I don’t really do book reviews but this book peaked my interest because it is about a concept that is so foreign to me. (Warning: Looking back on what I’ve written it isn’t really a review as such, rather just a few thoughts that have come out of reading the book.)
Pastor Scott Williams is from LifeChurch.tv and has written a great book about church diversity (or the lack of it in the America). According to Pastor Scott many churches in America are segregated and the main thesis of his book is that Sunday is the most segregated day of the week in respects to church attendance. Only seven percent of churches in America have reached the 20 percent to be recognised as a culturally diverse church. Meaning that 93 percent are considered racially segregated.
Stunning fact. Sad. Totally wrong.
I attend a church that is 40 percent Asian, 25 percent from European heritage and the last 25 percent is white Australian so I find it hard to understand why any church or culture would be so segregated. Crossway’s congregation reflects the community around our church reasonably well.
My question is: Does your church ethnicity reflect your community around you? If not, why not and what are you going to do about it?
As a church communicator I consider it my job to understand and know what the ethnic breakdown on my church is and how best to communicate to them. Every race receives communication in different ways. We have first and second generation immigrants and they all have different communication styles.
My question is: Do you understand how different cultures respond to different communication style? If you don’t become a student. Ask a person within that culture.
The early church in Acts reflected this racial diversity, why shouldn’t we? I’d be really interested to hear from you if you disagree with me. Comment below.
