receiving e-mails like this one I got yesterday:
- "I have friends that I work with who are a biracial couple who are very interested in coming to the gathering with us. I told her that we have lots of races there and church is no longer segregated there! She is so excited to come! See you next Sunday!"
Friends, when I read this e-mail I started to cry. I said to my wife, "It's happening."
God is shaping a multi-ethnic church. It's happening.
Pastor Derwin
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2 comments:
Thanks for the post! I had the awesome privilege to grow up in an multi-ethnic church and to this day it's still that way. We are all God's children and you're right our churches need to welcome everyone because it is biblical.
Thanks for the encouragement!
derwin
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