As I stood on the platform at Transformation Church in Charlotte NC (I think the church building is in SC) and looked into the audience that Sunday morning I saw something I have rarely experienced. TC was planted by Derwin and Vicky Gray, and from the start there was a plan: It was to be “Jesus-centered, gospel-shaped, multiethnic fellowship of believers who participated in Jesus’s redemptive mission.”
Amen, amen, amen, but easier said than done. Long ago while in doctoral studies, I - a white woman - attended a Black church. I loved it, but knew that the distance from everything like music to prayers and sermon would be "shocking" to the average white evangelical. It would not seem like "church." The challenge to replicate this wonderful multiethnic church in NC would call for a flexibility in worship on all sides - possible, but not easy. Just imagine "Jesus-centered, gospel-shaped, and multiethnic"! I'd love that!
I am not sure what comes first, intentional individuals or families who build multicultural relations or a church that drives the ethic. IMO, small groups are just as economically and racially divided as the church at large.
I'm trying to find the quote that Dr. Gray quoted from Emerson and I can't find it, mainly that Emerson et all "discovered that in homogenous local churches … inequality is reproduced, oppression is encouraged, racial division is strengthened, and political separation is heightened."
Can someone point me to that resource? It is uncited in the chapter.
Actually, it seems that Emerson et al says something more nuanced. For example, in
Dougherty, Kevin D., Mark Chaves, and Michael O. Emerson. "Racial diversity in US Congregations, 1998–2019." Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 59, no. 4 (2020): 651-662.
"Racial and ethnic diversity in congregations sometimes functions as a superficial,
performative end in itself, with conversation about racial differences and inequalities avoided or even discouraged, and with people of color welcomed into visible roles (like greeters or ushers or singers) while simultaneously excluded from positions of authority... Research has documented a variety of ways in which even congregations with more than one race or ethnicity represented still reproduce racial inequalities rather than transcend them."
Another study that Emerson quotes says similar things:
Cobb RJ, Perry SL and Dougherty KD (2015) United by Faith? Race/Ethnicity, Congregational Diversity, and Explanations of Racial Inequality. Sociology of Religion 76(2): 177–198.
"We find little evidence that multiracial congregations promote progressive racial views among attendees of any race or ethnicity. Rather, our findings suggest that multiracial congregations (1) leave dominant White racial frames unchallenged, potentially influencing minority attendees to embrace such frames and/or (2) attract racial minorities who are more likely to embrace those frames in the first place."
Any help in finding that resource would be appreciated.
Amen, amen, amen, but easier said than done. Long ago while in doctoral studies, I - a white woman - attended a Black church. I loved it, but knew that the distance from everything like music to prayers and sermon would be "shocking" to the average white evangelical. It would not seem like "church." The challenge to replicate this wonderful multiethnic church in NC would call for a flexibility in worship on all sides - possible, but not easy. Just imagine "Jesus-centered, gospel-shaped, and multiethnic"! I'd love that!
I am not sure what comes first, intentional individuals or families who build multicultural relations or a church that drives the ethic. IMO, small groups are just as economically and racially divided as the church at large.
Looking forward to meeting Dr Gray in Boise at a conference - heard about him when he taught at a John Perkins zoom bible study. Amen to words.
I'm trying to find the quote that Dr. Gray quoted from Emerson and I can't find it, mainly that Emerson et all "discovered that in homogenous local churches … inequality is reproduced, oppression is encouraged, racial division is strengthened, and political separation is heightened."
Can someone point me to that resource? It is uncited in the chapter.
Actually, it seems that Emerson et al says something more nuanced. For example, in
Dougherty, Kevin D., Mark Chaves, and Michael O. Emerson. "Racial diversity in US Congregations, 1998–2019." Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 59, no. 4 (2020): 651-662.
"Racial and ethnic diversity in congregations sometimes functions as a superficial,
performative end in itself, with conversation about racial differences and inequalities avoided or even discouraged, and with people of color welcomed into visible roles (like greeters or ushers or singers) while simultaneously excluded from positions of authority... Research has documented a variety of ways in which even congregations with more than one race or ethnicity represented still reproduce racial inequalities rather than transcend them."
Another study that Emerson quotes says similar things:
Cobb RJ, Perry SL and Dougherty KD (2015) United by Faith? Race/Ethnicity, Congregational Diversity, and Explanations of Racial Inequality. Sociology of Religion 76(2): 177–198.
"We find little evidence that multiracial congregations promote progressive racial views among attendees of any race or ethnicity. Rather, our findings suggest that multiracial congregations (1) leave dominant White racial frames unchallenged, potentially influencing minority attendees to embrace such frames and/or (2) attract racial minorities who are more likely to embrace those frames in the first place."
Any help in finding that resource would be appreciated.