Increasing Our Bonds Across Race, Ethnicity, Culture and Class
“And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”—Colossians 3:14, ESV
For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, –Ephesians 2:14 (NIV)
One of the most encouraging parts of the 2012 World Discipleship Summit happened on Saturday morning at a breakfast discussion designed to probe an apparent deficit of African American representation in leadership posts in the US.
This is a brief report of what occurred among about 60 guests including elders, teachers and evangelists from US churches of various sizes.
There are many challenges in dealing with the topic of diversity, both in the world and the church. Scott Kirkpatrick of Greenville, South Carolina has been helpful at reminding leaders across the fellowship of the apparent inequity we have in African American posts, especially in some locations. But some of the questions he would hear are, “Where do we start?,” “Who should be in the discussion?,” “What format or platform would bring out the best forward steps?,” and “What about other groups in the US and in other nations?”
Scott contacted Roger Lamb (Disciples Today), John Causey (ILC director) and Mike Taliaferro (WDS director) and it was suggested that Scott and Steve Staten team up to facilitate a private discussion that could lead into further revelation and perhaps even a task force. Scott contacted Steve who coordinated the 2009 conference, Why Do the Nations Rage?: Race and Prejudice, held in Atlanta. Together, Kirkpatrick and Staten proposed a smaller setting in order to focus on one area of disparity and use it to learn before we went further.
At the WDS breakfast, following a prayer from Wyndham Shaw we had a brief devotional from John Causey based on Acts 6:1-7. His point is that the Grecian widows who had been overlooked in the distribution of food became everyone’s concern, not just to the Grecian Jews. Scott Kirkpatrick and Steve Staten shared how they have committed to discussing the issues with each other, not just among their local likeminded circles. And they spoke, from personal stories, about how they learned how to overcome unhealthy attitudes and ignorance of racial realities.
Then nine brothers spoke briefly to five facets of the African American situation.
Trust, Development, Training, Support and Exposure
—Chip Mitchell
Belief in Leading a Church in a Major City or Lead Evangelist in a Big Church
—Frank Davis and Dana Perkins
Lack of Young and Campus Ministers
—Wade Cook and Mike Patterson
Lack of Black Elders in the US
—Darren Gauthier and Richard Alawaye
Marginalization—Ben Barnett and James Campbell
All of the brothers demonstrated the ability to discuss painful realities from their own experiences and, at the same time, avoid generalization. It was said that some geographical areas have very different kinds of challenges with racial representation.
One of the first brothers to speak began with how well we are doing in comparison to other Christian fellowships, in light of our current challenge. Right away we heard of the appearance of a white leadership culture in the US and not enough exposure for black men. There was more than one report of troubling interviews for lead evangelist positions where race became a limiting factor. And there is a very limited number of targets to imitate for the African American in proportion to the demographics of a given location and church. One brother spoke of a glass ceiling for black ministers when one’s personal life, ministry history and other qualifications are strong.
Another African American spoke of the pressure to take a role of an elder prematurely. One of the brothers spoke about the importance of black ministers becoming elders in essence, not just position. We heard about the importance of taking the breakfast discussion “out of the corner” and into the agenda of the fellowship. And the final presenter shared how white men have impacted him in life-saving ways; however, he drew attention to the perceived absence of black men who are over the campus ministry in our churches. And someone said that our measures to achieve diversity in leadership should not to be outdistanced by corporate America.
There was a good but short discussion from the invited guests It has become evident that even though we have led in the realm of possessing a highly integrated fellowship, we may have lost crucial ground in some areas. Someone said that “When our movement started we were intentional about our reaching all people by conviction of what God wanted for the church.” There was a resounding sense that we need to take proactive measures, but that we need hard facts on all of the areas as we proceed—and there was a commitment to cooperate in getting them in a spirit of love, respect and unity.
It was also very apparent that some geographical areas are affected in deeper ways, and some churches have had very different kinds of experiences, both good and bad. More than one person brought up similar challenges for Latin American leadership in our churches. The last comment in this discussion came from an African American elder who called us to keep the spiritual qualifications for leadership posts in mind, and not just appoint people on the basis of color.
John Causey and Bruce Williams closed with a prayer. Bruce thanked the brothers for sensitizing him to the needs that we discussed during the breakfast. The Los Angeles church where Bruce and John serve is one of the most well-represented churches in terms of evangelists and elders of different races. Their example and concern spurred members of the breakfast.
Even though this diversity breakfast discussion was about black representation in US churches, it was always meant to be a springboard for a larger discussion of diversity in the US and around the world. We knew that we needed to start somewhere with our current resources. The idea set forth is to form a committee or task force comprised of people in the room from the Diversity Breakfast as well as others from a broader spectrum of challenges for achieving representation—including women. Members from the elders, evangelists and teachers service team will serve on this committee or task force. The group will form to:
• Gather Facts (US)
• Begin Identifying resources
• Determine the initial scope of the Task Force
• Welcome non-US team members
• Determine strategic next steps and longer mile markers
• Publish Progress
This report was prepared by Steve Staten and Scott Kirkpatrick to be sent to those in attendance at the July 7, 2012 Diversity Breakfast and members of the Elders, Evangelist and Teacher Service Teams.
