None of this implies that we need to change any of our doctrine or our core commitments. It simply means that a commitment to reconciliation has to go beyond mere words. We have to be willing to press through some of the discomfort that diversity brings. My friend Vance Pitman leads a Southern Baptist church that models this well. He says,
The way to know you are part of a multi-cultural movement is that you at times feel uncomfortable. If you always feel comfortable in your church, then it’s probably not multi-cultural, but multi-colored—a group of white Southerners who expect those of differing backgrounds to reflect white, Southern culture. Most Southern Baptists seem to want to a multi-colored denomination, not a multi-cultural one.
Our African-American brothers and sisters have, for years, been pressing through the discomfort of cultural variances; it is time we in the majority culture join them in that effort. We are constantly urging our people to “get comfortable being uncomfortable.”
I recognize that the Summit has opportunities here that many other churches do not. We have the benefit of being in the heart of a large, ethnically diverse city. Many churches throughout the U.S. are in more ethnically monochromatic areas, and they shouldn’t be judged too harshly for that. They too must reflect the diversity of their communities, and if their communities are more mono-cultural, then their churches likely will be also.
That’s why we no longer say (as we once did) that the local church should “reflect the diversity of heaven.” Local churches this side of heaven can only be a pale reflection of the multi-ethnic unity we will one day experience in heaven, a sign of the coming kingdom. And, even at our very best, our reflection will be partial, like looking through a glass darkly.
Diversification, even in the most diverse areas, will always have some limits—if for no other reason, we don’t all speak the same language! Language is the most basic element of a culture, and church services, for the most part, can only be conducted in one language. Furthermore, can any church on earth say it truly “looks like heaven”? I know several multi-cultural churches that have achieved remarkable diversity, but no one church has them all. I personally don’t know any churches that feature, for instance, both Arabic and Finnish music in their services, even though both of those groups will be worshipping side by side around the throne one day. Maybe one exists. But you get the point: Churches are a reflection of the coming unity, not its complete fulfillment. We seek to reflect the diversity of our community, all the while declaring the diversity of the kingdom.
In our community, we have large populations of African-Americans, whites, Asians, and Latinos. Thus, we believe our church (and church leadership) should reflect that. We believe God is more glorified through a multiplicity of cultures in worship, and we believe that picture gives a glimpse to our community of the unity found only in Christ (Ephesians 3:10-11). We don’t have a Middle Eastern pastor on staff (at least not yet), and this shouldn’t cause us dismay. Yes, there will be lots of Middle Easterners around the throne in heaven. But they’re not as heavily represented in our community yet.
God has, by his grace, given us real progress in this area. Nearly 20 percent of our church attenders are non-white (up from less than 5 percent less than a decade ago). At least a third of our campus pastors and worship leaders are non-white. Our church still has a long way to go, but we are proof that moving toward racial reconciliation is possible. And while the specifics will look different depending on your demographic situation, positive changes are possible in your church, too.
Awareness Isn’t Enough
One of the biggest lessons we’ve learned over the past few years is that awareness of a racialized society—while absolutely vital—isn’t enough to make diversity and reconciliation a reality. To illustrate this, one of our African American pastors, Chris Green, has summarized the process of a church becoming racially diverse in a helpful spectrum:
IGNORANCE – AWARENESS – INTERACTION – GOSPEL COMMUNITY
We all start with ignorance. Most of us grow up around people like us, we work with people like us, and we socialize with people like us. We aren’t willfully hateful, but we simply don’t know much about people from different backgrounds. So we—especially those of us in the majority culture—fill in the gaps with presuppositions and stereotypes. We assume that “black people” or “Hispanic people” all think, act, or feel a certain way.
Admitting our ignorance leads us to the next step along the spectrum: awareness. Perhaps we watch something on the news or make a new friend or have some personal experience that forces us to recognize cultural differences. We begin to see that many of these differences, historically, have led to inequities and injustices. Awareness is unsettling, because it challenges a lot of what we assumed was simply “normal.”
This is where we declare success too quickly. Acknowledging it, making a statement about it, and then preaching a couple of sermons is not enough. It’s the jump from awareness to interaction that really begins to change the game. It is only when we develop personal relationships with people from other ethnicities and backgrounds, seek to understand them, learn to respect them, and learn from them that we move closer to the last stage: gospel community. At The Summit Church, we say, “We don’t want simply to host multi-cultural events; we want to live multi-cultural lives.” That’s easy to say, but it’s uncomfortable and difficult work. And it requires dedicated intentionality. To have people from diverse backgrounds in our lives. To ask questions and to listen. To humble ourselves and ask forgiveness. But it’s worth it—for Jesus’ sake, for his church’s sake, and for our own. This is not something we do merely as an act of grace for others. We need it for our own souls, as well.
