Megachurches take up challenge of desegregating Sunday worship

[Doondoo]

LEXINGTON, Mass. - Sundays at the evangelical Grace Chapel megachurch look like the American ideal of race relations: African-American, Haitian, white, Chinese and Korean families sing along with a white, guitar-playing pastor.

U.S. churches rarely have this kind of ethnic mix. But that's changing. Researchers who study race and religion say Grace Chapel is among a vanguard of megachurches that are breaking down racial barriers in American Christianity, altering the long-segregated landscape of Sunday worship.

"Megachurches as a whole are significantly better than other congregations at holding together multiracial, multiethnic congregations," said Scott Thumma, an expert on megachurches and a professor at Hartford Seminary in Connecticut. "It's absolutely clear."

A study by Thumma and the Leadership Network, a Dallas group that works with pioneering churches, found that minorities make up 20 percent or more of worshippers in nearly one-third of the nation's 1,200 megachurches. More than half of the megachurches say they are intentionally working to attract different ethnic groups, according to the 2005 study, part of a book that Thumma and network executive Dave Travis will publish in July.

The question now is whether the new diversity is just a fad or a permanent shift.



http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/state/16741701.htm

[Warpy]

1. Megachurches are showbiz venues first and foremost

and I suppose they just allowed the black folks out of the balcony the way regular theaters did 40 years ago.

Eventually the shtik will fall flat as their parishoners find themselves with life crises and their "minister" doesn't know who the hell they are except by their canceled tithing checks. The formula of morality plays, hand clapping music with a full band, and lectures about how great the GOP is will wear thin as musical tastes change and the lectures fall as flat as the old church lectures about the building fund deficit once did. Plus, there are quite a few of the megachurch types who will feel unwelcome when black folks start to feel welcome.

Remember, the only real constant in this universe is change. Whether or not they manage to feign diversity (don't expect black folks on the board or in the pulpit) is irrelevant. This fad will pass, too.

[youngdem]

2. Guess they are broadening their demographic in search of new consumers

Sales must be dropping.

[On the Road]

3. Whether It's Permanent Will be Up to the Minorities

and will probably depend on whether leadership roles start to be given to minorities.

I think the evangelical worldview these churches have is delusional, but I don't doubt the sincerity or the results of their desire to be multiethnic. These churches can be very appealing if you share the same worldview, and a common belief system can be a very strong bond, especially if the belief system is embattled.

Many white churches have been justly criticized in the past for their lack of diversity, but if they change, they should be given credit.

[kwassa]

4. Most church segregation is historic in nature

Because of the racial history of this country, blacks were either not welcome in white denominations, or were only welcome in separate churches, or separate wings of a particular religion. This is why churches are segregated; the legacy of past racism.

Megachurches are more integrated simply because they are newer, and don't have hundreds of years of established custom and tradition. They are like the newer suburbs that are populated after housing discrimination has ended.

I'm an Episcopalian. In this diocese, there are a few churches that are historically black. There are African-Americans attending the other churches as well, these days. The greatest change, however, is the influx of Anglican people of color from other nations as immigrants. Any nation that was a former English colony has had many Anglican converts, and they attend the Episcopal church after immigrating here.

The result is that there are many people of color from different parts of the world in what used to be all-white congregations. In my current church, probably one quarter of the church is from Liberia, refugees from the civil war there, and it is wonderful to have them here. They add a great deal to our church family.

[hashibabba]

5. The church I went to about 15 years ago was a complete

representation of the country. There were something like 35% African-Americans at the time. There were three associate pastors and one was African-American.

I had some complaints with the church and left organized religion forever, but they did do some things right.

[cain_7777]

6. They still segregate themselves from reality